the handplane book - garrett hack

7/31/2019 The Handplane Book - Garrett Hack

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HACK

Pgrps by J.S Sld


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heHANDPLANEBk


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The

HANDPLANEBook

GARRE HACK

by

eTao Pess


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TauntonOOKS VDEOSw u

1999 by The Taunton Press, Inc

Al rights reserved

Printed in te United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

e npne k was originally published in hardcover

1997 by The Taunton Press, Inc

The Taunton Press, Inc, 63 South Main Street, PO Box 5506,Newtown, CT 064705506

email: tp@tauntoncom

Distributed by Publishers Group West

ibrary of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Hack, Garrett

The handplane book Garrett Hack

p. cm

"A Fne woodworking book p verso

Includes bibliographical reerences and inde

ISBN 5618-0 hardcover

ISBN 5658370 softcover

. Planes (and tools)

86H33 99684'08 dc

b Y

Woodwork I Title

97793

CP

Working wood is inherently dangerous Using hand or power tools improperly or

ignoring standard safety practices can ead to permanent injury or even death

Dont try to perform operations you learn about ere or elsewhere unless yourecertain they are safe for you f something about an operation doesnt feel right,

dont do it Look for another way We want you to enjoy the craft, so please keep

safety foremost in your mind whenever youre in te sop


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To Hele ad Viy who saw he possiiliies,

Ned who ecouraged me ad

Hope who has kep me ued ad plaig rue


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

No one can hope to bring together a book

like this without help. Vy few of us will

ever own all of the planes discussed within

these pages; the range and numbers of

dierent ones are simply too vast . Some are

so scarce and expensive that thy arebeyond the means of most of us Luckily,

there's no shortage of people who love and

collect planes willing to share them. Im

appreciative of all those who oered their

tools books and insights into the dierent

pes of planes and how theyre used.

Equally important were the people who gave

advice or encouragement along the way.

Helen Abert, for he insghts and

encouragement from the begnnng

Jonathan Bnzen

M. S Cater, a specal colecto of

miniature panes

Volnmaker Jonathan Cooper

Auctioneer Rchard Crane, who's seen

moe tools than most of us eve wll

Mchael Dunbar, a charmaker

knowledgeable about al hand tools

Deborah Federhen, Curato of

Collectons, Bennngton Museum,

Bennngton, Vemont

Jay Gaynor of the ColonalWlamsbug

Foundation, Wllamsbug, Vginia, who

together wth Joseph Hutchns made

panes as at

Barbara Hamblett, Poly Mtchel, and

the Shelburne Museum, Shebune,

Vermont

Gerry and Jane Haviand, eternal spngs

of encouragement

Bl Hldebrandt

Ted Ingraham, a pane maker and

savant of 18th-century woodworkng

skls and tools

ool historan and colecto Paul

Kebaban

Vncent Lauence, a wondeful fend

and teacher

Leonad ee

Tom Le-Nelsen and the crew of

e-Nelsen ooworks, Waren, Mane,

redefning how fne new planes can be

John Lively, who chalenged and

encouraged my deas

Noe Perrn, for his nsights about al

thngs besdes tools

Jack Playne

Volnmake Davd Polsten

Cooper Ron Raises and the Stawbey

Banke Museum, Portsmouth, New

Hampshre

Mark and Jane Rees, wters and oves of

old woodworkng tools

Gordon Riesdel

Pane make Leon Robbins

Ken Robets

Photogapher John Sheldon, for hs

enthusasm, spt, and creatvty

Rchad Starr, nspiring kds to use

hand tools

Chales Stirlng, of Bstol Desgn,

Bstol, Engand

Plane maker JeffWashafsky, evercurous about the fne points of planes

and planng

Caroline and BillWilkns, astute

collectors and gracous hosts

Wndsor Precsion Museum, Wndsor,

Vermont

Dean Zoerheide, for his workngman'sappreciaton of panes

And fo my support at he aunton Press:

Peter Chapman

Jm Chavell

Rck Peters

Joanne RennaCarol Snger


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CONTENTS

3 Introduction

O N E 4 What Is a Plane?

TWO 12 History of Planes

T H R E E 28 Plane Mechanics

F O U 50 Tuning a Plane

V E 74 How to Plane

S X 92 Planes for Truing and Sizing Stock

S E V E N 120 Planes for Joinery

E G H T 152 Planes for Surfacing

N I N E 170 Scrapers

T E N 184 Planes for Shaping

E E V E N 210 Specialty Planes

TW E L V E 228

Contemporary Plane Makers

T H T E E N 242 Buying Planes

258 Bibliography

260 Index


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W H A T IS A PLANE?

Many woodworking operations which we take for gnted would be

impossibly laborious without Planes. A worker with the right Plane for a

particular task has only to concentrate on holding it in the correct attitude

in contact with the workpiece, and he can then push away freely until the

task is completed

-R. A. Salaman, Dictiona of Woodworking Tools, 1975

If you'd looked nside the tool chest

of an 1 8th-century colonial oner you'd

have found chsels gouges a bt stock

and bts handsaws, hammers, squares,

gmlets, a hand adz, and an assortment

of planes Some of the tools were

mported from England, whle others

were made lo cally. Planes for spe cal

tasks were bought from other joinerswho produced them as a sdelne to ther

furnture work or from sklled

commer cal plane makers. A stout

smoothng plane a long onter, and

many of the moldng planes the onerlkely cut hmself from yellow br ch and

bee ch and ftted wth th ck mported

caststeel rons Essentially, these were

wooden tools for workng the resources

of a land r ch n tmber for creatng the

wooden essentals for the settler vllager,

and town dweller alikefrom buildngs

to bridges, wagons to hay forks, barrels tosap bu ckets, furnture to spoons

Before the development of the planers

and table saws common n most shops

today, everythng was made by hand.

The concept of a plae s a sip e oea chsel wedged ino a solid

body-bt te too akes any dfferet fors. Sow here are a Noris

pane p ane wt stee sdes ad sole and rosewood nfi l l , sed o

t g edges and latening sufaces and rare Nors wooden mold ing

paes wih shaped soes ad singe irons

When a colonal joner built a case ofdrawers for example he frst marked out

all the d fferent parts on the boards and

sawed them apart wth a handsaw The

real work began n earnest with planing

the parts to size, leveling and smoothing

ea ch surface and workng each part

down to unform th ckness For ts he

would have pulled from hs chest a heavya ck planea sto ck of bee ch a lttle over a

foot long ftted with a double plane iron

and an open, curved handle at the rear

t was a tool lttle changed from that

familiar to a Roman oner nor much

diferent from one likely made of cast

ron nstead of wood found n a wood

workng shop todayIt s hard to magne trung and

dmensonng the case and drawer parts

by hand without usng planes Leveling


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A 8tcty

jo's tool cs

woul hav l a

assorn of

pans, inclugany moling

pans a jac pan,

an a cof-shap

soohr as wll as

csls, bi brac

an bis, an

asug toos.

and smoothing can be done wth a hand

ad and chsels in much the same way

that a large chisel or slick is used but

such work requires great skill controlling

the cuts and a lot of energy besides

Even in sklled hands it's easy to gouge

the surface and leave the parts unevenenough to make joinng or fitting them

closely together dicult. Wedge the

same chisel iron in a block of wood at a

pitch of say 45 and youve given the

craftsman a planea tool that allows him

great feibility to control the cut while

focusing his energy on driving the tool.

he simplest of planes has a flat "sole orbase with the cutting iron projecting

through t By tapping on the plane body

or iron its depth can be adjusted to take

an aggressive cut to level the surface

quickly or to take a finer cut for final

smoothing. he straight and flat sole

gudes and controls the cutting of the

iron so that hgh spots are planed of

progressively lower until the plane takes

a continuous shaving from end to endand creates the plane the name of the

tool suggests.

Classes of PlanesPlanes can be broadly grouped according

to the work they perform truing and

siing stock, cutting and fitting jointsfinishing or smoothing surfaces and

shaping. An 18th-century joiner had

specific planes in his tool chest for each

of these different planing tasks. Although

he did not have the varety of planes

common a century later each of his tools

was general enough to do the work

needed if it was not he cut a new plane

or reshaped an old one.

he need for a greater variety of

planes evolved with the gradualspecialiation and separation of the

different woodworking professions. he

joiner who completed the interior

woodworking of a building needed more

specialied planes than the carpenter

who cut the framemolding planes for

shaping trim and crown moldings sash

and door planes for building windowsand doors, and grooving and panel

raising planes for wanscoting. Within

each trade planes evolved to satisy the

particular demands of both the craft and


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Transiional pas

hav osty woo

bos sa y

bch an caston

pats, cobin g

th soot pa g

o a woo sol

a th ajsabiity

o a caston plan

h appal of ary casiro pas sch

as th #5 bnch p lan by Loa Bay a

a an a ngis soothing pan

attbu o Maps, wa s ha hy ha lo g

wag sols ha stay t a ajsrstha ma t asy to st th pth o h on.

