Julian Behrisch Elce sent me these pictures of a plane that he made. He said,
I wanted to try a Japanese plane, but didn’t want to buy one, so I made a hybrid.
Julian’s plane has a Krenov-style laminated body, with two additional triangular pieces added to the inside of the throat that provide the side mortises that are usually cut into a traditional Japanese plane body. The blade is a 2" Hock plane iron, without a taper from the back to the front, but Julian made a wedge to approximate the taper that you find along the length of a Japanese plane blade. The iron is bedded at 38º. He contoured the sole as you would for a Japanese plane.
This is a really clever way to make a Japanese plane body without chopping and sawing it from a single block of wood. I wish I was smart enough to come up with this idea. Julian posted more details of his plane on the Fine Woodworking Hand Tools forum.
6:18 am 14 Feb 2011
 8 notes