
I am a woodworker who works 100% without power tools. I
needed to make a tool to re-saw thick boards into thinner boards
and to make my own banding and veneers.
Tom Fidgen’s kerfing plane was the
tool I needed to build. I used the design in Tom’s book,
The
Unplugged Woodshop, for the plane and added a moveable bridle
fence of my own design.
Now mind you, I’ve never built a
plane or a saw. I have never handled a wooden bridled plane, but
I certainly have admired photos of old plough planes with
bridled fences. Building this bridled kerfing plane was a leap
of faith. I would have to work with the tools I had and figure
it out as I went. Whether or not it worked in the end, I knew I
would learn a lot from attempting this build. Indeed, I did.
As with any of my projects, I began
by designing the plane with layout tools to get my measurements
and to later create a template for hand shaping the plane. It
was also important to incorporate the location and actual
dimensions of the blade I would be using as well as the
placement of the holes for the saw-plate nuts that hold the
blade into the plane.

Once my walnut plane blank was dimensioned and planed flat and
square, it was time to saw the blade slot. Careful attention to
the depth of the cut was critical in order to ensure that the
blade extended ½” below the base of the plane when installed.

Up next was to drill the stepped holes for the saw-nuts with
Forstner and brad-point bits. These holes needed to be drilled
to the exact depth of the saw-nuts in order to seat flush with
the plane.

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