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The floating panel was hand cut with a panel raising plane. The plane was made by James Moir of Glasgow, Scotland in 1836. It has a skew blade and cuts beautifully.
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I used a Stanley #289 skew rabbit plane to bring front and back of the panel to just under 1/4" and a depth of 3/8" to sit in the coping.
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Here is the panel dry fitted. I attached a medallion - feeling artistic!
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Glue-up.
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