I've finished the smoothing plane today. I started by gluing and shaping the piece of maple missing because of my first mistake. This was shaped using a 7" slope. I like the feel of this as I push the plane.
I also shaped the end to fit the palm of my hand. I took it over the Lens shop to try using his spoke shave. After it appeared that the shaver was only burnish the hard purple heart wood, we decided to use the table sander to shape it. Purple heart burns VERY easily, but with almost no down pressure it can be machine sanded. In this way we finished the 7" curve across the top and the 2" curves across the back. I took a bit of the edge off with a coping saw and sanded again to create a ball like grip at the back.
Finally I finished it with one coat of Tung Oil. This is were purple heart shines. It finishes to a deep reddy purple - absolutely beautiful wood. I then sharpened the blade and set it. I pulled out a piece of Canary Wood I had left over from another project. The shavings came off in nice thin papery ribbons. Success. This will be a great addition to my work shop and a point of pride when I show off my tools.
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