Bullnose plane refurb

My wife and I have decided to do some house renovations so unfortunately there won’t be much plane making happening in the shop this year. I will however be taking a little time here and there to fix up some old tools that I have acquired. The first is this old, gunmetal bullnose plane.

As you can see from the photo it needs a new blade, wedge and a good tune up. (Click on any photo to enlarge).

First I mark out the new blade on a piece of ⅛” thick, 01 tool steel.

I make sure that I saw close to my layout line so I don’t have to do too much filing.

Then I file the bevels.

The new blade next to the old one.

I send the blade to the heat-treaters and then make sure that the bed angle is true.

Now I concentrate on lapping the sole and sides.

A little extra pressure here and there while lapping is how I fine tune for squareness. I use the old blade and wedge while lapping so I can keep working while the new blade is being heat treated. After I get the blade back and sharpened, I can make the new wedge.

I decided to use a cutoff of Kingwood for the new wedge and I think that it polished up quite nicely.

A couple of short afternoons of work and I have another handy little plane for the toolbox.