Infill progress

Finally! I knew I could get my rear end kicked into gear on this thing. I got the sole squared and cut to size and pierced the mouth. I originally set out to do most of this work with a hack saw and files. Like all smart (ok...slightly better than stupid) people with access to a mill, I decided that 100% hand work was not practical. If I had a large disk or belt sander at my house, I would have used those. Anyway, I ran the sole through the bandsaw and milled the final dimensions.

The bottom of the sole. By piercing at an angle in the mill I was able to get an accurate angle for the mouth. My hope is that this will save me work later. There is a little bit of work to do by hand to square off the mouth.

This will be the inside.

 I made the decision to go with a 1 1/2" iron, bedded at 55 degrees. I also decided that I would drop to a 5 1/2" length. The toughest part, which wasn't that tough, was figuring the actual dimension that I needed. I elected to have about .010" play on either side of the iron (or just a bit more). I added in the width of the sides, 3/16" each, and then threw in just a bit of slop that will get banged away during the dovetail process.
Being my first, this is all experimentation, so we'll see. I set the sole in the mill with the bottom facing up at a 35 degree angle...which leaves a 55 degree bedding angle on the inside. I almost did that backwards, but luckily I caught myself before the mill touched the sole. I laid out the mouth and used a 1/4" mill to remove the metal. The corners need to be filed square, and some fitting will have to occur when I set the iron.