Shaping of my smoothers is a lot easier and quicker than you may imagine. The glued up blank is marked up on the side and base, I use perspex templates.
The first cuts are to the heal and toe. Notice that the plane is bottom up so that the ragged edge is in the waste. The blade is a 1/2" 4 TPI which just about makes it round the curve!
Here is the result.
The plane is then turned on it's side and the two profile cuts are made.
Next comes the curved shaping of the rear end, this is potentially very dangerous and I'm just showing you how I do this shaping, I'm not recommending that you try it. Both James Krenov and Sam Maloof were advocates of this technique.
I always make sure I follow a number of rules 1. Make sure the work is in contact with the table at all times
2. Keep the hands away from the blade and above the point of cut.
3. Only remove a small amount of material at a time.
4. Cut slowly and never force the cut.
5. If the blade starts to grab, back the cut out and start again.
It takes me about 4 minutes to do all the shaping cuts and turn the plane blank into a comfortable and usable shape, albeit a bit rough!
Here is the shaped plane with it's offcuts, this dense wood burns very well, nothing goes to waste!
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