Just Finished 812-50S Smoothing Plane, Going to Maine

When I say "just finished" I mean "just finished", I began to shape the rear tote for this plane today just after lunch and about 7:00 pm I was applying the last bit of french polish. Shellac is wonderful stuff! This was the plane I needed to complete to be ready for the trip to Maine for the Lie-Nielsen 30th Anniversary Open House.

This is the first plane in which I used some of the Macassar Ebony billet for the tote and knob. Macassar Ebony is quite dense and quite hard to work, even more so than Gabon Ebony which is soft by comparison. However I have to admit it actually worked better with hand tools than with power tools. When working wood of this type with hand tools you get feedback thru the tool that lets you know to be careful, with power tools the feedback you get is the visual damage that occurs when it chips or tears out and then of course the hands tool have to clean up the mess the power tools left.

I'm sure these pictures don't do it justice, but the interplay between the dark and lighter areas is very pleasing to the eye and adds a lot of visual interest that's just not present in the solid black ebony we've used in the past. It almost looks as if someone swirled dark and milk chocolate together.

This 812-50S is one of my favorite planes. It's a true smoother with a sole length of 8 inches, the iron is 1.875" wide. The weight is 4 pounds 4 ounces and the balance is quite nice in the hand. This one is going with us to Maine so if you're attending the L-N event stop by and have a look.

The heat index in Georgia today was so high I won't even mention the numbers. Just looked at the 5 day forecast for Warren, Maine. High 70s during the day and high 50s for the overnight lows. I'm looking forward to a break from the heat!

Ron