Dovetail Plane Iron

One of the accessories I want to make to accompany my new Japanese tool box is a traditional Japanese planning board, complete with sliding dovetailed “feet.”   Since the only dovetail plan I owned was really too small for such a task a new one needed to be made from a derelict 1-inch rabbet plane body.

Once the new sole angle was established to match my dovetail gauge it was time to re-make an old iron to serve the intended purpose.  Placing the old iron in the body showed how much steel needed to be removed to get the cutting iron and the sole angle to match each other.

I highlighted the iron with marker and shooting a line from the new sole surface against the un-beveled side of the iron with a carbide scribe I now knew how much steel to grind away.

I ground the new line with no bevel to establish that line perfectly.

Once that was done I ground away most of the bevel on the power grinder and then finished it off by hand on my granite block and 60 grit abrasive belt.

I moved on to 120 grit and set the iron in place to assess the fit.

Perfectamundo.