Hello Fellow Woodworking friends,
I’ve some questions about wood hand planes. A few years back I acquired some from an antique dealer who would make trips to Scotland and England several times a year to purchase containers of antiques to sell here in the States. Being a woodworker I thought it would be cool to purchase some of the old wooden hand planes and other tools to hang on the wall for display. I’ve since learned that I could actually be using these planes today with a little repair, clean up and adjustment. I’ve noticed on the sides and ends of these planes are stamped or carved names. I’m assuming that these are the names of those who used these planes over the years. Can anyone confirm this? I’d also like to know if there are any websites or books where I can identify and place a value on some of these planes and other antique tools. I’m thinking that many of these came from a shipment in Scotland .The block plane is from the Campbell Plane Co and the Iron is from Matheison and Sons Ltd in Glasgow. The large smoothing plane has a Robert Sorby Iron. Perhaps some of you blokes there in Scotland or England could help me out here. And I know your out there as I’ve read your posts!
Thanks for your time, You Guys and Gals are the bomb!
Replies
Fettle and use them. One name on the front may be the manufacturer, but mostly it is the name of the user. The main thing is to re-mouth if damaged and true soles if needed. If you do, keep the hardware in place with the iron set back whilst trueing to avoid distortion.
Remove rust by electrolysis if possible. The irons are iron welded to steel and you often find separation as a consequence of rust. So long as the cutting edge can be sharpened you are OK. Treat the wedge gently, it does not need to be tight to hold the blade.
Sharpen the blade with some degree of curvature, never absolutely straight or the mouth will choke. Always relieve the corners to avoid trenching. This applies only to bench planes of course, plow and rabbit are straight.
I would not worry about value, I buy decent woodies for between £5 and £30, much less than some inferior metal planes cost. I would just enjoy using them. Matheison and Sorby irons are widely available.
Mufti,
Thanks for the info. What's the proper method of loosening and tightening the wedges? Is the steel on these planes generally of a good quality? Was it common for some of the wood rabbet planes to have steel soles? I may want to purchase some modern planes, such as a Lee Neilsen or Veritas before I get to much into fettling with these older ones, so I'll have something to compare them with. I'm not sure that I'm ready to join the plane fettling club just yet, along with you, lataxe, Phillip and others on this site. At any rate ,thanks for being patient with those of us that are somewhat ignorant about these things, especially us Yanks! Ta Rah! Danny
Danny
I hope that Mufti doesn't mind me answering a part of the question.
A tap on the back of the plane will back up the iron and a tap on the iron will give you more blade exposure. I always follow up a tap on the back of the plane with a tap on the wooden wedge, to tighten everything up, or you will find all the parts on your bench. Like Mufti advised, be gentle on the wedge. In fact, all your taps should be just that, and not a hard knock. To remove the iron, several consecutive taps on the back of the plane will loosen all. JL
Thanks Jeanlou,
These planes have been laying around here for probably ten years and never been touched, except to mount them on my shop wall. With this knowledge, I can now begin to fettle with them. Thanks for the plain sense about planes.
Plane fettler to be ,Danny
Danny, you just made me smile. You are welcome. JL
Of course I do not mind JL, but at first I would do it sitting down with the plane resting at fortyfive degrees on my lap. Then holding the blade/wedge in one hand and rapping the top front of the plane results in the plane body falling on the lap. I know this is one syllable stuff but I have seen them end up on the floor. Sometimes there is a button on the top for this purpose.
The "cast steel" irons are usually very good. Do not forget planes are only artisan tools and a means to an end. So long as the iron is sharp and squared to a flat sole, and the mouth is square to the cutting edge then it will do what it was made to do, surface or shape wood. Nothing else. That is all LN planes do.
There are transitional planes, being a halfway house between wood and metal, plows and others have metal skates and many users would add metal plates wherever they chose in order to reduce wear or modify an old plane to do a particular job. They were poorly paid workers for the most part and did not replace tools lightly.
Edited 3/6/2007 3:07 pm ET by mufti
Thanks mufti,
I'll try not to let them hit the floor.There's of course something nostalgic about the thought of using these old planes. I'm wondering who the characters were who used them in the past, what they made with them and would they be proud to see them being used still today or see them grandly displayed as heirlooms of real craftsman. Thanks for the updated in site and history. Whether they are ever used by me or not I will always cherish them as a reminder of the woodworkers of yesteryear who set the standard for craftsman today. Having traced my roots to southern England and also having spent several years in the Midlands has most certainly added to this sentiment as well.
Danny
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled