Exotic wood rabbet plane. Lignum vitae?

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BentonTool

UK Tool Junkie...
UKW Supporter
Joined
15 Mar 2024
Messages
233
Reaction score
323
Location
Benton, Pennsylvania, USA
Here is a craftsman-made rabbet plane that I recently cleaned-up & tuned. I wish I had a "before" picture, as it was quite weathered. It is made of some type of very heavy exotic wood I (Lignum Vitae? A dense Mahogany?) with what appears to be a boxwood wedge.
In any case, I had to do a lot of work on the bed of the iron, and on the wedge. It was all out of sorts.
The mouth is on the large side, but it now works reasonably well... for what it is...
01 Exotic Wood Rabbet Plane 01 dsc04141.jpg


01 Exotic Wood Rabbet Plane 02 dsc04148.jpg


01 Exotic Wood Rabbet Plane 03 dsc04162.jpg


01 Exotic Wood Rabbet Plane 04 dsc04165.jpg


01 Exotic Wood Rabbet Plane 05 dsc04170.jpg


01 Exotic Wood Rabbet Plane 06 dsc04174.jpg
 
My guess would be greenheart. I am pretty sure it isn't lignum as it has a very pronounced grain and there is a big difference between heart and sapwood
 
I did not think it was lignum vitae either as I have seen quite a bit of that being from a maritine working background. It does look like greenheart to me too. Anyhow it looks like it takes a good enough shaving for a rebate plane as they are made to take thickish shavings. Unless there are performance issues it may not need anything doing to the sole. Greenheart is that hard it will hardly wear much more in the next few years.
Regards
John
 
I did not think it was lignum vitae either as I have seen quite a bit of that being from a maritine working background. It does look like greenheart to me too. Anyhow it looks like it takes a good enough shaving for a rebate plane as they are made to take thickish shavings. Unless there are performance issues it may not need anything doing to the sole. Greenheart is that hard it will hardly wear much more in the next few years.
Regards
John
In the USA, we do not have very many truly dense woods, unless you buy exotics. I was amazed by how dense & heavy this wood is. It takes a wonderful luster with sanding.
I appreciate the help identifying it. I have several maritime planes that I bought in "New England" (mostly in Maine). Most are made of lignum vitae (more of the classic LV appearance to the wood). I believe now that I have one other greenheart plane in my maritime collection; a jointer.
I agree that it should wear well. However, yesterday whilst out in the shop, I could not resist attaching a piece of cocobolo sapwood to the sole. :ROFLMAO: (More to follow...)
Thanks & best wishes,
Alex.
 
I finally decided to add a new sole to the rabbet plane.
I have a lot of cocobolo, mostly sapwood, or as I prefer to call it "golden cocobolo". ;)
Perhaps not handsome, but works better now.
The cocobolo is very dense and slippery. Makes a good sole.

001 Greenheart Rabbet Plane 01 dsc04280.jpg


001 Greenheart Rabbet Plane 02 dsc04306.jpg


001 Greenheart Rabbet Plane 02 dsc04299.jpg


001 Greenheart Rabbet Plane 04 dsc04303.jpg


001 Greenheart Rabbet Plane 03 dsc04292.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top