> On Aug 16, 2022, at 1:34 PM, scottg  wrote:
> 
> There were several companies that sold infill castings.
> I expect this is surely one of those.
> My guess is, the original creator didn't know enough about planes to start
with, and made his throat too wide. (I have done this myself when I was starting
out)
>   Then when he did figure it out, he realized all he had to do was line the
blade bed with brass, and closed that throat right up.
> 

I suspect Scott is correct here. The extra brass certainly adds weight to the
plane but is critical to the throat. Could have been well planned, or a good fix
to an error. The stuffing is fixed with screws from both sides so has cracked in
the middle thru shrinkage. I doubt a manufacturer would have used wood that was
not optimally dried for the stuffing. Other than that it is very well made. The
screw that locks the blade down is steel while they typically seem to be brass.

Bill