Replies

1. 
   Justus | Oct 21, 2003 05:25pm | #1

   Yes, and if you watched the Woodwrights shop with Roy underhill on PBS Sat morning, you could too!

   It's a rabbiting plane with a built in depth stop. the knife in front of the main blade scores the cut, so you have a really nice cut across grain. It's a very nice tool. I wish I had three.

   Cheers

   Justus Koshiol

   Running Pug Construction

1. 
   TonyD | Oct 21, 2003 07:39pm | #2

   As being a newbie I have never made any rabbets by hand, so

   is this a good tool to make rabbets by hand or are there better ways?

2. 
   larry309 | Oct 21, 2003 08:48pm | #3

   I have a Mathieson & Sons, Glasgow, circa 1855, looks just like that make me a reasonable offer.

   larry

1. 
   Justus | Oct 22, 2003 05:07pm | #11

   Hey Larry, now it's time for me to be the novice. I really don't know how much these planes go for. I'll look into it and e-mail you.

   Justus Koshiol

   Running Pug Construction

1. 
   larry309 | Oct 22, 2003 08:37pm | #12

   Kool, I will try and get a digital pic, but it looks just like the one in the pic.

   larry

2. 
   lwilliams | Oct 21, 2003 08:51pm | #4

   Who's been chopping on the fence? Can you post a photo from the bottom of the plane? It looks as if it's been modified and I'm trying to figure out why.

1. 
   TonyD | Oct 21, 2003 09:52pm | #5

   Hi Larry,

   the picture is from a guy in England who sells this plane on the web, and it is the only picture.

   Now there is doubt about the originality, I think I am not going to buy it.

   thanks.

1. 
   lwilliams | Oct 22, 2003 05:54am | #7

   Tony,

   I've never seen a moving fillister that's had its fence cut that way. Larry's post makes me think they may have been more common than my memory tells me. I'm not sure though. I just can't see a reason for it. I'd sure like to have a close look at one made that way.

1. 
   GregB126 | Oct 22, 2003 07:09am | #8

   Larry,

   I have a question about that photo.  It looks a lot like photos from Andy Stephen's Tool Bazaar in Scotland.  He has a lot of tools which are old, or old-style, but are really users rather than collecters.  (He has some beautiful collecters, too.)  I think the users sometimes have some user-made modifications and that these sometimes weren't the best advised ones to have been made.  I'm not knocking Andy.  I picked up a couple of very useful planes from him.  The 22 in. trying plane is a favorite.  The moving filister I bought, though, has a nicker which is all wrong.  Instead of being flat on the outside (which should be the case in order to establish a crisp shoulder across grain) it is rounded, with the flat side inward to the plane.  The groove into which it fits is shaped the same way, so it seems it was "intended" to be that way, even if this intention was ill advised.  The point is, buying used users requires a good bit of caution.  My moving filister looks fantastic on the shelf.  It doesn't work so well.  I wouldn't be surprised if the example pictured looks funny because it is funny.  I'd expect the price to reflect its "uniqueness": low-reasonable.  If it is from Andy, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more examples on hand which would be "right" and therefore useful.  Again, I'm not implying anything negative about Andy and don't even know it he's the seller.  We just all need to be careful and use a good eye to identify whether we want the tool or not.

   Cheers,

   Greg

1. 
   lwilliams | Oct 22, 2003 03:52pm | #9

   Greg,

   The moving fillister nicker should have a slight radius on the out side. I try to have the furthest point on the outside be the lowest point or where the nicker scribes the cut.

2. 
   GregB126 | Oct 23, 2003 08:18am | #16

   Larry,

   Thanks for the info.  I should then make it clear that Andy did send something which is as it should have been.  Apologies to Andy for my own ignorance and a reiteration that my other purchases were just as expected and very good in use.

