After lots and lots of hatchet work and blisters, I have the Plan B dogwood ready for tiller.... and have wishes for a bandsaw!
This is some hard, dense, and tough wood! It doesn't chop easily and doesn't cut easily with even a hair-shaving, razor sharp drawknife. I was curious, so I did a poor man's SG check... cut a 6 inch long piece of wood and shape it to a square cross-section, and used calipers to make sure it was the same thickness the whole length. Then dunk in a glass of water and see how much of it floats. Based on this test, this piece of dogwood has a SG of about 0.85.
Anyway, got it ready for starting tiller. I have left it a little wide still, and a little thick. The knots I found earlier mostly disappeared during the shaping. One of the knots carved out while getting down to starting thickness, but left a swirly grain area. I am leaving this extra wide for now.
There are still some knots in the handle, but I will probably cut this down and laminate some knot free wood back on.
Happy Easter everyone!