: Am I crazy or can I bevel the edges with a block plan and still get
: a fair, tight fit?

You can get good results either way, and you can also get bad results either way. The answer depends on what you are trying to do and you skills with the tools.

If you are building a simpe design in which one strip allways buts up against another board in a fairly straight line, B&C is by far the easiest way. If you go this way, fill the football in a manner that minimizes the need to screw with the bevelled edge. You can plane off the bead on the last strip that makes up the football, the fill the football with straight strips, starting at the king strip. That way, you only have to plane the outside edge of the last few feet of the strips you use to fill the football.

If you are embedding curved strips in a pattern, have an intrical shape, or for some other reasone will be joining lots of strips in something other than a side-by-side patter - then a hand-beveled edge will be easier.

This has been my experience, and I am sure others will have a different take on it.

bvs