Wooden Jack Plane Build - Final

The pine and poplar prototypes really helped me think through a lot of details for this plane.  One of the details concerned the location of the tote/handle.

The poplar prototype tote just seemed too far back

But you can see I have clear access to the iron with a hammer

The pencil is in line with the iron, showing good access to tap with the hammer

The front of the tote is about 1 1/2" from the back of the iron

This prototype is 15 1/4" long.  Due to stock limitations, the final plane only came out to 14 5/8" long.  While I moved the mouth forward a little bit to accommodate the shorter length, I was still concerned about the position of the tote.

Used the tote template to study the positioning.
Pencil is lined up with iron - tote gets in the way.

When I move the tote back enough to get clearance for adjusting the iron,
The rear of the tote is only 1/4" from the heel of the plane (see yellow pencil)

I had been thinking about this a while and did a "what if ..." scenario.  What if I cut away some of the height from the back of the plane, effectively lowering the tote.

Here, the tote is up closer to the tote, but not in the way of a hammer
adjusting the iron.  The tote is sunk into the plane body about 5/8".

While I was thinking about this, I made the tote, which came out really nice.

Lots of layout lines really help to get a nice result

The completed shape - with cutout at bottom right to allow it to fit into a rectangular mortise

Here it is next to the one it's modeled after

I ended up cutting the height of the rear portion of the plane down 5/8" and rounded the transition - somewhat "razee" style.  Then I mortised for the handle, being very careful about paring the walls vertically.  The tote fit perfectly into the mortise - after lots of fitting.

Here you can see the step-down at the rear

Another angle shows the back of the tote is about 3/4" from the heel

With this tote position, I can easily reach the iron, which helps stabilize the plane

The pics above show the plane after applying three coats of BLO that was thinned with some mineral spirits, then allowed to dry for a week.

And how does it work?  Holy crap!  This thing cuts like a dream.  The iron is cambered to make an aggressive cut and it really flies through some wood.  I got chills when using it.

Next up: using what I learned to make a try plane.