Begun. Lumix M4/3 14mm

I have been able to throw some time at the latest woodworking project, a blanket chest.  Last week, a visit to a Cambridge lumber yard yielded some excellent walnut stock.  It didn't come cheap, but I only needed a small amount to supplement what I already had on hand.  Today's task was planing what will be the big, chunky base molding of the chest.  The profile I chose needs two different cutters, mounted in two combination planes.  On the left is a simpler Record plane which cuts the bead.  To the right is the venerable, and quite unique Stanley #55 which cuts the big cove.  There's a sequence to how the cuts must be made: first the bead, then the cove.  The work is all done before the  planed molding is ripped from the walnut plank.  This way, it can be securely mounted in the bench vice.  Working with the Stanley is a challenge, especially with a big cutter removing a lot of material with each pass.  I spent some time on the sharpening stones before to ensure the cove cutter was razor sharp.  There's a lot of fine adjusting of all those knobs and thumbscrews to make sure the tool is working optimally.  Then it's just muscle.  It gets easier from here; the frame parts have a much more delicate profile derived from a smaller cutter.