3 spare XSNo.4’s

 

Over the last couple of months I have been picking away at a few spare planes. I was looking through the shelves of roughed out sets and 2 of them jumped out at me immediately. The birds-eye Boxwood and the Desert Ironwood burl sets needed to be made. I also noticed a lonely Ebony set and recalled a naval brass lever cap and sides that I have never used. I usually prefer bronze to naval brass, but there is something about Ebony and naval brass that I have always liked. As I thought about these 3 sets, it occurred to me that each of these could be configured slightly differently which would illustrate how different materials interact with each other with very different effects. 

The Boxwood plane would have looked wonderful with either steel or bronze sides. Part of the thinking was how the Boxwood will patina in time. The yellow cast will fade and it will turn to a mellow straw color which will look quite striking with the patina that will develop on the bronze. I used brass cross pins to keep the sides a little cleaner, but used a steel cross pin for the lever cap.

 This XSNo.4 is 5-1/2" long with a 1-7/16" wide high carbon steel blade. The bed angle is 52.5 degrees. The Boxwood has been lightly oiled an finished with a coat of paste wax. The price of this plane is $1,850.00 Cdn + actual shipping costs.

The Desert Ironwood burl plane took a bit more thought. Steel sides was a given - but as I was working on it, I waffled on the lever cap material. I went so far as to take a photo of it and alter the color of the lever cap in Photoshop. Stainless was the winner because it looks wicked and meant each of the planes would have a different sidewall and lever cap materials.

 This XSNo.4ss is 5-1/2" long with a 1-7/16" wide high carbon steel blade. The bed angle is 52.5 degrees. The Desert Ironwood has 12 coats of French polish. The price of this plane is $2,050.00 Cdn + actual shipping costs.

The last plane in the trio is an Ebony filled XSNo.4. This plane has naval brass sides, lever cap and lever cap screw. I also used brass cross pins for a really clean look. I am quite pleased with how this little plane has turned out. The naval brass and Ebony look great together. The difference between the naval brass and bronze is subtle - but you can see it pretty clearly in the first photo at the top. I don’t think there are too many other woods that look good with naval brass - but Ebony certainly does.

 This XSNo.4 is 5-1/2" long with a 1-7/16" wide high carbon steel blade. The bed angle is 52.5 degrees. The Ebony has been lightly oiled and then 12 coats of French polish. The price of this plane is $1,800.00 Cdn + actual shipping costs.