Your project is moving along quite well. I wish I could have as much shop time as you do….

Regarding your planing issue, I strongly advise you to read Chris Schwarz latest posts on http://blog.lostartpress.com/. Chris has been covering the subject of tear-out quite extensively.

When you’re planing a board along the grain you can go with or against the grain, move you finger tips on the surface of the wood and you’ll usually feel which way you should be planing. If the first swipe causes lots of tear-out just flip the board around…. In some cases the grain may change direction in the middle of the board, this is when things start to complicate…

Keeping your planes sharp is always a good idea, but the smoothers are the ones you want ultra sharp, these are the planes you finish the board with and where you don’t want tear-out to occur.

Squaring a piece of wood with handplanes is quite a skill and getting the first face flat may require you to go over a few boards before you can get that perfectly flat board. After you get one face flat you can use a marking gauge to mark the thickness you want and plane the opposite face.

When you plane a board you should keep a straightedge nearby and check your board constantly to see where your high and low spots are. Mark the high spots with a pencil or chalk and attack those spots.

In the end you should be able to take a full length shaving (at least on the small pieces you’re working on).

I advise you to read David Finck’s book on wooden planes. The book has one chapter covering planing methods and I believe it would be a great help to you.

This is the book:
http://www.dovetailkid.com/2007/05/making-and-mastering-wood-planes.html

You can also make a wooden handplane which will be a great project!