The Proof is in the Shavings!

Trial Run

     Some of you may remember the old advertisement whose tag line was "the proof is in the pudding", hope I'm not showing my age but that's what came to mind when I took the now completed scrub plane for a test run.  Look at those shavings!  See the concave tracks made by the blade?  Beautiful, I couldn't ask for more.
   

Purpleheart Sole and Mouth View

     The blade from Ron Hock is fantastic, I honed it on a 1000 grit then 8000 grit waterstone which only took a couple of minutes to accomplish.  The throat on the plane is large enough to pass some pretty large pieces which is what you want from a scrub plane.  It's all about hogging off the warped or cupped section of a board.

Final Picture

     For the finish I used the same three part mix I use on my furniture.  It's equal parts of boiled linseed oil, pure gum turpentine, and polyurethane.  This was rubbed in with 320 grit, wet/dry paper then wiped dry.  I'll do a couple more coats and then we're done.
     Very enjoyable project, one of those that I'll be reminded of every time  I grab this plane!  If you are now inspired to possibly make your own plane, Ron Hock sells complete kits on his website that include everything you need, even the wood.  I have a link to his website on my blog.  They are of the classic James Krenov design and don't have the tote and handle I've added to mine.  If you want to make a scrub plane from the kit he'll substitute the straight blade for a radiused one like I used.