The wood used to make this pocket plane is Afzelia Quanzensis which comes from Mozambique and Angola , and it is a great wood for planes because it is very stable. It will go much darker with time and use.

Waterproof exterior wood glue has been used for assembly of the parts.

The blade is O1 oil hardening tool steel, professionally hardened and heat treated  by New Zealand's premier heat treatment company, Heat Treatments, in Auckland to Rockwell 62-63. These blades will be easy to sharpen and will hold an edge well under average working conditions. The primary bevel is ground at 25° and honed at 30° which is standard practice.

The pocket plane is designed to be simple and for convenient general use. To set the blade one merely places the plane on a flat wooden surface, inserts the blade with moderate downward pressure and tightens the screw- this should give a light to medium cut . There is some room for lateral adjustment which can be gauged by eye or feel before fully tightening the screw. There is no need to use a hammer to set the blade projection and it is preferable to take light cuts with a sharp blade at all times. Although The blade is honed "straight across" and is recommended that the blade should have a very slight curve, with the corners removed- the slight curvature is attained by pressing more on the sides of the blade when honing and this is facilitated by use of a simple Eclipse or Veritas MKII type honing guide.

Philip recommends the use of white candle wax to lubricate the sole. The wood can be oiled or waxed occasionally  to keep it "nice".

We expect this plane to be generally useful for carpentry and building purposes.

Philip tried to "make a nice job " of the brass parts because this is where he has noted that some mass producers try to save money at the cost of appearance and sometimes function too. Hence the "good" knurling, screw detail and generous cap proportions.

• Blade thickness: 4mm
• Blade width: 32mm 
• Overall length: 150mm
• Overall width: 53mm
• Weight:  374g

Made by Philip Marcou in New Zealand