Buck Rogers Inspired Wooden Smoother

Recently Tim Dahn posted a blog about refurbishing a Miller Falls # 709 “buck rogers” hand plane. He did a great job. These planes a very cool looking. A number of months ago I decided to make a reasonable facsimile. I used the Veritas Wooden Plane hardware kit to make my own Buck Rogers style smoother.

I already had a number of wood plane body blanks glued made up from various pieces of shop leftover and found this maple and mahogany one that was just about the right size. The maple is left over hardwood flooring and the mahogany is old door jambs salvaged from a home renovation project. I turned a mahogany knob and shaped a mahogany tote. The tote is attached to the plane body by a mortise and tenon joint.

The blade is 1 5/8 s inches wide and the plane is about 11 inches long. Its a little on the long side for a smoother but I was reluctant to remove too much wood from the plane body.

It took about 6 hours over two days to make this plane and the nice fresh bed of mahogany, maple and cherry shavings.

Its not perfect, but the good thing is I can always keep the plane hardware, throw out the body and make a new one.