Krenov-style Luthier Plane

I was recently asked on YouTube if a Krenov-style plane could be made very small for use in luthiery. Those planes are typically brass, which allows for small wall thicknesses and compound curves and therefore very small planes. The smallest on the Lee Valley website is only 25mm (1″) long with an 8mm (5/16″) blade.

My initial thought was that it was not possible, but after a little more thought I decided to “build” one on SketchUp to see what I could (theoretically) come up with. I think it could work, with some limitations. I knew the wood cross-pin would take up too much room, so I started with a 1/8″ brass rod. It’s plenty strong and shouldn’t be difficult to purchase. The rest is just scaling everything down; I used 1/8″ sides and assumed a blade thickness of 1/16″. Here’s what I came up with.

I think it would be difficult to go much smaller, although I would build one to see how it works out and go from there to further miniaturize things. You can get blades from StewMac, and while on their site I saw that they also sell wood luthier planes, although much larger than I show here (maybe that says something…).

Many (most?) luthier planes have curved bottom soles, so that will add to the complexity, but it’s certainly doable; Krenov made many planes with that feature.

And that’s as far down this rabbit hole I’m willing to travel…