Mortising

Finishing up the mortising

Having removed as much material as I dare, as quickly as I can, it's time now to clean up the mortise and start to define it with some light tapping and paring:

I try to always keep an eye on the angles drawn on the side.  Some use a jig such as a board cut at the proper angle - I just freehand it.  The next picture gives a better idea of what I'm talking about, and starts showing the change in angle at the front of the mouth, which will lead me shortly to the shallow mortise made previously on the bottom of the plane.  I also make sure to leave between 1/32" and 1/16" that will be smoothed out later.

Success! Here is where I start breaking through to the mortise made underneath earlier:

Before attempting to chop out the mortise wedge, a couple of saw cuts help to define the front and back of the pocket, and reduce tear out while chiseling it out.

I used a razor saw - specifically a "Zona" saw for these cuts, and was wholly unsatisfied with it.  I have a cheap compass saw that cost something like $4.25 - but I might as well have tried cutting it with a butter knife.  Ack, the garbage they sell nowadays.  I think the best solution, though I don't have one, might be a flush cutting saw.  Actually, I've got an old saw that's lived past its useable lifetime - it might make for a good keyhole saw that would...  oh, that's another project.  Carry on...