ld o h producio o va umbr

o ipiv pa Th pa

hav popular aur uch a a ay

mchaical adur or iro aligm

ad dph ad la log-arig oha ar omim groovd or

corrugad or rducd ricio Ev

hough om oodorkr ill prr

h l o a ood pla ca-iro

pla ar oula hir ood coui

ho ol d priodic rlaig

du o hard u ad chagig ao

Baily ad ohr pad aohr

yl o bch pla a combiaio

oodold ad cairo pla ma

o aiy cram ho r o o

illig o par ih hir alood

pla h o-calld "raiioal

pla ( h boom phoo a l

combi h l o a radiioal oodpla ih h mchaical advaag o

a ca-iro plaay adum o h

cuig iro ad a movabl rog

aural o hik ha ood-boomd

pla r a ag i h voluio o

h ca-iro pla ad r raiioal

i hi ay bu hy r mad righ

alog ih all-ca-iro pla or almo75 yar Thir appal a hir

availabiliy i a id lcio o iz or

abou hal h co o a alcairo

pla ad hir abiliy o hold up o

rough u Sic h pla' ol i ill

ood i i or do by u ad d

rgular rlaig Nvrhl

raiioa pla hav appald omay graio o cram ho

apprcia h ubl l o a ood pa

or varid bchplaig ork


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Aong t e ay desgn s of planes for cuing and itt n g ons ae a

Sanley #90A bullnose abbe plane (a ea) oe of te rarest of

panes ad a Sagen #508% Lady bg " bu llnose iI I se rabbe

pane wt ence and dept gage

Cob atio paes evolved o plow planes o pero a vaiey of

tasks incd ing ctting dadoes rabbes gooves ad tong es These

two early desgns are a Sanley #46 wh skewed cutes (at ea and

a Siegley cobinatio pae.

PLANES FOR CUTTNG

AND FTTNG JONERYOnc h ock i prpard a cond

group of plan i brough o h ork o

cu and adu h oinry ha fi h

par oghr Ecp for h long bnch

plan hich could b includd in hi

group for hooing raigh dg or dg

oining oinry plan nd o b malr

and pcializd. Th plan incudrabb dado, and fillir plan for

cuing rabb and id groov or

dado ( h phoo abov plo and

grooving plan for cuing groov in h

dg of board dovai pan for

cuing liding-dovail oin houdr

and bullno plan for finly aduing

oin and lo-angl plan for rimmingmir and nd grain Combinaion

plan ofn combin h oin-cuing

funcion of a numbr of h pan.

or ork acro h grain, h iron i

bddd a 20 or l, ih h bvlupard ohr oinry plan hav iron

bddd a 45 (ih h bvl don

imilar o bnch plan or pr ill

Som of h plan ar dignd o cu

crograin ih h hlp of harpnd

pur or nickr ahad of h iron o lic

h fibr clanly

An 1 8h-cnury crafman had omak do ih only a f of h

pcializd oinry plan h ould

likly hav had a f i o dado plan

a ilir or larg rabb plan, and a

plo plan ih h dvlopmn of

mor compl plan and hir pandd

indurial producion by uch makr a

Sany a crafman could aford o buyany numbr of pcializd cairon

plan for cuing and fing oin.

an ha h n plan could cu

mor compl oin bu hy r

air o u and orkd mor accuraly

han hir oodn counrparA ih bnch plan, hapr,

rour, and imiar oodorking

machin hav largly rplacd many of

h ool in h oodorking rad

Sadly, oo rong radiional oin hav

givn ay o h mor uickly machin

cu bicui or dol oin Sil om of

h oinry plan ar u a ufuloday o n-un oin cu by hand or

ih a machin

PLANES

FOR SMOOTHNG

Among h mo uful ool in any

conmporary hop ar h hird cla of

plan ho ud for h final lvlingand moohing of urfac Bcau hy

ar no diffrn in dign and ar ud in

a imilar ay a h bnch, moohing


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ng sh smootng

planes ae aong

the os beaui

paes ever ade

and hey work aswell as hey look

Shown ere ae an

A6 or s (at rear

fo he amos

copa y of T orris

of Lodo ad a

smoog pane

by Spies of Ay

Scotand te is

coercia ake

of such plaes.

Scapes ae versa

tle ools a can

smoo surfaces

ha ae dfcul o

pane e smples

scraper s a piece

o sawbade bt

easer to se are

anded scaperssuc as he a's

ead scape at

ea a spoke shave

type scraper he

foregound and a

sa speca y

made too o scrap

g a convex pofile

pla ar omim icludd i

bc pla Ho y do difr i i

ay y ar ud ad i dgro ic mooig pla av volvd

o ir o o ui ir pcific

purpoo uc bauiful oo a

dovaild l bra ad roood

Norri pla capabl of mooig

mo difficul ood ( poo aop r of ood mal or om

combiaio mooig pla d o

b mall ad avy i a ig mou

ad a fily iro Sic y ar ud

for fial lvlig of a urfac alrady

orkd o by or pla ir mall

z i a advaag for ay mauvrig

a ir ig lp m ug

urfac A lig cu a avy iro ad ovrall maiv of pla rul i

car-fr mooig cu ad a

polid urfac

Scrapr ad crapr pla vrail

mooig ool a complm

mooig pla ar icludd i i

ird cla Aloug y look ad ork

ligly diffrly from pla i acil-lik iro y ar ially pla

ool i a i l iro ld a a

ig agl o urfac crapr ca

cu or crap fi avig from ildly

figurd or difficul oodof br

a ay or ool Sap iro ad

crapr ca crac allo prol

imilar o a moldig pla alog raig

or curvd dg Subiu a ood

iro ad i ool i uful for rougig

vr for a good glu bod or for

aggriv lvlig of vry difficul ood

Bcau y ar o uful crapr ar

foud i may form rougou

oodorkig rad

PANS FR SHA PING

A fial group of pla ap urfac or

dg T ool ar a varid a

moldig pla a cu ood i

apd iro ad corrpodig apd

ol ( op poo o facig

pag palraiig ad camfrigpla i raig iro ld a a

agl o ork i aid of a

apd ol ad compa pla i

curvd ol ad raig or curvd iro

Sapig pla could b furr dividd

io o a ap dcoraio

(moldig pla ad o a ork

curvd urfac (compa plaCagoriig om of pla i

ard bcau arly al of m do mor

a u cu ap or ampl a

compa pla ap urfac ad


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can alo lav it a moot a if finid

it a moothing plan Ti point out

t baic difficulty of trying to put

plan natly into group; many ill do

varid ork dpnding upon o thyar tund and in o and ty ar

ud Som ut don't fit natly into any

group hr ould Stanly' Univral

Plan #5 5 fit in th catgori "a

planing mill ithin itlf capabl of

cutting oint molding truing and

aping dg ploing groov and

mor bid Or o about an c plan

( t bottom photo at rigt

Of th many typ of plan in

production and in u up until t

middl of th cntury vy f ar till

bing mad today Evn t bt

oodorking catalog lit at mot a

coupl of don plan compard to tmany hundrd in all i and typ that

Stanly Tool and othr onc ofrd.

ith f n uality plan availabl

on migt ll bliv tat plan ar

tadily and loly paing from t

oodorking trad. To an tnt thi

i tru it t imultanou

dvlopmnt and markting of routrhapr ointr and vry imaginabl

oodorkng macin plan ar ud

l oftn for th tdiou and trnuou

tak many r dignd for.

Y gon ar t day n ach

craftman mad many of i on

oodn plan and a fancy inlaid tool

ct to tor tm in a a rit of paagand larning t oinry trad. A

artifact of our cultur om of t

handmad toolbautiully mad

boood and bra plo llitr and

compl molding planar bttr lft

to b admird and tudid by collctor

and itorian. Tat till lav a alth

of uabl plan of vry dcriptiono find out t ral tory about t

vitality of t tool today go to any tool

auction and you'll b amad at o

agrly ougt out ar plan onc

common 50 or mor yar ago Plan

tat onc old for a f dollar can nobring a hundrd tim a muc Or u

on of i-Niln n plan rcat

and bttr nginrd vrion of arlir

ne m ight have

ond a sack o

od ng planes wt

atched pas of

hollows ad oundslike s o sae at

a tool deaer a

ceny or more

ago Te ses on

e osde wee

vsble ad as log

as te stack was

even caces were

good at each te

was a matched pair

s odd too looks

ad works ke a

plane excep tha t

saves ice aher

ha wood (aybe

o e is s s

d ks?). The on

is sapy tooed

like a saw and he

body s ade of

alumnu o

pevent rusing

Stanly plan and try to rit it

bauty and moot cutting Bttr yt

talk it any good craftman andcanc ar a a toolbo full of

favorit plan tat can't imagin

orking ithout.


