Just got done making a fore plane. I've never worked with beech before all my other planes have been yellow birch. Beech is a great to work with and I think easier than yellow birch.
The plane has a two inch cambered blade. I'm not real happy with the hardening job I did. I think that using torches on a blade this big is not enough heat. I will re-harden it in my forge and use a bigger oil bath for quenching.
The handle on on the plane is maple and the strike button is yellow birch. I copied the style of the plane from an existing antique. Even with the blade temper a bit off the plane works wonderful. Next I will make a small coffin plane and then a panel raising plane. All that will have to wait though as I need to paint the house:(
