Gunmetal & Mahogany Shoulder Plane

Here is a nice user-made gunmetal and mahogany shoulder plane with a sweated-on steel sole. The overall length of the plane is 7-1/2″ and it has a cutter width of 1-1/8″. The mahogany infill and wedge have darkened quite nicely with age.

Many infill planes similar to this started out life as a rough casting which could be purchased from various tool suppliers, planemakers and foundries. The buyer would then be expected to clean up the rough casting and then fit it with their own choice of infill — usually rosewood or ebony (if they could afford it) or other woods such as mahogany, walnut, beech, lignum vitae or even oak.

The various skill levels and design capabilities allowed the maker to personalise their infill plane, giving an almost infinite variety of designs for the collector and user.

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