Today, I completed a pair of plane maker’s floats.  If you’re unfamiliar, floats are a sort of a hybrid between a rip saw and a file.  They are used to produce a flat surface in the recesses of a wooden plane body.  I have long wanted to try my hand at making traditional hand carved wooden planes, and so a few specialized tools are needed.

The top float pictured will cut on the push stroke; the bottom one, on the pull stroke.  They were made by two slightly different methods, resulting in a slightly higher tooth per inch count on the pull stroke float.  Time will tell if it makes any difference.  Both are made from O1 tool steel that is not hardened beyond the temper that it was shipped with.  They are manufactured and sharpened by hand filing (lots and lots of hand filing).

Since this was my first attempt at making floats, I’m not completely satisfied with the result.  On the other hand, they are quite serviceable and should do the job as expected.