Any tips for making wooden planes?

I want to make myself a set of hand tools. I have a great woodworking shop available with almost any powertool you could ever need. However I would like to get more into hand tool woodworking and the ones I have available are not that great. So I decided that I will make the hand tools myself. I want to start with a set of planes. A box plane, champfer plane and two or three larger ones is what I have planned for now.

I make most of my projects out of Walnut, maple and purple heart. Would these be a good option for a plane? My idea is to use the purple heart as the base and walnut for the body with a few maple accents. Will I run into any unexpected problems if I use these woods? Will the purple heart rubbing with my work cause any staining or something?

Also what should I look into when picking my blades?