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H F PL

The iveio o he Plae was he os impora advace i he hiso

o woodworkig ools i he las wo housad years

-R. A. Saama Dicioary o Woodworkig Tools, 97

arly my advur h pla a ay o apprca h d rag of

ork ha pa could do, bu hy r

ll u om of h may ool ud

durg h cour of a day I a' ul

ard ug a obl old Scoh

moohg pla, a havy ad baufu

Spr of l, roood ad bro,

ha bcam rally curou abou hhory of h ool ad pla

gra Hr a a pla o dffr

from my Bay moohg pla ha

clarly mbodd h cpoal k of

makr of ovr a cury ago Io h

or ad pohd ood a ampd

h makr a alog h h am

of h crafma ho had od ad

ud h pa hy dd h ool ork

o ll, ad hr dd h dg com

from ha a h prao of h

pla makr ha combd h k,

koldg, ad arry h plaho r h crafm ho ud uch

oo h ohr furur makr cho

caro Balypar pla

This eay15h-cety il lato o he Bedford Book o Hous,eiled ding te Ark shows edeva oos cludg planes at

work (Photo sed by pemisso of e riish bary odo )

Udradg ho pla hav

vovd ll dp your apprcao

o h ool ad ofr much gh

o h cravy of h oolmakr

ho mad hm, h crafm ho

ud hm, ad h ocy ha hapd

hm boh

Early ToolmakingMa h oolmakr ha alay b

ryg o mprov h ool Evr c

prhorc ma chppd a crud cug

dg from a huk of fl, h had a ool

o crap ood or ork ohr maral

Th logcal p a o hap a

hadl ad lah o h harpdf h rp of amal hd ad h

had a a Evry advac crad br

ool ha dd h aura moo

of h a had or body Hovr


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opiicad and ool of lar

ag y don' dvia from i vry

impl purpo

T furr dvlopmn of ool wa

imid only by marial y wrmad ofow dificul marial wa

o work and ow durabl finid

ool. A andld on ammr wa a bg

improvmn ovr a on ld in

and bu wan unil man larnd

ow o ml coppr and lar bron

from coppr and in or a oolmaking

could mak n lap forwardCoppr wa aily frd from or and

could b workd ino ufu cuing

ool bu bronz wa mor uful ill.

Bron i a ard mal a ml aily

can b ca in many form and can b

arpnd o old a br dg an

any coppr ool I wa during

Bron Ag a om of baic

carpnr ool volvd a cil

adz and aw.

Mo of ool familiar o u oday

did no dvlop unil dicovry of

way o m iron from mai or

urd in ron Ag om 3 ,000

yar ago Hr wa a marial far mor

availabl an bronz a marial a

could b ammrd and apd a

ld a good dg and a could b aily

rarpnd Bu iron i a compl mal

a don' yild i cr aily

Smling or rul in a wak iron

full of impurii . Only by rpadly

aing and ammring mal can impurii b workd ou and

wroug (maning workd iron b

mad Eac im wroug iron i ad

in a carcoal fir and ammrd i

aborb om carbon and gradually

bcom l wic i muc br for

oolmaking Sl in i form i oug

bu unforunaly oo bril wanunl omim during oman ra

a wo proc wr dicovrd a

allowd forging of ruly uful ool

l: uncing and mpring.

Possible Evolution of the Plane

YN Z

W Z

RON N

ne theory (proposed by historian J M Greber)

is that the pane evoved from the adz-from atoo pued to one pushed he key to thechange as edging the iron securey in astock that controed the cutting action andanging the beveed iron aay from thedirection of the stroke


25/276

Quechig, rapidly coolig he red ho

meal i aer or oil, harde he eel

emperig, reheaig he eel o a lo

emperaure, ofe hi harde

eough o creae ough cuig edge

ha are o oo brile ad likely o crack

or chip i ue.

The ko origi of he plae follo

hi uderadig of urig iro io

ool eel he earlie dicovered plae

are oma, bu i i poible ha he

plae a a ool ko o earlier

culure (ee he draig o he facig

page. ha i rage i ho fully

formed he plae i he i appear

ihou ay clear aecede Ye ellover 1 ,000 year before Egypia ere

buildig furiure a ophiicaed a

ha of ay age ice, ih doveail,

morie-ad-eo oi ilay of ivory

ad gold, veeer frame ad ie

pael ad decoraive moldig. a all

of hi fiig ad moohig doe

eirely ih a chiel adze rap,ad adig oe e ko ha he

Egypia had broze chiel ih

hammer-hardeed cuig edge, hich

could have bee held i ome or ofood body ad ued like a plae, bu o

dae o uch ool or picure of hem

have bee foud o eablih ha

Egypia migh have iveed he plae.

The First PlanesThe earlie ko plae, daig from

. 7 ere foud preerved i he ah

a Pompeii. Eough imilar oma

plae ad plae iro have bee

uearhed elehere o give u a good

idea of ho hee ool looked ad

orked. he impe of hee ool are

made eirely of ood ih a irocuer edged agai a cro-barvery

much like ay baic oode plae made

eve oday Some urvivig oma

plae have bodie made of ood

parially covered over ih iro ad

riveed ogeher formig he ole ad

he ide of he body (ee he phoo

above. A imple hadhold i cu io heood a he rear. The oma pae

maker a probably ell aare of he

log-earig ole ad overall durabiliy

of a iro-clad plae ha more ha

ay paes such

as this oa

capetes pae

datg fo e ate

h ceury unied

a seel soe (and

ofen sdes) wih a

woode body (whic

as o svved on

ts pae). (Phoo

copygh eadg

Mseu eadg

ngad Al l ghs

reseved.)

uified he added rouble o make i.Aoher form of oma plae i al

ood ecep for iro plae reiforcig

he ide of he plae a he hroa.

I' amazig ho lie hee early

plae have chaged from he oo ued

by a carpeer oday. A moder pae i

more likely o be made of ca iro, he

eel i he iro i ougher ad hod a

edge beer, ad he iro ca be adued

more eaily ha i he earlier ool, bu

he baic cocep ha o chaged. he

cocep i a imple oea ool ih a

cuig iro edged i a plae body ha

allo good corol of he cuig acio.

ile i ko abou ho plae

ere ued or ha hey looked like from

oma ime hrough he Midde Age

ad io he early eaiace. Sice

hardly ay plae have urvived ha e

do ko come from ecodary ource

uch a carvig, aiedgla ido

ad illumiaed maucrip oe

uch ilumiaio, Building he Ak (eehe phoo o p. 2, e ee ha plae

are i commo ue ad lile chaged

from oma prooype. rom oher


26/276

y

;

PI ,7

1 b

gravings fo woks sc as enis d eo's Encyclopdie give an dea o he ypes o planes i use

e 1 8h ceury.

sorces e o that plaes ha evove

i a rage of sies a specialty plaes

sch as molig a rabbet plaes habeg to appear. Woo as se to bil

early everythig from ships to military

machiery a plaes mst have bee

importat tools throghot this perio.

Oe of the greatest impeimets to

chage i tool esig a methos of

orig as the poer of the gils

hich bega to form amog artisas amerchats rig the Mile Ages.

Gils gre ot of the graal ivisio

a specialiatio ithi the oo

orig raes ito sch grops as

carpeters, fritre maers ship

rights a agomaers Gils

reglate every aspect of each craft, fromthe traiig of appretices to establishig

ages a prices for fiishe goos a

they gare trae secrets a orig

methos as el. Appretices copie

masters i hat became a iflexible

system iscoragig iovatio a

stiflig the evoltio of e toos a

ieas. ts o oer the, that the basictoos a ays of orig oo

remaie essetially chage til

the stregh of the gils ae i the

early 18th cetry.

We o have a glimpse ito gils, the

ooorig traes, a the rage of

plaes i se at the time throgh osephMoxos Mhank Exss, o Th

Dotn of Handy-Woks, pblishe i

Loo i 1 67 8. t is the origial "ho

to boo bt ritte more for the

crios getlema tha for the orma

tryig to ear the trae of hose

carpeter, oier or trer Nevertheless

it is oe of the first boos to illstrate thetools i se for these traes a to

expai ho to set p a se bech

rabbet po a molig plaes. We


27/276

can earn even more from to boos

pbishe abot a centry ater Denis

Dierots Enclopdie an Anracob

Robos Lt du Menuisierhe Si of

the Cabinetmaer Dierot escribesneary every trae a inces

extensive engravings of their shops toos

an methos. A three boos give cear

insight into oooring toos an

methos before great changes too pace

in the th centry.

Throgh these boos an other

sorces e no of at east to sbtechanges in pane esign that ha

occrre The iron as ege into

pace in tapere grooves or abtments

ct into the sies of the boy rather than

against a crossbar an hanes ere

evoving to esigns common toay.

Weging the iron in tapere groovesith a more thiny shape egea

metho sti se for most ooen

panesrece the panes tenency to

cog. Sbte changes in the throat shape

hepe the pane or better too

Whereas Roman panes ha a hane

forme in the pane boy an ater

ones ha a simpe rear hane hanesere graay evoving to the more

pright open or cose tote e no

toay. For a more positive an comfort

abe grip Continenta craftsmen ae

an pright hane in the shape of a horn

to the toe of the pane. Over time this

became the scpte rone coshorn sti common on German an

Astrian panes see the photo beo

Continenta craftsman ere aso apt to

ecorate their toos ith persona

tochescarve or stampe initias an

ates pnche or chipcarve esigns

an gracefy carve throats. Meanhie

Engish panes hich o aterinfence American toos maintaine

simpe restraine ines.

