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OK, you seem to be making progress; a bit of attention to edge preparation should get you there.... But it raises the question to me of why you are using a scraper on Beech? Admittedly, my experience of northern hemisphere Beech woods is limited, but what I have used was easily-worked stuff...

Mark, to test if the burr is the source of your problem, just re-do it. Hold the burnisher flat along the back & run it along the edge a few times to flatten the existing burr, then re-form it, paying careful attention to the angle. This won't do any harm, in fact it will form a slightly more...

Mark, you may be starting with he blade protruding too far. To set mine, I sit it on a smooth block of hardwood & slip in the blade til it makes light contact with the wood, then tighten it up. With no tension on the bowing screw, it should barely cut at all. You then dial in the amount of...

What AndyT said. Chattering is typically caused by taking too big a bite, especially with a not-too-sharp blade. Are you burring your blade? When I first started using one of these I also found it hit & miss & eventually traced the problem to over-doing the burr. To get it to cut at all I...

Thanks for the encouragement, HH. Yep, it all makes sense to me, I guess I have enough experience to recognise what you are describing. It's funny, in a way, you started out with the most difficult body to assemble (at least I think so!), and used way heavier side material than I would have...

I don't see anything unusual in your approach, HH, mine has much in common. I think my working sketches are rougher than yours, but "working with the material I happen to have in hand" sounds very familiar! 😀 With planes, there are a few design details to be observed, like using a suitable...

Thanks all, for the compliments... HH, a slightly different solution to the same problem, but what works, works eh? I would have been nervous about breaking the ground-down file too, I've snapped the tips off few of them sharpening saws! I was rather annoyed with myself because I thought I'd...

Not too sure about hat, D.W., I think Spiers & Mathieson both made cast bodies from quite early on, but I've never seen even specuation on what proportion were cast & what faabricated. You need to look very closely at any old infill & even then it can be awful hard to tell if it is or isn't...

That little plane is not too shabby at all, Richard. :) By the looks of that, I think you are more than ready to tackle your magnum opus. It's very similar to the one I just posted, 'inspired' by the Norris 31/32 series. It's only a tiddler at about 125mm long & with a 32mm blade, a similar...

Unfortunately, no, Richard. Local merchants just don't carry 4mm as far as I can find. I found my bit on the interweb but have not seen any more since - I must've got the last bit! All I can find now are large, full sheets, which are well out of my budget range. As I complained, over here...

My initial intention was to make a thumb plane with a round back, similar to a Norris 32. But then I thought I might want to add a screw adjuster, and the thin side-wall material would not have been suitable to take the stud for the thumb wheel, so I scotched the bent side idea and instead fixed...

Well, I'm glad you checked the sides on your planes, D.W., because that's more like what I'd expect. I've read the 3/16" quote in several places & had begun to believe it. My eyes tell me that it doesn't look so thick in the pics of old panel planes, but i's hard to make accurate judgements...

What size piece? Sounds like you'll have enough for several planes... Five mm thick will make pretty solid sides. I used 4mm for my 13 incher, which looked in proportion, but that's a hard thickness to find in smaller quantities. I believe Spiers et al used 3/16" steel for sides on their...

Richard, the brass will saw like butter, but I cut both brass and steel with the jewellers saw. However, as I said, only use premium blades on steel and try to get the coarsest cut you can (not always easy, jewellers suppliers carry lots of the finer blades but not many keep stock of the really...

Richard, I like O1 for soles for the reason DW stated, it comes flat & clean. Cleaning up mild steel is a pain in the arms. I've used both hot- & cold-rolled, and while the latter is a bit less work to clean, it's only marginally less. I also find O1 no harder to saw, or cut with a cutoff...

While 260 has excellent cold-working properites, it's awful hard to come by 260 sheet or flat bar down in this corner of the world. Most merchants in Aus. only carry C3800 in the sorts of sizes a planemaker wants - don't know if that's the case in NZ, but I suspect it may be similar to here...

Go for it, Richard, but do your arm & elbow exercises diligently for a month before you start. I've done two panel planes now, both with 300mm sides & soles about 335mm long. The amount of cutting & filing can't be 10 times what it takes for a small smoother, but it sure feels that way, and...

Can't say I suffer that problem, Richard. I make tools to use and (as long as they're usable), I use them! My first-ever infill has had a trip to the floor (clumsy oaf I am!), but sustained nothing more than a graze on its nose, and remained gratifyingly rock-solid, so I feel little stress in...

Nah, I'm primarily a tool user, not maker. I have sold a few 'spares' but it's hardly what you'd call a profitable business at the pace I work! :) I often wonder what the rate of production was at Spiers or Norris in their heyday. 'Tis often written that infills cost more than a journeyman...

Richard, I don't know of sources other than the Tool Exchange or Hans Brunner. Neither is cheap. Hans does know his stuff and his prices reflect the inflated market values for name-brands. The Tool exchange bloke seems to have nfi, and asks prices for some things that are way out of line -...