6' plane....

[Jameshow]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164731553118
6ft plane what the deal?

Cheers James

 

[marcros]

you move the wood over the plane I believe.

 

[Nigel Burden]

I believe David Barron has a video on You Tube of a 6' coopers plane

Nigel.

 

[xy mosian]

On coopers planes the mouth is often nearer the centre of the length. As marcros says a barrel stave is drawn along the sole. The mating surface of the stave needs to be flat, think the wedges in an orange. This is easier to do 'upside down', the altenative would be to attempt to clamp the curved stave in a manner which would allow 'right way up' planing. The same, or similar methods, have been used to flatten the plane surface of the staves edges in Lute backs. Apparantly some journeymen coopers had a plane with an interlocking joint in the middle of the length to allow ease of carrying around.
The folk museum at Shibden Hall, in Halifax, had a fine example last time I was there.
xy

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I've seen these in use at a whisky cooperage in Scotland - you bring the workpiece to the tool.

 

[D_W]

you move the wood over the plane I believe.

Yes - anything over about 30" becomes really cumbersome to use. Even a 30" plane is a real pain due to the nose weight and anything in that ballpark of length would be useful only for a few strokes on a long precise joint.

You can get a sense for how nice something like a cooper's jointer would be to have for medium sized or thin stock by just putting a metal jointer upside down in a vise. It's quite nice for trimming little bits accurately when planing said little things might be awkward (it's fabulous for fitting and making plane wedges).