My question is -- can one of these blanks be used to make an entire
hand plane out of lignum? In particular, (1) is the wood dry and
stable after curing for 50 years underneath the wax coating? I've
never dealt with wet lignum, but I can tell you that even dry lignum
is very reactive. After almost every cut, you have to resquare the
wood because it moves so much. (2) Other than the problem of grain
orientation of the plane bottom, is there anything about a
face-centered blank that I should be concerned about?

you usually don't want the center in your woodworking as it is pretty unstable.
but once LV is dry it stays put. I found when I used it for soles I had to cut
it and leave it for a couple weeks atleast before I used it. this was stuff that
sat around for a long time. it's hard to tell when it is really dry.


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