As you might have noticed I am in the process of building a series of wooden planes at the moment. I spent at least 8 months collecting info in the form of a book, a DVD, heaps of articles, and dozens of Google images on the topic. During this time I also consulted (and still do) my number one source of sound woodworking advice in the form of Deneb Puchalski of Lie-Nielsen.

During the last few days before diving into the actual building process, I made up a Word document with the most pertinent bits of information such as measurements for the positioning of the cross-pin, positioning of the toe and heel piece relative to each other, etc etc. I then printed it and got it laminated as you can see in the pictures below. I keep the two pages (actually four if you consider that they are printed on both sides) of information on my assembly table while I work away at the planes. It is very handy to simply lean across to check a particular measurement or what ever the case might be.

I deliberately did not take close-up photos for fear of violating copyright, but I guess you can get the idea. Anyway, in terms of measurements, I found the article entitled “Wood planes made easy” by David Finck in Fine Woodworking Magazine (January/February 2008 page 72-77) very helpful and it forms the bulk of my document. He also wrote a book entitled “Making & Mastering Wood Planes”, which would be good to get hold of.