Front plate
This is a pretty self-explanatory process – first I need to cut the plate to size, then cut the dovetail joints to fit it to the sidewalls. The sizing of the plate is fairly straightforward – it’s the height of the sidewall pieces above the dovetails – in this case, the sidewall stock is 2″ wide, minus 5/16″ for the sole, and another 1/16″ for peining material. So the remainder is 1-5/8″ tall (I measure the piece itself as a check). In width, the plate needs 2-1/8″ for the interior of the plane, with 2 x 3/16″ for each sidewall, and an additional 1/8″ for peining material on either side – this gives me a width of 2-5/8″.
and then they’re filed. Flip the plate and repeat. Next, mark the ‘pins’ from this piece at either end of the sidewall stock… pay close attention to the orientation that will result after the bend – there is nothing more frustrating than cutting a perfect dovetail that is flared in the wrong direction, scrapping a sidewall piece you’ve already got a half-dozen or so hours into… or so I’ve been led to believe.
Here’s the fit of one side. Ideally, you want this fit tight enough that it requires some light hammer taps to seat or remove the piece – that makes for very easy peining later on. In reality, you can get away with a good bit more slop than that, but it’s a lot more work later…
Bridge tenons
It is infinitely easier to fit the bridge tenons before bending the sidewalls, so I cut the bridge piece from 5/16″ stock, and cut/file the tenons in place. I will finish the actual shaping of the bridge a bit later, but for now I want to get the fit for the bridge correct before I bend the sidewalls up. The tenons themselves are really straightforward – cut, remove some metal, file a bit and – voilá! The only tricky part of this exercise is filing the shoulder in place on the tenons. Once I’ve got the tenons themselves cut I have to remove about 1/16″ of material from the top face of each . This gives a nice shoulder, and a substantially nicer aesthetic fit to the bridge when the plane is completed. Here’s one side of the bridge, ready for the shoulder operation:
What I’ll do is use the vise jaws as a guide to cut to depth with my hacksaw – this will make it much easier to get the filing depth correct in a minute. I’m careful not to cut deeper than my 1/16″ depth, as cutting beyond that point will substantially reduce the strength of the tenons:
Once the cut is made, I use the jaws again as a guide, this time for a pillar file used horizontally to remove the face material from the tenons ( you can’t actually see the tenons behind the file, but trust me – they’re there.)
Once you’ve gotten to depth, flip the bridge and repeat on the other side. A few test fits and refinements, and you’re left with the bridge piece looking something like this:
Be certain you have a perfect test fit on either side of the sidewall piece (and pay very close attention to orientation). You want a fit that is easily pressed in place without much resistance, but not too sloppy – you must be able to get the bridge in place after the bending operation without too much trouble. Here is one side’s test fit: