possible solution
John Truxell-Svenson (jvs)
>There is a discussion in Cecil Pierce' 50 Years a Planemaker of using a junker plane sole for the substrate after scraping it dead flat. He used a block plane and very high grits for final finishing, but there is no reason the same thing couldn't be done with a #5+ "accidental chisel plane" to give a larger surface. Hand-scraping looks like a lot of work, but a machine shop could do it, too.
I'm happy with maple for the moment, but it is on the list of things to try on a break from making things.
/jvs