A Roman Plane - my 21st century re-creation #4: Towards the first shaving..
Having finally fitted the cross-pin and riveted the end over, I could do a trial assembly of the whole plane. After polishing the iron and honing its cutting edge, I was able to set up the plane ready to see whether it was going to work! With trepidation and excitement, I put a piece of oak in the bench vice, ran the plane over it and was thrilled when the first shaving emerged from the mouth of the plane. It was a little bit on the coarse side but a slight adjustment resulted in oak shavings just 5 thousandths of an inch thick. The resulting surface is very smooth, although the width of the cut is narrower than what I am used to. The plane felt really different to my...
