Coffin smoother converted to compass duty *PICS*
Scott in Douglassville, PA
>Hi, everyone -
Ok, so here's the latest project: I needed a compass/spoon-type plane to work Windsor seats. Somehow, Santa didn't come through on the Crown compass plane I asked for, so it was up to me. I found an old 6" coffin smoother on eBay for $4 plus shipping:
I took measurements from the Crown plane and transferred the axial radius to the plane and bandsawed it to shape. After that, I laid out the normal radius from the Crown, and set to work with my Stanley 18.
When the body was the way I wanted it, I Sharpied-up the bevel of the iron, installed it, and scribed the profile at the mouth. Some careful work with a grinder, then some tedious wet grinding to establish the bevel, and the iron was perfect.
Ended up something like this:
As you can see, the mouth is fairly wide (the term "gaping maw" has been bandied about), but the plane makes some pretty doggone fine 2x4 shavings. Since this is only ever going to see pine and poplar, I'm not to concerned right now.
I have a couple seats to saddle presently, and after the run-through, the plane'll be getting a few coats of BLO and a good waxing.
Thanks for looking.
Scott, butcher of fine planes since 2006