Making a wedge

The first jack plane is soaking in linseed oil. On to the next one. I am now finishing the failed attempt of two weeks ago, the one where I mortised too much to the side and damaged the area of the abutments. Well, I got myself a wider iron so I could move the mortise a bit to the side, so to speak. The blank was wide enough, so no problems in the overall width of the plane.

Well, the rest is the same as the first jack plane. Practice helps, everything goes a little quicker now. I got a nice photo sequence of making the wedge, so here it is.

First I make a paper template, fitted to the situation at hand. I use that template to mark the piece of wood.

I cut the wedge angle with a handsaw. This is so much easier and so much safer then the tablesaw!

Cutting the wedge fingers with a bow saw.

These capirons have a nice bulbous brass nut. Very decorative, but you need to make room for that in the backside of the wedge. A job for the gouges. It doesn't need to be terribly precise.

Now the wedge can be fitted into the plane and the fit can be fine tuned. First thing to watch for is a tight fit in the width, It should glide in rather smoothly, but the tips of the fingers should press to the sides of the abutment mortise to avoid a shaving trap. Next is fitting the wedge shape. That is a matter of fitting, looking where I need to take off a shaving of wood, etc. I use a very thin feeler gauge to feel where the fit is still lacking. Again, it should be tightest down at the finger tips.

And this is how it looks in the plane, nice and tight.