Tese wo horn

plaes sow te

prigt hande ad

decoaive detai gcharacteristic of

uropea panes


28/276

The Developmentof Modern PlanesMay chages occrre ithi the

ooorig traes a society i bothEgla a America rig the last

haf of the 1th cetry ito the

18th cetry a ith these chages

bega the evoltio of moer oo

orig tools

Oe of the most far-reachig chages

as the graal specializatio a

sophisticatio of the ooorigtraes his happee first i Egla

a later i the Coloies e to a

groig poplatio chagig tastes

icrease ealth a ema for all

types of goos he chages i bilig

tastes illstrate this qite clearly As

hoses i America folloe the

sophisticate Eglish Georgia style thehe hose frame as covere ith

paelig a trim No loger ere st

the sills of a carpeter reqire hose

or as o cofie to erectig the

frame a the sheathig bt also the

talets of a oier completig the

iterior Besies the basic tools of the

carpeter the iterior fiish reqire

paes to ct fiele paels to plo

grooves for these paels to ct cro

a other moligs of all sizes a to

bil io sash a oors he

cabietmaer ho bilt the frishigs

eee special plaes too as tastes

chage from heavy simple sol i-oo

fritre to sophisticate ilai a

veeere fritre of exotic or illy

figre oos

t is possible that oe eary

specializatio ithi the ooorig

traes as plae maig althogh there

is o eviece of this til abot 1700

homas Grafor of Loo as thefirst plae maer o to "sig hi s

or his as a profo chage that

has ha a efect right p til the

Staping pae ons wih he maker's mark was an early fom of

advetsg . Waaed Cast Seel, saped o ese two ons

was know o its speo qaty ad ts ab ty to od a keen edge

preset that of separatio betee the

plae maer a the plae ser Before

this time iivial craftsme mae

their o plaes as the ee arose ith

the iros comig from a local blacsmith

or from small specialize mafactrers

t as fairly simple or for a craftsma

to fashio a e bech plae as the or

emae As it as ooe plaes

eee to be reglary replace becase

they laste oly so log er har se

Whether e to ormal ear or reglar

refatteig of the sole the moth of theplae evetally gre too ie a the

plae ore poorly

Aother chage hastee the shift

from each craftsma maig his o

plaes to specialize maers the ee

for more complex tools a more tools

i geeral As the or of a oier

emae plaes to ct moligs raise

paels a the lie he icreasigly

tre to iivial plae maers ith

the tools a ability to mae them

Whereas a ac plae as easily mae

complex molig plaes a plo plaes

too sills a tools ot easily acqire

As the poplatio gre a ith it theema for more goos of greater

variety more craftsme ere eee for

the or Sice this as ell before

istrializatio this meat a groig


29/276

ee for paes a ooorig toos.

Speciaze pae maers move to fi

this maret evetay eaig to the

gra coformity of sizes a shapes

of paes.Paraeig the trae of speciaize

pae maer as the iroorer ho

mae pae iros fies a other ege

toos. Sice the ate Mie Ages

Sheffie, Ega ha become a

importat ceter i the stee-mag

trae e i arge part to its experiece

smiths a petif river poer totr ater hees a grstoes.

Importig Seish iro becase of its

prity sma mafactrers forge a

array of sperior-qaty pae iros a

ege toos i may shapes a sizes.

Beami Htsmas process of maig

crcibe cast stee frthe improve the

qaity of ege toos from 174 oar

to the e that Sheffie iros eeregary exporte throghot the or

(see the siebar o p 4 5) . Throghot

the 1th cetry may types of

Shefie-mae pae iros a stee

pae parts mae to the highest staars

ere offere for sae throgh the cataogs

of Amerca pae maers. Eve as ate

as 1 Staey proy states i itscataog of that year that its iros are

stampe from the "best Egish stee.

The todcio

of the doube iro

as on tis sal

oldg pae o

eavy wok was a

mao developent

te hisoy of

pae design

Bacsmithig sis a a

erstag of iro arrive the

Cooies ith Egsh immigrats bt

t as a og time before omestcay

forge iros co eqa those of

Sheffie. Wroght iro as mae from

atray occrrig bog iro as eary as

7 bt it as sitabe for cttig

eges To mae a goo pae iro a stee

ege most iey importe from

Sheie, as forgeee to the

roghtiro ba. Eary pae iros

sho this istict e ie betee theiferet materias. Whe the cttig

ege as or o by se a

sharpeig a bacsmith o stea

it o e o a e oe.


30/276

hrogh all of this time each trae

se a greater variety of planes bt the

basic physics of the tools as essentially

nchange from centries earlier

Sometime late in the 1 8th centry camea maor improvement that i change

plane esignthe introction of the

oble iron see the photo on p 1

A slightly crve cap iron scree to the

ctting iron greatly improves the plane's

ability to ct ificlt oo. Not only

is the oble iron heavier more rigi

an more stable bt the cap iron alsospports the ctting ege an helps crl

the shavings an breas them as they

are plane This simple mechanical

avantage reces tearot an leaves a

smoother srfaces Many specialize

planes ha a s ingle iron bt most of the

harest oring bench planes ere

fitte ith oble irons costing roghlytice that of a single iron.

EARL PANE MAKING

IN AMERICA

Before plane maing became a

specialize trae in America early in

the 18th centry most tools ere

importe from Englan or arrive ithimmigrants What tools the colonial

craftsman in't by from Englan he

mae himself an most liely fitte

arly woode-plae akers bod ly saped tei naes and ows

into the toe o heir planes. Sow here (fro lef) ae a cholso

pow plane wih a ece veed to te as a Ch elor pael raser, a

icoso cow ode ad (in he oregound) a sipe roud

ith importe irons Englan ofere

a greater variety of tools an as some

craftsmen felt sperior qality too

lanes of all sizes an shapes ere

importe along ith pane irons anplane parts fillister an plo plane

epth stops iron soes for smoothing

planes an plo sates. With close

traing ties an a share history

English tools set the pattern for an

inflence merican tools ell into the

1th centry. It asnt ntil the Civil

War that this change significantlyalthogh even toay English tools still

have a special appeal.

The earliest plane maers in America

ore either in or close to coastal tons

important as traing or poplation

centers he Colonies lagge behin

Englan in the specialization of the

plane maer for a nmber of reasonsThere as less eman for the tools from

a smaller poplation goo tools col

be easily importe an craftsmen ere

initially concerne more ith creating

the necessities of life rather than

ecorative frnitre or fancy bilings

hich reqire specialize tools

Deacon rancis Nicholson oring in

Wrentham Massachsetts from abot

7 28 to17 5 is the first ocmente

colonial plane maer. Many Nicholson

planes along ith those of his son

ohn his blac slave Cesar Chelor an

a hanfl of others have srvive.

Except for slight iferences in length

an ege finials an the se of yello

birch instea of the more sal beech

they col easily be confse ith

contemporary English planes.

One of the fe ays e can follo the

evelopment of the plane-maing trae

in merica is throgh the name that

each maer stampe into the toe of hisplanes see the photo at left. Some

maers incle their ton in a form of

early avertising. By stying censs


31/276

ecods pobates indentue ageements

and the like we can date individual

makes. Some makes immigated fom

uope and continued woking giving

us insight into diffeences between the

planemaking tade hee and in ngland

The iony of studying any planes is tat

the ones that have suvived ae the ones

that wee less used fo some eason

planes well used woe out and usually

did not suvive

As the population gew and colonialsociety matued changing tastes once

again give us insight into the demand fo

specific panes and tei gadual

evolution. One way that changing tastes

wee populaized was thoug

achtectue books both those fo the

caftsman and those fo wealthy

gentlemen buildes wo of the mostimpotant wee atty angleys h Ci

and Coun Buidr and Workan

raury of Din initialy published in

140 and Thomas Chippendales h

Gnman and Cabint-Makr' Dirtor

of 75 4 With such books capentes

and joines could lean ules fo

popotion and common classical

moldings As efeences they guided te

caftsman n selecting o making

appopiate molding planes in accod

with pevailing intenational tastes Such

books also seved the needs of molding

plane makes allowing them to keep

abeast of changing achitectual stylesand poduce panes that cut moldings in

the latest fashion

The edeal style was the st wholly

Ameican style. With advances in

movabletype pinting pesses and the

plummeting pice fo pape infomation

about the new style was easily dispesed

though design books and pennymagaines. n 1806 Ashe enamin

publshed the fist oignal Ameican

This page rom an eay bder's aal

sows layou lines fo ecian o ldg

profiles ha were o becoe the basc

oldg fors.

wok on achitectue i s Amrican

Buidr Companion. The canges in

molding styles he poposed wee as

diffeent as the new edeal style.

Typical molding pofiles befoe

then wee based on Roman pototypesand acs of cices. enjamins moldings

wee based on quite diffeent Gecian

modelsthe soft and subtle cuves of

paaboas ellipses and hypebolas see

the ilustation at left His book explains

simple mechanical methods o laying

out the new ovolos astagals and ogees

that wee to become the basic molding

foms ight into te 20th centuy

Now capentes and funitue makes

needed a whoe new set of molding

planes in the latest style wic a

gowing numbe of plane makes eadily

supplied While these wee sweeping

changes it was nothing like what would

occu with industialization and the

development o the cast-ion plane late

in the centuy.

The Golden Ageof Planes

y te end of the 18th centuy the

Industial Revolution was well unde way

in ngland ven so with a suplus of

labo and lingeing effects of the stong

guilds hand methods of wok pesisted

nglish sawyes efectivey esisted

poweed sawmills ong afte they wee a

common sigt in Ameica tuning outmillions of boad feet of lumbe

shingles and clapboads fom its vast

foests. ndustialization was quickly

b d h b d d


32/276

e Woods pag

machine (c. 1 830

was oe of te ea

est water-poweed

aces sed o

pane sock flat The

heavy wood fam e

suppots a ccar

cterhead wt two

gouge-like seel

cutes set ino e

oter rim (e

machine sow hee

s hosed teWdso recsion

Msem Windso

Vemot)

embraced here by a society independent

of guilds, with a strong entrepreneurial

spirit and a shortage oflabor Imagina

tions were captured by the possibilities

of machines It was just a matter of timebefore turbines (and sound hydrauic

principles would be applied to textile

manufacturing and eventually to

woodworking machines of all types.

he development of machines

brought farreaching changes to the

woodworking trades in village and city

alike. With a growing population anddemand for all types of wooden goods

came the incentive to develop machines

to speed production and take over

some of the laborous tasks. Work once

done entirely by hand was now done

by machine t wasnt long before

whole shops were mechanized planing

wood, cutting moldings or building

sashes doors, and blinds. Along with

industrialization came a better

transportation network and the end of

the largely self-sufficient community

Rather than heralding the end of

hand tools, initially mechanization only

increased the demand. Hand tools were

needed to build machines made largely

of wood, and they still had a fexibility

that machines lacked. Ironically, plane

makers were among the first to see the

possibilities of the machine as a way to

increase their production and create

new and varied tools. Planers sped up

the mill ing of wooden plane stocksthat could then be further worked

upon with circular saws and mortisers.

Once industrialization was under way,

fascination with the machine and

machine processes drove tool design

forward. As the century progressed,

toolmakers turned their attention to

new materials and to creating thenew tools needed by craftsmen relying

on machines.

CAST IRON PANES


33/276

CAST-IRON PANES

ast iron was one of the new materials

toolmakers turned their attention to.

While not exactly newthe Greeks and

eole of ndia had used cast ironitwasnt unti the mid19th century that it

was used for lanes and other tools. ast

iron is simly molten iron with some

imurities and a carbon content between

2% and 5% that is oured into a mold to

cool. ts advantages for making lanes are

obvious: he lane body is stable the

sole is long-wearing the throat staysconsistent and each lane is identical

and inexensive

Hazard Knowles was the first to try

casting lanes nterestingly his 1 87

atent was the first significant lane

atent in America and it was for a cast

iron lane that wouldnt be oularly

acceted for another 5 0 years Manyother makers exerimented with casting

lanes either as comete lanes or in

combination with wood as in ater

transitional tyes initially none could

make lanes in sufficient quantities or

economically enough to comete with

wooden lanes It wasnt until ast mid

century that the man we associate most

with cast-iron lanes eonard ailey

got started. I t took the huge advances in

roduction technology surred by the

ivil War to finally establish castiron

lanes as a suerior alternative to wood

The necessity of making armaments

during the ivil War accelerated thedeveloment of machines machine

rocesses and the technology associated

with interchangeable arts These

develoments required factories. Making

castiron lanes required the same

organized roduction system to turn

out large numbers of identical arts.

eonard ailey started making cast-ironlanes with Stanley in 1 869. In the 1 870

catalog Stanley offered an imressive line

of 28 different sizes and tyes both cast

iron and woodbottomed. ven though

Poke ataogs wee one o Staey's any ways o advet sig ts ools. Made o

arpeners and woodworkes to arry in their tool boxes aalogs were fo handy eferee

o o b hroug dg breaks whe dreag abo fure purases.

such lanes were unknown to most

craftsmen and the woodenlane business

was firmly established, by the end of the

century Stanley was selling millions

eonard ailey was one of thebrilliant inventive minds behind the

success of cast-iron lanes. It was from

firsthand exerience as a cabinetmaker

that he was interested in imroving his

tools. From his first atent in 18 55 to

1869 when ailey haney and omany

was bought by Stanley Rule and evel

ailey exerimented with and imrovedmany designs for bench lanes and

scraers. He invented such things as the

deth adjuster and the ever ca still

common on lanes today. In fact the

design of the "ailey-attern bench

lane has remained essentially

unchanged for well over a century

The agreement between Stanley and

ailey didnt last n 1 87 5 ailey broke

away and started making a line of lanes

under the trade name "Victor. What

followed was years of disagreement

between them as Stanley continued to

get larger (tyically by buying u

cometitors such as Victor and ailey

finally gave u making lanes.

What did last was aileyscontribution to castiron lanes and

Stanleys incredible success with them

Success was not immediate though or

one thing the lanes were exensive

compaed with wooden ones n 180 then some? Meanwhile molding and longe in ngland again because o the


34/276

compaed with wooden ones n 180

the ist yea they wee ofeed # 5 bench

planes sold o $ 750 each a pemium

wooden jack was close to $ 1. 50 As

poduction inceased the next yea thepice dopped to $ 600, and by 1 89 2

the same plane was $ 3 75. Stanley

aggessively maketed its planes though

pocket catalogs, tade magazines, stoe

displays and exhibitions he advantages

o the planes wee so compelling that

sales gadually ose. n the wods o a

contempoay catalog "nceased salesmeant inceased poduction, inceased

poduction meant bette acilities bette

acilities meant bette goods and lowe

pices . and the pomise o actoy

poduction o castion planes was

ulilled he demise o the wooden

plane was ust a matte o time

TE DEMSE

O F WOODEN PLANES

Wooden planes wee in peak poduction

when Stanley ist stated poducing

castion planes ut duing the last

quate o the 19th centuy thee

influences dastically cut the demand o

wooden planes the success o cast-ion

planes a gadual decease in the need o

handwok with the inceasing availability

and vaiety o woodwoking machines

and the consolidation o the wooden

plane industy into a ew lage makes

Once they became eadily available

and inexpensive enough to compete with

wooden planes castion planes soon

won out hey wee simply easie to use

and adjust they stayed tue and needed

little sole maintenance Wooden planes

couldnt compete with the incedible

vaiety o cast-ion planes that Stanley

and othes intoduced yea ate yea

Why cay a toolbox ull o woodenmolding planes when a Stanley #55

combination plane could do it all and

then some? Meanwhile molding and

milling machines educed the demand

o the wok wooden planes usually d id

he inal blow to wooden planes was

the demise o the small make whocould no longe compete against a ew

lage manuactues Only mao

toolmakes such as Ohio ool Aubun

ool, and Chapin-Stevens could aod

the actoies and lage-scale poduction

necessay to make wooden planes

economically. Aubun even competed by

using pison labo y Wold Wa I theewee ew buyes let o wooden planes.

he bight side is that wooden planes

neve disappeaed entiely hey pesisted

longe in ngland, again because o the

consevatism o the tades and a

suplus o labo hat is why nglish

molding planes can be ound that cut

Victoian moldings, wheeas in thiscounty such moldings wee typically

machine made uopean makes such

as Pimus and C . neve stopped

making wooden planes eithe although

thee seem to be ewe and ewe

available in woodwoking catalogs these

days Old wooden planes can still be

ound at any lea maket o auction oom too deales. So many wee made

that thee is likely to be a good supply

o a long time to come

Wheeas ew woode paes ae stl l made Amea Cotne ta uopea pae akes

ote o podue te suh as s Pius plane ade of pea wh a gnu-vae soe ad

unqe adjustes.


35/276

In the imed iate posWod War I pe od econo cs dove emake to owcos ad owqa ty toos. Sow he re (fro rea) ae

a casalum iu m Sarget #600 wth 4-dge lade" a Sanley Handy

an" n te faous twotone colos also wth a repaceabe eady

dge ade"; ad a Millers Fas #8900 o radtoal desgn wt dark

paited knobs ad toe to resembe the rosewood once co mmo

Two u que 20t-ceury planes ae a Surom (c 956) tho gh bysome o be the oy o den advace i plane technology and n te

oegound a raor pae ha uses a dsposable azor blade as a

ctter, eliatg the eed for sarpenig

From the GoldenAge of Planesto the Present

Stanley dominated the market in the

Golden Age of panes from 870 up to

World War I Its hard to onvey the

inredible range of planes Stanley made

literally hundreds and many that no one

else did suh as urved rabbet planes

dovetail planes and beltmakers planes

Stanleys ed Rok line of benh planes

was the best on the market Other

manufaturers suh as Sargent Union

ool and Millers Fals ompeted withtheir own ines of astiron planes either

of their own innovation or patterned

after expired Stanley patents Ony

Sargent ame lose to Staney in the

variety of planes it offered and they

were every bit as well made too ut it

was inevitabe that the demand for

planes woud diminish Other than in

a few speialized trades a raftsman

using hand tools just ouldnt ompete

eonomially with mahineprodued

produts

Stanley ontinued to offer many of

its planes right up until World War II

even though by then the market was

muh smaler t hung on beause it stil

aggressivey marketed its tools not ony

in Ameria but now throughout the

world n ngland Stanley ompeted

with dward Preston a maker of finequality astiron tools and later Reord

In the United States demand had

persisted beyond the turn of the entury

beause the population was still growing

and moving westward arpenters

building the housing stil needed a few

basi planes Only a few speiaied

tradesfurniture makers stairbuilders

and othersused any more than these

uilding had beome a proess of

assembling omponent parts

dimensioned lumber of all sorts and

sizes mahine-made moldings doors

and windows Stationary powered shop

tools were readily avaiable and by

Word War portable eletri wood

working mahines too y midentury

only a few of the basi benh planes were

in demand and thus eonomially viable

to keep produing Our long history ofworking with hand tools while not

entirely over was vastly different from

even a few generations before

Milles alls soo


36/276

ing panes ncude

(at ea) a deluxe

#209 of c 1 940

vntage and a uck

odgers #09 wih

1 950s' srea ned

syng poished

coed pars

Tente pasic

handes and sold

plane pyscs

ven if the demand fo planes was

diminishing Stanley Sagent and

othes kept on making them. The planes

wee mostly the standad benchplane

sizes block planes, and a few speciaty

planes such as abbet planes. Geneally

the quality was poo. o keep costs down

castings wee ough the pats wee

pooly finished, and the handles wee

plastic o stained wood. These weent

tools fo caftsmen but fo the newly

expanding "do-it-yousef maketStanley even called one of its line of

planes "Handyman see the photo at

left on p 2) . To make some of these

planes even easie to use Stanley evived

the old idea of a dsposable blade. No

shapening was necessayyou just had

to put in anothe "Ready-dge lade.

How fustating it must have been to do

good wok with some of these tools.

In amongst these postwa planes thee

actually wee some good ideas. The most

novel is the "Sufom which is pat asp

and pat plane see the photo at ight on

p 2 ) Hundeds of hadened teeth

"plane the suface in any diectionwithout cloggng. Then thee ae the

"uck Rodges smoothing planes made

by Milles Falls so thooughly imbued

with 1 95 0s style ed Tenite handles,

chome-nickel finish steamlined

shaping and ovesized adjuste wheel

see the photo above). Cleay they wee

styled by a talented industial designe,

but they look as though they wok

wondefully too.

Although these postwa planes might

ook simila to those of the past they ae

as difeent as the societes that ceated

them Hand tools ae cultual atifacts

that boadly eflect society oveall

Planes of ove a centuy ago especiallywooden ones tell us much about the

inventiveness skills and atistic sense of

thei makes . The caftsmen who used

the tools valued these skills ad the Modern Staey


37/276

pane makes atisty; pehaps this is

what I love about my od Spies

smoothing plane Most new planes no

longe show the speca cae and talent ofan indivdual make, expessig istead

ou emphasis on poduction, unifomity,

and affodabil ty.

If not long ago beautiful planes of all

desciptos could be bought by evey

type of caftsman fo ay imaginable

need, it was because demad ceated a

supply of good tools. Afte the tun ofthe centuy demad gadualy lessened,

until by Wold Wa II potabe wood

woking tools domiated the maket fo

new tools. If many of the planes made

since have plastic handles, ae pooly

machied and pooly fiished its only

because until ecently this is what the

maket was willing to pay fo. Thosecaftsmen who wanted good tools sought

out the best old tools. hey often stll do

Whi le today the demand fo planes is

ot staggeing, it is by no means

insigificant Evey caftsman needs at

least a few planes, and not eveyone has

the skil s o desie to estoe old ones

Ony a handful of makes ae still

making a lne of common bench planes

nealy all of which esemble eonad

aileys planes of the 1 870s. While thee

is aso some demand fo moe specialized

plaes mode manufactuing methods

often equie highe poduction us,

exceeding the limited demand.

otunately a umbe of Renaissance

pae makes have tooled up. Fo

example, Tom ie-Nelse of Waen,

Maine, makes high-quality cast-io

and magaesebonze planes based

on Stanley pattens see Chapte 12.

ut he doesnt just make copies; he has

eengineeed and impoved upon theoiginals. I fact ist ths what plane

makes sice the Romas have been

doing all along?

Leiesen's bonze #1 benc pane e foregrod) s one o

the bes-qalty paes ade today. e plane a rear s a basc

coepoay ssian plane o he sae sze wih a singe iro

ore like an early cast-on plane o ore an a centy ago

panes cde

(from ea an 1 0

rabbet pae silar

o e o ginal # 0

wi a epaceabe

edge on; a #9A

block pae; ad a

very new 5 csel

ad bock pane

aso wi a eplace

abe edge on

Wood s no oge

sed on ay ofthese planes.


38/276


39/276

PL H

The amou o orce required o work each plae is depede o he agle

ad relaio o he edge, o he hardess o he maerial ad he

magiude o he shavi u he required orce is i addiio grealy

ilueced y he degree i which he shavig is e or is removal i hemos perec mae

-Cares Holtzapfel Tuig ad Mechaical Maipulaio, 875

t sounds like a childs joke What hasa toe a heel and a sole two cheeks amouth and a rog in its throat? And its

sliding across the bench toward you

All trades have speciic names or things

and in thinking about the parts o a

plane wonder why many o these

names correspond to parts o our bodies

Is there any connection between these

anatomical names and the beautiul

heads carved in the throats o early

uropean planes? I believe we relate

names to parts o our bodies because we

can readily understand them. I told

you a plane had a toe a hee and a sole

and you had never seen one beore mostlikely you could imagine a tool shaped

like your oot and right away know

which end was the toe and which the

heel. ven i you already know where

the heel o a plane is take a minute or

two to amiliarize yoursel with the parts

o a plane (shown in the drawings on

pp. 30-31 ). Speaking the same language

will help to avoid misunderstandings in

this chapter which explains how the

dierent parts relate to the unctioning

Savings ae as dieet as te ools that produce te m Show here

are aslucent gossamerthin smoothingplane shavgs ad coarse

scub-plae shavgs baey curled ad o okg amos as i hey wee

gouged om e surace

o a plane and in later chapters on

tuning and using planesAlthough they have s imilar parts

planes come in lots o shapes styles and

sies are made o dierent materials

and have an iron held in various

conigurations Yet one thing planes all

share is the same basic cutting dynamics.

a pane is essentially an iron secured in

a plane body then its perormance is a

unction o certain physical

characteristics the mass o the plane

how the iron is secured how sharp it is

its pitch or angle to the sole and beve

angle the width o the throat opening

the depth o the cut and how the plane

is oriented to the cut. Naturally these

actors are all interrelated. or example

you will see later how skewing the plane

has the same eect as lowering the pitch

o the iron giving a better cut. his

Parts o a Wooden Plane


40/276

Parts o a Wooden Plane

t

T

chater exlains how each of these

characteristics afects a lanes

erformance, which will not only hel

you understand better how a lane cuts,

but also hel you choose the right lane

for the job and tune it to do the best

work ossible

Plane Anatomyhere are three genera classes of lanes,

each with a somewhat diferent

anatomy What distinguishes them are

the materials their lane bodies are made

from: wood, metal often cast iron, or

some combination of the two, as in

l

transitional lanes The drawings above

and on the facing age show the arts of

a simle bench lane in both wood and

cast iron.

WOODEN PANES

Th wood-bodied lane has a one-iece

body or stock, which is cut into to create

a throat, a mouth, a bed for the iron, and

slots in the cheeks to wedge the iron in

lace On such a lane there is usually a

single handle or tote to the nglish, a

"toat securely mortised or fastened in

the rear of the body his is usually the

only handle on wooden bench lanes,

although earlier lanes had a "gri just

nl t

n l

l

t

back from the toe On betterquality

traditional wooden bench lanes there is

a small button let into the to of the

body at the toe, called a striking button

or start, which is hit to free the iron and

wedge, or to adjust the cutting deth

rather than hitting and marring the

lane stock. Starts can be boxwood,

ebony, or steeltough materials that can

take the ounding Some newer wooden

lanes have a start set into the end grain

at the heel Altogether, the wooden

bench lane is a simle design that has

changed little over the ast two millenna

The iron on the bench lane shown in

the drawing is a double iron made u of

Par ts o a Cas - I ron Plane


41/276

Par ts o a Cas - I ron Plane

L

in

L

a cap ion bolted to the cutting ion the

two ions ae held in place with a wooden

wedge let into tapeed sots cut into the

thoat cheeks. Ove the yeas many

wedge designs have been tied to hold

the ion secuely in place and allow the

smooth escape of the shavings. efoe

about 1760 wooden bench planes would

I

tl utnt

R hnl

t

utnt

t

have had a sing le thick ion as some still

do wedged in a simila way as the double

ion asten planes use a vaiation of

this wedging system they have vey thick

and shot single ions wedged into place

against a cossba, sometimes with

eithe a wooden o steel wedge that does

some of the same wok as a cap ion.

CASTIRON PANES

Castion bench planes might ook

diffeent fom thei wooden counte

pats but the pats ae basically the

same he one-piece castion body has

sides machined squae with the sole a

mouth and a thoat that the shavings

pass though, a ea handle and a font

knob bolted on, and machned faces

whee the fog attaches The fog aP L A N E - I R O N A D J U S T E R S


42/276

g g

sepaate castng machned to mate wth

the plane body and scewed to t, foms

the bed fo the cuttng on . xcept fo

the vey ealest benchplane desgns,

most fogs have some sot of adjustment

scew to shft the fogs poston esdes

the cost savngs to cast and machne the

plane body and fog sepaately, an

adjustable fog allows the thoat openng

to be fne-tuned by movng the fog

fowad o backwadOften the dffeence n pefomance

between one cast-on plane and anothe

s dectly elated to how postvely the

fog mates wth the plane body to

suppot and stabl ze the on (see the

sdeba on p. 7) The on n the cast

on bench plane shown n the dawng

on p 3 s also a double on but tsmuch thnne than those common n

wooden planes Wheeas double ons

pefom bette n hadwokng bench

planes sngle ons ae usual n othe

metal planes such as block and shoulde

planes makng lght accuate cuts.

