Working with tools is great, but making tools themselves takes the craft and the resulting satisfaction to another level. Over the years I’ve made a variety of hand tools; it’s something I allow myself as a little treat in between the projects that really need doing.
On this occasion the tool is a flush plane, which is used for trimming dowels and other protrusions down to flush with the surrounding wood. It’s a tool that is available commercially, but it’s also something that is relatively straightforward to make.
I used a spare block plane blade for this one, something that has been lying in a workshop drawer for years awaiting a meaningful use. The block is carefully fitted to the shape of the blade and then its held in place with rare earth magnets.
The timber is Cocobolo, which regular readers will know comes up from time to time as a favourite timber of mine, except this time it was different. The project went well and as ever the timber finished to a nice glossy lustre. Having gone to bed as usual, I awoke in the middle of the night with difficulty catching my breath and what I can only describe a strange sense of impending doom. For several days afterwards I felt unwell and I must therefore conclude that I have become intolerant to Cocobolo. It is said of this timber that you are either allergic to it, or you’re going to be. As a result, I’ve given away the bits I had left to a woodworking friend and have no plans to work with it again.
In years to come the flush plane will be there to remind me that this was Cocobolo’s last stand.
Ed
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Things we make 
Lee Poteet
October 8, 2011
A really beautiful piece of work. It would be a pleasure to work with, almost enticing one to built things which would require its use. Very sneaky, that.
Kitt
October 8, 2011
That’s lovely. I didn’t know one could become allergic to a kind of wood. Will you have a reaction if you handle the block plane?
thingswemake.co.uk
October 8, 2011
No reaction to the finished article, it’s purely a problem with the dust that results from working it, sanding being the worst offender. Allergic reactions to tropical hardwoods are not uncommon, especially after some exposure over time. It’s not the end of the world, just best avoided.