Got gifted this plane, what is it called/for?
- Thread starter stuartmarler
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Mike Jordan
Established Member
Can't help with a makers name but I think that is a hogging plane, used for swift removal of timber when hand finishing a glue jointed table top or similar wide board. Used at about 45 degrees to the grain before finishing with jack and smoothing planes. Very hard work!
Coyote
Established Member
If I'm not mistaken it's a bbudget version of your Stanley. There's a similar for sale under the Amazon Basics range but identical ones are available under a range of brands.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07V3QLZ5Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fab_AydEFbA8WZ32J
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07V3QLZ5Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fab_AydEFbA8WZ32J
It's a cheapened design of smoothing plane, designed to sell in a diy store to someone who doesn't want to spend much.
So it has no proper frog and awkward spokeshave style blade and adjusters.
You'll see similar versions of it with various random names on and slight variations in detail.
Could be branded Draper, Wickes, Forge Steel etc depending on the retailer.
Is the body a casting? There are some around which are folded steel.
Here's a similar example with the Draper name on. £22 for two.
https://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Draper-2263D-5010559197026-2-Piece-Combined-Plane-Set
So it has no proper frog and awkward spokeshave style blade and adjusters.
You'll see similar versions of it with various random names on and slight variations in detail.
Could be branded Draper, Wickes, Forge Steel etc depending on the retailer.
Is the body a casting? There are some around which are folded steel.
Here's a similar example with the Draper name on. £22 for two.
https://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Draper-2263D-5010559197026-2-Piece-Combined-Plane-Set
Bod
Established Member
The gifted plane, as has been said, cheap "handy-man" type.
I have had success in using one of these, get the blade properly sharp, flat back etc. If the blade angle is ok, then shavings can be made, but the 4 1/2 will be miles better.
Bod
I have had success in using one of these, get the blade properly sharp, flat back etc. If the blade angle is ok, then shavings can be made, but the 4 1/2 will be miles better.
Bod
Nigel Burden
Established Member
Apart from the iron cap screw, it looks similar to my old Stanley SB3. As others have said, a cheap plane aimed at the DIY market. This isn't to say that once sharpened it wont cut though.
Nigel.
Nigel.
Argus
Established Member
It's supposed lineage is already outlined....... and it was free.
What to do with it?
If you have a use for a scrub-plane, it should be possible to capitalise on its lack of a chip-breaker and the wideness of the mouth by adding a camber to the blade. It does lack an amount of 'heft' by the look of of it and you may add some ballast to the body by building up some weight on the blank bits of casting - perhaps it would convert to this.
However, not everyone converts raw timber these days.......
.
What to do with it?
If you have a use for a scrub-plane, it should be possible to capitalise on its lack of a chip-breaker and the wideness of the mouth by adding a camber to the blade. It does lack an amount of 'heft' by the look of of it and you may add some ballast to the body by building up some weight on the blank bits of casting - perhaps it would convert to this.
However, not everyone converts raw timber these days.......
.
thetyreman
Established Member
that would make the perfect scrub plane.
Mike Jordan
Established Member
That's the name that escaped me! Scrub plane
Argus
Established Member
Good question - as I said in my earlier reply, "not everyone converts raw timber these days......."
If you buy your stuff sawn and straight, you probably don't need one.
A Scrub Plane is a roughing plane with a wider mouth and a curved, convex shape to the cutting edge. It's used to flatten rough boards that are produced either straight from the axe or saw where the board surface undulates. It is the first process in flattening a rough board one end to the other. It produces a shallow rounded groove and is usually moved side to side across the grain, about diagonally. The resulting peaks and troughs are then straightened using a Fore Plane.
There are numerous 'how-to' vids on Y-T about making, converting and using scrubs.
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thetyreman
Established Member
the scrub plane comes from the pre-industrial age before planer thicknesser machines were invented, if you are a handtool woodworker they are still useful to have around, I prefer old wooden ones than metal ones myself, it's amazing how fast you can remove stock with one.
The wooden scrub planes are generally better than a cheap metal-cast scrub plane, but having said that, there are also cheap and nasty (often Eastern European) ones within that category. I’ve never used anything but a scrub plane for thicknessing, or indeed for rapid width reduction on thinner boards (as shown in various `YouTube’ videos). Whether a metal scrub plane or a wooden one, use the heaviest iron that will fit the plane. I’ve used an Ulmia scrub plane for many years, and despite also having owned a top-of-the range metal scrub plane, the narrower blade of the Ulmia plane (33 mm) makes thicknessing much quicker, and very much less effort. Waxing the sole of these planes also helps, if thicknessing green stock.
I use an old Stanley #4 plane with a convex blade profile as a scrub plane, seems to work. Very much faster than trying to use plane with a normal flat blade profile.
An important point about scrub planes for those not familiar with these very useful implements: they are generally used across the grain, not with it like 'regular' planing. Cutting across the fibres takes far less effort per kilogram of wood removed (like when using a gouge for rapid stock removal).
You usually go back & forth along the board at an angle of approximately 45 deg to the grain direction, switching the angle to left or right on alternate runs. Work on the high spots first, which you determine (& constantly check), by sighting along the surface & using winding sticks (just a fancy name for two straight pieces of wood of the same thickness placed across the board at the ends to check for twist or 'winding').
As said above, you can remove a very impressive amount of unwanted wood very quickly with any type of short, light plane set up for the specific task - I used an old #4 modified for the task for many years. Wooden scrub planes are great if you work with 'sensible' woods, the less weight you have to push around on this job, the better, but in my part of the world, wooden soles wear rather rapidly on our bone-hard hardwoods, so I use a metal-bodied version. I frequently dimension rough stock by hand rather than go to the bother of wheeling out the screaming electron-burner if there's only one or a few pieces to size, takes about the same time or less, is noise & dust-free, and a pleasant way to get some upper-body exercise.
On soft woods with docile grain, you can use your scrub plane along the grain if you just want to clean up a rough board to approximate thickness, but better to use something jack-sized, with a less aggressively-radiused blade for that purpose, it will reduce tear-out a bit, & the length will help keep the surface level. I've seen the telltale grooves of a deeply convex blade on the backboards of old pieces many a time....
Cheers,
You usually go back & forth along the board at an angle of approximately 45 deg to the grain direction, switching the angle to left or right on alternate runs. Work on the high spots first, which you determine (& constantly check), by sighting along the surface & using winding sticks (just a fancy name for two straight pieces of wood of the same thickness placed across the board at the ends to check for twist or 'winding').
As said above, you can remove a very impressive amount of unwanted wood very quickly with any type of short, light plane set up for the specific task - I used an old #4 modified for the task for many years. Wooden scrub planes are great if you work with 'sensible' woods, the less weight you have to push around on this job, the better, but in my part of the world, wooden soles wear rather rapidly on our bone-hard hardwoods, so I use a metal-bodied version. I frequently dimension rough stock by hand rather than go to the bother of wheeling out the screaming electron-burner if there's only one or a few pieces to size, takes about the same time or less, is noise & dust-free, and a pleasant way to get some upper-body exercise.
On soft woods with docile grain, you can use your scrub plane along the grain if you just want to clean up a rough board to approximate thickness, but better to use something jack-sized, with a less aggressively-radiused blade for that purpose, it will reduce tear-out a bit, & the length will help keep the surface level. I've seen the telltale grooves of a deeply convex blade on the backboards of old pieces many a time....
Cheers,