Whethe the on s sngle o double a

leve cap locks the on down aganst thefog though a scew that allows fo

vaable tenson

Thee s one small but vey mpotant

dfeence between a caston bench

plane and a wooden bench plane Most

cast-on bench planes have an adjuste

that egulates the depth of the cut and

the algnment of the on, wheeas fewwooden planes do We have a stoke of

genus by Leonad aley to thank fo

ths detal (see the sdeba at ght). On

the back of the fog ae two adjustes.

One s a steel leve wth ts lowe end

engaged n a slot n the on that pvots

sde to sde and bngs the on nto

algnment wth the sole Ths s the so

called lateal adjustment. Cuttng depth

s adjusted though two pats: an adjuste

In the mddle of the

19th centuy wth a

gowng nteest n machnes,nventon and caston

planes, thee was a paallel

nteest n ways to adjust the

on moe easly The ealest

adjuste desgns wee

developed on wooden planes

most natually because these

wee the planes n daly use.

Lateal adjustment wasnt

dffcultthe on could be

tapped to ethe sde to algn

tbut depth adjustment was

tcke and took moe cae

and a lght touch.

Pat of the challenge wthwooden planes was comng up

wth a desgn that could move

the on whle t was wedged

n place. Some deas woked

by fst unwedgng the on

moe successful desgns

devsed new ways to hold the

on that stll allowed t toslde up and down Many

desgns used some sot of

theaded adjuste attached to

both the plane body and the

on Whle many of these

ealy adjustes woked they

seem awkwad compaed wth

the ease of moden adjustes.Wth the bth of cast-on

planes came nventve deas

fo adjustng the ons One

of the ealest a eonad

aley desgn used a leve

behnd the on wth a smallnb that engaged wth a plate

veted to the on ockng the

leve ased and loweed the

on om hee t wasnt a bg

leap to an adjuste smla to

ones stll commonly used on

block planes wth a wheel

mounted on a vetcal post

that ased and loweed a leve

o pn engaged wth the on.

Stanley compettos Unon

Tool, Chapln, Sagent and

othes came up wth the

own vesons wth lage geas

leves that swng lateallyunde the on, o a means to

move the on assembly on a

caage va a theaded od

y the end of the centuy

most cast-on bench planes

wee usng a veson of the

smple and successful aley

adjuste that we know todayAdjuste nventon stll

goes on today. Pmus wooden

planes (see the photo on p. 24

use an aduste that looks

smple enough and woks well

but ts almost too complcated

to descbe Moe nteestng

s that they feel the planesneed an adjuste to compete n

the maketplace today


43/276

aly aduses for woode paes look awkwad o odern eyes.

Sow here ae ladw's 1 858 paen smoothing plane (a ea,

wch as a brass ever ca ha locks and unlocks he double ron

and Worrall's paent b ock pla ne, which adjusts wit a scew a the

hee o the pae.

Sage ts VM (Vey est Made) auo-set" aduste has a ku ed n ut

tha aduss te depth o the cut and a large leve o laera ali gm et

Many novative appoaches were ted fo adjusting e iros of cas

on planes n C aplin's i poved paent benc pa es a large

c kel-pated leve oves the sadd e" tha od s te iro in o ou.

nion Tool's verica post aduste is soewat slower to adjust ta a

aey plae adjuster but t is exremey positve.

A stee toe plate

fitted to te toe o a

d d

wheel mounted on a horizontal post on

the back of the frog and a shaped fork


44/276

sop made woode

soot g plae

makes te throat

adstable for teest work ad

keeps the sole fo

weang.

Transtiona p anes are part woode p a e ad pat cast iron. This

exploded view sows the nu be of pats that make p one pae

each deical ad iterchangeable wt parts o siiar planes

captured by the adjuster wheel. The

adjuster fork passes through the frog and

engages with the cap iron as the adjuster

pivots, it moves the iron in or out Some

block planes have a modification of this

same system with the adjuster wheel

mounted on a vertical threaded post set

into the planes sole.

Some wooden and cast-iron planes

a low-angle block plane being one, have

another adjustable feature thats veryuseful for refining the cut of the plane:

an adjustable throat regulated by a

movable part of the sole ahead of the

iron (see the top photo at left Its handy

to be able to adjust the throat for

diferent planing obsa wide opening

for coarse work and planing thick

shavings and a tightly set opening forfine work and thin shavings. he

advantage of the movable sole is the ease

with which adjustments can be made; by

backig off a nut or screw on the top of

the plane you can loosen the sole piece

and slide it forward or backward. or

cast-iron planes without an adjustable

throat the alternative is to loosen andmove the frog, which often entails

removing the iron first. At one time cast

iron toe plates for an adjustable throat

or complete iron soles could be bought

separately and fitted to a shopmade

wooden smoothing plane

TRANSITINA PANESAlthough not all that diferent from

wooden or metal bech planes

transitional planes have a unique

anatomy. They combine the beech plane

body of a wooden plane with the upper

half of a castiron plane Often they are

mistakenly thought to be transitional in

the sense that they mark a step in the

evolution from older wood-bodied

planes to newer castiron planes In fact

metal and wood have been combined in

lanes since the time of the Romans

(see the hoto on 15) . Stanley offeed

Tese ransiiona

paes wee made

by e age oo


45/276

tansitional lanes the same yea it

stated selling Bailey cast-ion bench

lanes ecognizing that some caftsmen

efeed the lowe cost and sweet

action of a wood sole, along with the

convenience of a meta lanes deth

and lateal adustment

he wood body of a tansitional lane

is thinne than that of an allwood bench

ane but with the same thoat and ea

handle he ion casting that foms theue half of the ane contains the

same woking ats as a meta bench

lane: a simila fog mechanisms fo

lateal and deth adjustment of the ion

a leve ca a double ion, and a font

knob hese lanes ae efeed by

some fo thei lightness and easy laning

but they shae the same limitations asall-wood lanes he sole natually weas

ove time and can wa ot of tue with

seasonal humidity changes aly vesions

had anothe oblem: he fog scewed

ight into the wooden body and would

wok loose ove time and no longe

suot the ion igidly A late imove

ment scewed the fog into theadedbushings set into the lane body

MATERIALS

Wood has always been an imotant

mateial used in lane making whethe

the ane is all wood, imaily cast ion

o somewhee between the two as in

tansitiona lanes Beech is the mostcommon wood used in a l tyes of

wooden bench and molding lanes

because of its stability toughness and

density Some ealy Ameican lane

makes made lanes of yellow bich, a

wood simila to beech fo obably no

othe eason than to be diffeent and

distinguish thei lanes fom nglish

ototyes Moe ae ae beautiful anes

of ale, boxwood o bidseye male

ense opica woods make sg ad og-weag planes

boy panes such as hs ow-age gl ish mier plane ae elavey

uncomon.

by e age oo

Copay of

Vnead ew

ersey whc wasevenually boug t

by taey eec

was he stadad

wood (backgound)

bt o a small

pemm appe

was sbstiued o

a oge-wearing

ore beautfl plae

(foegound). e

kob and ade

ae osewood.

sides of expensive ritish and American

wood-and-metal planes (see the photo

42


46/276

Schooboy paes were ade to be nearly

indestrucibe eithe wt ck castgsor ade om pessed steel o alleable

cast iron

n coastal towns and colonialshipbuilding centers, lignum vitae was

the preferred wood for bench planes

most likely because tropical woods were

regularly shipped to the Colonies

through trade with Central and South

America and the West Indies. Such a

hard and dense wood (the only one that

doesnt float makes good tools thatstand up to heavy use and wear Other

exotic tropical woods are aso found in

planes Rosewood cocobolo and ebony

have been used for knobs, handles

fences and entire planes such as the

high-end pow planes hese tools are

often further decorated with ivory brass,

or even silver detai s. Rosewood ebony

and beech have been commonly used to

"infil or stuf within the metal sole and

on p 42 .

oxwood is a hard longwearing

wood that has been used in many ways in

plane making. mported from urkey or

cut from hedges boxwood works fairly

easily and is so fine grained that it almost

appears to have none Small and

expensive specialty planes are sometimes

made entirely of boxwood, although its

chief use has been for the parts of

molding panes or powplane fencessubject to hard wear What has become

known as "boxing is inlaying boxwood

(or lignum vitae or other hard tropica

wood where maximum wear occurs

down the length of the sole of molding

planes or where the profile is particularly

fine and fragie. oxing styles are as

variable as the personal ities of themakers yet al are replaceable or

repairable when needed. (oxing is

explained further in Chapter 10

Nearly any dense hardwood wil make

a good plane body, but for dimensional

stabiity it is important that it be straight

grained and quartersawn ook at any

wooden plane and youll usualy find thegrowth rings parallel with the sole and

the sides showing quartersawn figure

Usually the pane blank is oriented so

that the grain genty rises from the hee

to the toe, so that in use the fbers are

smoothed down rather than worked

against (see the drawing on p 30 Since

many plane makers believed that thehardest part of the tree is closest to the

bark, this side of the body became the

sole. Sometimes the green plane blanks

were boiled for a day or longer to speed

the seasoning process and bring out the

rich color of the wood At the very least

the blanks were seasoned for many

years (sometimes as long as eight years.

