On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:14:52 -0500, Steve wrote:

... has
anyone ever used ¼" or 5/16" brass rod, cut to length between the cheeks
for the wedge to work off of? ...

I believe that's exactly how David Marks did his:
http://djmarks.com/photo.asp?image=/photos/woodworks/606_handplane1.jpg

--
Joe Wells