I really must get a decent camera. First a confession, this isn,t my design, i found in a library book a few years ago. The woodworking part couldn,t be easier, just three panels and some legs, the hard part is the steel. All the bends on the brackets must be identical and lining it all up for assembly repuires a sense of hunour. It only meausere 4ft by 2 ft so its perfect for a kids room or an apartment and i,m planning a whole range based around this idea.

At last ,it,s only taken a year but i,m finally making some handplanes. This jointer took about 7 hours start to finish and it,s not as hard as it looks but it,s more difficult than it sounds. I chopped it out of laminated 3×3x28 Gmelina that I had left over and if I had done it the krenov way it would certainly have been simpler but I did this one the old fashioned way. Chopping out the mouth/throat/ frog area from solid was actually not that hard until you get to the slot for the wedge and the 45degree slope for the iron, then it takes a firm grip on a sharp chisel and a fair amount of faith as one slip would have ruined the block. The rest of it was cut out with a bowsaw, rasps and chisels with a bit of chip carving just for decoration. The hardest part actually is forming the wedge itself. If it is not a neat perfect fit it won,t hold the iron firmly enough The iron and chipbreaker are from my stanley jack as these are commonly available here even if they aren,t the best. In use I found the mouth clogged until I reshaped the wedge a little and setting the irons depth is an exercise in frustration, just when you think you have it, the last tap of the wedge changes the setting, more practice is needed. And it,s noticably lighter than my iron jack so you need to stand over the plane more to keep it in firm contact with the job, a lower bench is good for this. Next projects are a similiar stlyed jack plus a scrub and a smoother. Thanks to yorkshire stewart, sydney Barnsley and roy underhill for the inspiration

I,ve always wanted one of these and they really are so simple to make I don,t know why I didn,t make one before. It only took a couple of hours start to finish and cost about 50 peso,s (around a buck US). Plans for these saws are all over the internet, some fancier than others useing brass fittings and exotic woods, but this is a working tool not a showpiece so I kept it simple. The arms are shaped on the bandsaw and the stretcher is joined to these with a tenon that should be a push fit across its width but loose across the length so the arms can move to allow for tensioning. Trick here is make sure the tenons are straight otherwise the blade and the arms will not be aligned under tension. The handles were formed useing a block plane and a chisel. To hold the blade is also simple. It,s two lengths of threaded rod, or bolts with the head cut off will do, inserted into a hole drilled into the handles and secured with cross pins made from a cut down nail. Just cut a slot in the other end of the rod and cross drill a hole for a small nut and bolt with a matching hole in the blade and the frame is done. The blade itself is just a section of busted bandsaw blade and the tensioning string comes from a old pair of converse all stars.
I have done a few test cuts and found it a bit different than a standard tenon saw. Obviously the hand positioning is not he same and the extra bulk above the blade is a bit strange but you soon get used to it and being able to saw two handed is a nice bonus. The blade is a little agressive but I haven,t snapped any other blades yet so this one will do for now. It also means I can replace my plastic handled atrocity, maybe to be recycled into some srapers.
Interesting note. In a book on ancient crafts of the middle east it,s noted that in Syria they use these saws on the pull stroke japanese style rather than pushing it like the Europeans. I,ve tried both ways and think i will stick to pushing my saws, it just feels more normal for me.