   I just thought the radiused outside face made a pretty poorly scribed line.  It's counterintuitive to what I'm used to doing with a scribing knife.  When setting out with a knife, the flat side of the knife is held to the work-piece side and the beveled side pushes the severed fibers toward the waste.  How do we do that with a nicker radiused on the work-piece side?  How do we cut a clean shoulder?  It's exactly opposite to the nicker in the L-N low angle skew block plane, the nicker of which cuts beautifully.  Is it because so little of the fillister's nicker penetrates the fibers?  If so, maybe I need to sharpen/shorten my nicker so that when it's fitted firmly in place, only a minute portion of the tip extends below the sole.  How much should extend?  At what approximate angle should the radiused face be sharpened?

   As always,  thank you.

   Greg

2. 
   eddiefromAustralia | Oct 23, 2003 03:09am | #13

   Larry,

   I have a Kimberley fillister, has the same check cut out of the fence as shown in the first pic.  Scanner problems here, so if I can get the scanner to work after a reboot, I'll scan in the sole & post

   I always assumed that this checkout was factory cut, but looking at it, I think that it's been cut by a tradesman.  Checkout is cut only half width of the blade and at a different angle to the skew of the blade.

   Checkout looks as though it's been made to allow the blade to be set fairly coarse without interfering with the fence.

   Cheers,

   eddie

   Edited 10/22/2003 8:10:39 PM ET by eddie (aust)

1. 
   eddiefromAustralia | Oct 23, 2003 03:34am | #14

   Picture of sole as promised

   Edited 10/22/2003 8:35:19 PM ET by eddie (aust)

   
2. 
   lwilliams | Oct 23, 2003 03:49am | #15

   Ah-ha -- a craftsman modification to allow removing the iron without removing one of the fence screws. Boy this one had me puzzled for a while. Many old moving fillisters require removing at least one of the fence screws to remove the iron for sharpening. If that cut had run the full width of the iron, it would weaken the fence and make it susceptible to warping. The shorted cut would be a help on a plane where the iron couldn't be freely removed. In this case it's an improvement for the user and it surely wouldn't stop me from buying the plane.

   Thanks for the photo and description, Eddie!

   Edited 10/22/2003 8:49:53 PM ET by Larry Williams

3. 
   IW | Oct 24, 2003 01:24am | #17

   Eh?

   Seems to me the simplest explanation is that the cutout allows the fence to be brought in so that you can cut a rabbet (rebate) that is narrower than the width of the blade.

   Or am I missing something essential here?

   Ian W.

4. 
   lwilliams | Oct 24, 2003 03:23am | #18

   Moving fillisters have fences designed to allow adjustment for width of cut. Some however, did require that the screw be removed in order for the iron to be removed. The iron has to come out from the bottom and, if the plane is made like some, the fence doesn't move out the full width of the iron. In this case you have to remove one of the screws to swing the fence out of the way. It's just an extra hassle.

   Because I make these I'm often asked by woodworkers if mine allow removal of the iron without taking part of the plane apart. These woodworkers have usually worked with an early plane that didn't allow this and found it inconvenient. I agree with their feeling and make the so the iron can be removed without taking anything apart.

2. 
   larry309 | Oct 21, 2003 11:50pm | #6

   I found a moving fillister on the web, it has the cut out in the moving fence also. It is is the same as mine, a Mathiesen circa 1855.  I will look at mine when I get home tonight and see what it has in the way of a cut out in the fence, it has been setting in for house for the last 12-15 years and not used.

   Try http://www.charlesedwin.com/tripeds.htm.

   larry

3. 
   larry309 | Oct 22, 2003 04:50pm | #10

   Larry;

   No I am not  your other brother Larry!!!

   I have a circa 1855 Mathieson & Son here in my hand, as far as I can tell the "cut out" in the moving fence suppose to be there, it allows for different widths of cuts.  My plane looks exactally the same as the one in the picture with the exception of the brass depth stop, the picture is a little taller than mine and mine seems to be a little longer than the one in the picture.  Also my nicker is rounded on the outside surface.  Hope this helps a bit.

   larry