Yeah you read that right… I’m using horseshoes to make router planes. I got to thinking about it some time ago when I was watching James at Wood By Wright and I asked if he had ever thought about making a router plane with a horseshoe… I mean the shape for the base is right there already.
So what I have done for the very first one is to laminate some plywood together since it’s about the only other native wood in Florida besides pine lol. Once I have it all laminated together I used some 2 ton epoxy and horseshoe nails to secure the horseshoe to the bottom of the plywood stack. From there it was just a matter of cutting around the horseshoe on the bandsaw and then opening up the mouth.
I still have to make the opening in the body of the plane for the cutter to come through and I haven’t really decided how I’m going to secure the cutter in place… my options are a traditional wedge or a thumbscrew… I hate having choices.
Anyhow take a look. I will also be making a smaller one, and possibly a much larger one. The cutoff from the first one is just the right size to make the smaller one but I might have to cut off the nails some as I know they’ll pop out the other side…. could be cool to include that as a feature, we’ll see.
