I have a wooden skew angle rebate plane that I would like to put back to work, or at least play with. The plane is marked L. K. Moody 1 3/4. The Moody name is stamped on both ends in a nice straight line, as though it was a single stamping. The blade is bed at an angle of 52° and the blade bevel is about 22°. I don’t know if the Moody name was an owner or maker. On the blade tang there is S & SC US stamped but it isn’t real clear.
The blade bevel seems very steep to me for a 52° bed. A previous owner has cleaned up the blade a little and it’s hard to tell if the bevel is true to the original or not. The angle is quite good for the skew on the plane. The blade is tapered. The sole is slightly twisted towards the back, maybe 1/32″.
Does anyone recognize the stampings? What angle would be proper for this blade? I would have to do some serious grinding, with a fair loss in length, if the bevel should be closer to 30°. I’m wondering if a York pitch combination would make this plane handy for cleaning up tenon cheeks on timberframe work. Beams are often knotty and the grain can be difficult. Right now I can’t decide whether to sharpen it at the 22°, which will take a bit of work, or start with something different, even more work. Do you think a bevel in the 30° range would be effective if it wasn’t taken across the full thickness of the blade? The wedge tightens up about 1 1/4″ up from the tip of the blade. There is enough room for it to fit about 3/4″ deeper. Do you think this would add more support for blade stability or should I leave the wedge alone? Thanks for any ideas.
Replies
Moody was an owner. There is a documented maker named Moody but his first initial was W. It's very rare to have a maker's mark anywhere but on the toe of a rabbet or molding plane and multiple marks by a maker aren't something you'll find.
Sharpen the iron with a 30º cutting edge and clean up the side edge of the plane where the edge goes off at the acute angle. Don't mess with the wedge unless you need to improve the fit. You can plane the sides of the plane flat and parallel if the twist is to the small end of the conical escapement, if it winds the other way it's not a big deal. Cleaning up the side edge of the iron will let you cut cleaner rabbets.
Have you considered the possibility that this is a spill plane?
Not intending to Hijack the thread....What is a spill plane ?
Cuts and twists spills for lighting pipes,cigarettes and fires.The shaving is ejected in a tight spiral
jako,You've defined a spill plane okay but Hammer1's plane is a rabbet plane. While spill planes take many different forms, a rabbet plane always looks very much like Hammer1's plane. I've never seen a spill plane that wasn't skewed to around 45º.
Edited 11/2/2005 10:41 pm by lwilliams
Whilst I will defer to Mr. Williams on this subject, after all this is methinks his main business- if I ain't wrong, methinks he makes planes, - rehabbing this plane is reasonably easy if you keep in mind that you may not find nirvana at the first go. or even the second or third or fourth go for that matter.
Ignore the bevel, sharpen on the flat.
Even deriving one tenth of the knowledge required to rehab and use this plane is oh-so-much more of an accomplishment that learning how to turn on an x-box. Doncha think Larry?
Eric in Cowtown
Hi Eric,It's been a while--I lost track of a lot of people while growing a new arm.I think rabbet planes are among the most common but least understood old planes. Some woodworking authors say they're only for rough work and some seem to think they're only for light finishing work. The truth is that they're very versatile and, I think, indispensable. They're also among the most challenging to make or even tune--everything matters and everything shows.There's a lot to be learned from just tuning one.
Thanks for the responses so far. I don't think my plane is a spill plane. Most of the spill planes I've seen have a groove and often a blade that is skewed in the perpendiculer, rather than horizontally. The best spills were fairly straight. Considering matches were either a luxury or nonexistant, the spills were used to transport fire form stoves to candles, lamps and anything else we normally use matches and lighters for today. Most of the spill planes were built to take off a long straight sliver and had a channel to help prevent the spill from curling up.In looking for information on this plane, I revisited H.N.T. Gordon planes. Some of their planes are bed at 60°, and the blades are reversable for a scraping type cut. I wondered if the current bevel and angle on my plane was intended for more of a scraping cut. My blade, of course, isn't reversable due to the skew. I think that I agree that sharpening the blade at it's existing bevel would be the easiest place to start. I can always put a secondary bevel on it if the 20° doesn't seem to be working. I like the idea of a skewed blade for cross grain work. Most of the time I hold my regular planes askew for the advantage of the shearing action. The 50° bed along with a 30° angle would be typical for a York pitch setting. If the current 20° bevel seems to chatter of won't cut well, I'll probably do a secondary bevel. I just need to be careful to keep the skew angle fitting the mouth. All I have to do is find a little time to work on it. Thanks again.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
You could just hone a microbevel on the iron rather than regrind the entire wide bevel. It's 22 degrees now. Is it chipping in use? If so raise it a bit, say to 25 degrees. Still chipping? Try 27, 30 etc.
Ed
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