Seasoning the stock, choosing the right

blank for a particular plane and

orienting it roery have a been

imortant arts of the wooden-ane

k f

iron ane you know very we its main

mitationits britteness Dro-forged

d d b d

nvisiby dovetaied together Rosewood

ebony or beech fis the nterior sace and

f h h b d f k b d


47/276

makers craft

Whereas wooden-ane makers had a

variety of woods to choose from metaane makers have historcay used ony

a few materias Once the technoogy of

cast iron had been suicienty mastered

it became and sti is the most common

materia for meta anes he chief

virtues of cast iron are its workabiity its

adatabiity to many aications and

ts ow cost t has another nice quaitycast iron is orous enough to absorb wax

into the soe for consideraby easier

aning f youve ever droed a cast-

and ressed-stee ane bodies are more

durabe aternatives to cast iron and

good choices for schooboy anes andcarenters bock anes subjected to

rough use see the hoto on the facing

age Another imitation of cast iron is

that it rusts o overcome this Staney

roduced a few ightweight auminum

anes for a short tme between the wars

but they never became ouar

he soe and sides of eary ritishsmoothing miter and ane anes mid

ength bench anes are made from stee

or gunmeta ates ingeniousy and neary

Staey expe ened wi a in for ony a few yeas aking paes o his aeral

quie unusua and coo Shown ee are a Saney #45, #78, ad bock plane

forms the throat bed front knob and

hande with a gunmeta ever ca and

tightening screw Gunmeta is acommon name for any brassike aoy be

t brass brone or true gun meta so

named for its origina use for casting

cannons. Gunmeta s a beautifu brone

aoy of coer and tin in the ratio of 8: 1

thats harder than iron and s easiy cast

and worked Unfortunatey brass soes

can eave smudges on the aned surfaceso for this reason and added wear

resistance a thin stee soe is often

sodered on Manganese brone an aoy

containing amost no tn but a high

roortion of inc has become the

materia of choce for many contemorary

secaty ane makers t has the same

beauty and easy workabiity as gunmetaas we as the nice advantage of weighing

sighty more than cast ron Since

brone is not a orous meta brone

soes need frequent waxing for smooth

easy aning

HANDL STYLS

Not ony does the ane maker have awide range of materias to choose from

but he aso has the freedom to shae the

arts to suit hs comfort or aesthetic As

a way to gras the ane to drect force to

it and to steer it handes are one such

eement that takes many forms heyre

as individua as each craftsman or ane

maker ranging from the functiona to

the beautifuy scutura

he simest "hande s nothng

more than a comfortaby shaed ane

body that afords a gras Wooden

smoothing and bock anes are hed this

way as are meta bock anes with the

Staney "Hand-y featureova recesses

mied n the anes s ides for a nger

hod as shown in the hoto of the bock

ane at eft. Sma onehanded anes


48/276

The si pes adl e is a cootaby shaped plane body Te tte

Vcor (foregound) a d te Staey # 01 (ceer) are held by two

or tee ges aone The owner-ade hade added to e Staey

#10 bose pae (ea) provdes a pace o est te pal o

added conro

Haache Sceer violiakes paes, sow ee a fed

case have detachabe ta adles ha screw o e frog The too

e backgrod i s a peg sape, whc works ke a apered pec

sapee o r spoke poite

have rounded knobs "squirrel tail

handles, or pistol grips. My avorite block

plane a Stanley #9, has a rosewood

ball tail handle, ust comorta ble enough

to grasp and to use the plane one-handed,

or to help balance the other hand on the

ront knob. o hold the smallest block

planes, a squirrel-tail handle is the best

which as a Stanley catalog notes, "ust

its nicely into the palm o the hand

Pistol-grip handles al ow a lot o control

steering the cut either with one or two

hands as is common with coachmakers

planes see the top photo on p. 7 )

Some violinmakers planes have one

urther handle variationa rounded palm

grp on a rod that etends well behind

the heel o the plane see the photo at

right above.

O all planes, bench planes are the

hardest working and most in need o a

stout handle or a means o getting a irm

grip. An early handle on wooden planes

i you can even call it that, was no more

than a rounded support behind the

bade that ones hand would stop behind

to push the plane. he other hand woud

ust grab the ront stock o the plane. On

later castiron planes a low or high knob

was bolted on near the toe or a more

comortable and surer grip. Gradually

the rear handle became onger and

higher, eventualy evolving to the shapely

and comortable open tote we know

today. For greater strength, the same

style tote is "closed in what is also

known as a handle.

Cast-iron handles, ormed as part o

the plane body as in cast-iron plow

planes and the Stanley #5 and #5 5, are

amost always closed. his gives the tool

good balance an important attribute o

any handle, and greater strength to

survive hard use. esides strength

considerations whether a plane has anopen or closed handle is a matter o

personal choice, assuming there is

adequate room behind the iron or either

style. dont know i 1 9thcentury

cratsmen had small hands or I have

large hands, but never seem to be able

to it more than three or our ingers

comortably around either style o

handle. his might be an actual

advantage the odd inger comes in

hany or adusting the irons depth on


49/276

C utt n g D y na m c s


50/276

NE RO E N G

il

i

he front of the throatpushes don on theshaving as the irnlevers it up

D E ROT ORE N G

I

he front o f the throat cann ot support the shaving

so some splitting and tea rout occurs

known as tea out ae ough cut aeas

ae consideably smoothe he physics

of a plane is s imply an attempt to contol

the splitting in favo of cutting fo a

smooth final sufacehe quality of the cut is affected

by the hadness of the mateial o its

esistance to being cut, the cutting angle

o pitch that the cutting edge makes

with the suface, the diection of the

wood gain, and the thickness of the

shaving If this same chisel had an acute

edge simila to a knife the wood was

staight gained and easiy woked and a

fine athe than a coase shaving was cut,

then vey little spitting would occu and

the esuting suface would be quite

smooth Woking with the gain, any

splitting ahead of the cut woud be above

the fina cut suface and be of minosignificance Aso, less foce is needed to

cut with an ion with a thin edge pofile

n theoy, this is how a lowangle plane

o spokeshave woks

he poblem comes in cutting

anything othe than wellbehaved woods

with the gain, which is whee a plane

has dist inct advantages ove a chisel

ocing the shaving into the thoat of the

plane causes it to be culed and

epeatedly boken in a leveing action

Fine saving

Coarse shavig

that limits potential teaout he

dawing above shows the cutting edge

lifting a chip, focing it upwads, and

beaking it against the fowad pat of

the thoat as this pat of the sole exetsdownwad pessue Some splitting is

bound to happen when planing against

the gain; the best you can do is keep the

teaout as fine as possible A shap ion,

cutting a thin shaving and a tight thoat

will all help his makes it easie to

undestand why a wide thoat (caused

by wea o inattention often does not

give good pefomancethe chip is

suppoted too fa ahead of the cut and

too much spitting goes on Of couse,

T e P y s c s o S k e w n g the C t


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K

Sma force at rightanges heps shear thefibers.

for rough work and panng thck

shavngs, a wder throat s necessary.

Effectvely cur ng and breakng theshavng depends on more than just the

wdth of the throat, but also on the

ncnaton of the ron to the sole, or

ptch, and the presence or absence of a

cap ron. For hard or fgured woods a

steeper ptch s necessary for good

results. he steeper the ptch, the more

abruptly the shavng s cured and,assumng the fbers are pressed

downward by the front of the throat,

splttng out ahead of the cut s ess

kely. ut the ptch of the ron has a

dramatc effect on the force requred to

drve the plane the steeper the ptch, the

more force needed. hs can be more

easly understood by comparng the force

needed to cut a shavng wth a knfe edge

at a ow angle to the surface (a thn

wedge at 25 ptch to the force needed

to cut wth a chse held at a hgh angle to

the surface (a thck wedge at 5 or

hgher ptchA cap ron (also known as a chp

breaker presents a steeper angle than

the ptch of the cuttng ron and helps

curl and break the shavng, but at the

cost of slghtly greater resstance he

closer the cap ron s set to the cuttng

edge, the more efectve the cap ron

Most mportant s that the leadng edgeof the cap ron le completely flat aganst

the cuttng ron to help stabze t and

not allow any shavngs to odge between

the two and clog the smooth escape of

new shavngs

S KEW ING THE IRON

Skewng the cut s one way to have your

cake and eat t too, so to speakgood

performance and reduced cuttng force.

Rotatng or skewng the pane at ether a

it

-

tiit

Skeing the ironoers theeffective pitch

slght or great angle notceably mproves

the cuttng dynamcs. hree thngs

happen: he efectve cuttng angle sowered, the ron presents a smaller

profle to the cut so there s less

resstance, and a scng force s added to

the cut (see the drawng above.

Skewng s an ncredbly efectve

strategy, especaly for begnnng a stroke

smoothly Skewng n one drecton wll

often make a very notceable dferenceover cuttng the opposte way, especaly

n areas of swrled gure or knots.

ncreasng the skew of the plane can

sometmes help, too, athough wth too

much skew the plane s makng only a

narrow cut. At ths angle the dynamcs

can also be so dfferent that wth some

woods

the handplane book - garrett hack

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