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Part 2: I summoned all of my limited metal-working skills & made a 3 & a 5mm iron from some 1080 steel, & hardened the tips: Finally, after a bit of fettling which mostly involved levelling the skate, I took it for a test drive: It's not the most comfortable plane to hold onto, but works...

I got a bee in my bonnet a little while ago & started making miniature tools, just for the challenge. The most ambitious one to date is a half-sized plough plane based on one I acquired about 30 years ago. It came to me in very rough shape, and someone has removed all traces the maker's stamp...

I did use my 80 for some of it, but the table top is made as multiple frame & panel sections (it was custom-made for him a few decades ago by an old Spanish carpenter, ostensibly to a traditional design), and neither the fit of the panels nor the surface finish were terribly precise. It...

I use card scrapers a lot, but usually only for small areas and the job is finished before my thumbs complain too loudly. Recently, I helped a neighbor scrape thick poly varnish off a very large table & my thumbs soon let me know they were not going to serve for the duration of that job! So I...

Ah the dangers of guessing what a species of wood may be from a picture! It's interesting to note that most guessers were applying names of species more or less local & familiar to you. Discovering it's an African piece chucks a whole lot more possibilities into the guess-pot. It may well be...

If by "basic" carving you mean something like this: Then you certainly don't need much in the way of tooling. I have a couple of dozen carving tools collected over the years, but I did those Eucalypt leaves with a skew, a small flat chisel (with a bent end, but an ordinary small flat chisel...

Personally, I wouldn't do anything too radical or irreversible to it. My guess is that the original 'tote' had a metal plate screwed to the bottom of it, which slid into the dovetailed receiver on the sole. Or the wood of the tote was just dovetailed to make a very tight fit. [Edit: :( I...

Ok, I should have said "any ebony I've met". ;) I have used very little ebony, and most of what I have used came from Sri Lanka, plus a few lots of "Macassar" ebony. The latter comes from a broad area and can be one of a few different species, apparently, so I could not tell you exactly which...

I think that's far & away the most sensible approach. Hollows & rounds are fine for making larger mouldings, but would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut making one short section of simple moulding. A short piece like that is a doddle to make with a "scratch stock", which itself takes...

:D The wood Derek used (& I used a very close relative) is a good deal harder than any ebony, so I don't think you need worry about that aspect! It's also very stable, once dry. Mine has been in service for quite a while now & is as true as the day it was made. In any case, a router plane is...

Years (& years) ago I bought a 71 at a flea market for what was a bargain price even then - not much more than 50p in your terms. But for some reason(s) we just never got along as a happy couple (& I'm prepared to accept full responsibility for that!). Then about 8 or 10 years ago Derek...

If you don't have a lathe & you are not overly fussed by plastic, just tidy your handles up a bit with rasp & files, scraper, sandpaper or whatever combination you have to hand so they'll be more comfortable then go ahead & tidy up the blades & use 'em. Personally, I have an aversion to plastic...

Possibly, & I'm sure body position is a big factor, but I'm not sure that is the whole answer. I & a few of my contemporary apprentices made the same observation (that you seem to be able to apply more torque with a longer driver than a short one), many decades ago. It holds for me whether...

Also a familiar experience, Henniep! Although I have several children, none has shown any interest in woodwork other than to ask me to make them the occasional item or fix something around their houses. They're now in their 40s & I don't see any signs of a conversion, but I haven't lost hope...

Ah, the old "use vs collect" divide... :confused: "Genuine" collectors are against us "users" in one way - they drive up prices and lock away what may be eminently usable tools. On the other hand, they do 'preserve' the tools and some may even fall into the hands of an appreciative user...

Well the good news is, at least some of the inherited tools will be an order of magnitude better to use than some plastic-handled, tool-like object that feels utterly lifeless. :) I have two particular tools from my dad that are precious both for their connection & because they are just good...

Jacob, I think we've reached a Mexican standoff, so let's agree to disagree once more. But do have a little think about the mechanics of a Bailey frog/blade sometime & you may see that this statement (from the site you linked to): " The Record two-part cap iron changes the way the cutter is...

Hmm, your analysis of forces & mine give some different results, Jacob. With a standard lever cap, pressure is applied on the blade assembly at two positions, the toe & under the cam. The force on the retaining screw is the sum of these two forces in the opposite direction. I've only ever...

I suspect it was simply a matter of demand. I can't find what they cost new compared with the ordinary 4s & 5s, but they probably cost more being a specialty line, so only those who needed/wanted the ruggedness would have sought them out. The average punter would have been unlikely to either...

Jacob, I don't know how you manage to get your Bailey type lever-caps to apply pressure at 3 points? The retaining screw is a fulcrum point & counters the pressure under the cam-lock & the toe. In my understanding, pressure (on the blade assembly} is applied at those two points only. The...