Make fun of the foolish american buyer....

[D_W]

..I haven't bought much from England in a while, but love to have nice examples of double iron planes.

This plane, one that most here would probably consider a 20 quid plane, will end up costing me about $150 total to get here via fed ex. But I"m tickled.

https://www.oldhandtools.co.uk/wooden-planes/early-nelson-jointer-plane-with-offset-handle---26-inch
Do I need it? No, I once bought about 20 double iron wooden planes of various american age, and english planes included in that (same - made over a period of about 100 years).

it didn't take long to figure out what I want to copy (not really dead copies, but to lift elements and style from, especially inside the mortise).

This plane is solidly in the wheelhouse of the elements I like except for the side roundover (which is more functional than the faceted style that I prefer.

 

[Droogs]

That is a realy nice woodie DW, I really hope it can handle your cllimate

 

[raffo]

That plane looks awesome DW.

 

[shed9]

This plane, one that most here would probably consider a 20 quid plane, will end up costing me about $150 total to get here via fed ex. But I"m tickled.

A tool is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it therefor your plane is worth $150. No being made fun of here.

I already have a metal plane collection thing going, I daren't look at the wood planes as well......

 

[D_W]

That is a realy nice woodie DW, I really hope it can handle your cllimate

That's the wild card here. I expect that the splits will get larger. I will use it some, but don't need to - what I really like is the aesthetics and the iron. I will probably copy the iron, and maybe the cap iron.

Early 1800s was the top of the mountain as far as double iron planes go (and as far as dimensioning with wood ever would go). The plane design is superior to anything made prior to that once wood was no longer perfect, and really better in most hardwoods (especially blasting through quartered mahogany and the like).

That plane was on the UK site for a while - the seller is right. It's unusual for them to be that nice, especially around the mouth - which suggests that unless the iron is wrong era, it may be original. In the US, planes like that that aren't outright collector displays are generally not found. The sale price of the plane being around $100 puts it around material cost for really good materials for me, so it's a bargain, but it's fair to say that you could find a decent wooden plane, even here, for $30 and use it until the iron splits at the slot).

But, I'll need to think about what can be done to prevent the wood from splitting further at the back aside from absolutely soaking it with linseed oil (which will just make it heavy as a railroad track section).

 

[D_W]

bah, nonmatching cap - something isn't original - forgot to note that, but it's the design of the plane that I'm really looking to have in hand, anyway.

Ibbotson and ward are both favorites of mine.

 

[doctor Bob]

You buy every 60's pedal car for me, and I'll buy every vintage plane for you.
Every 10 years we'll meet up and swap

 

[Cabinetman]

Hi DW, what’s the purpose of the handle being off to the right hand side? Can’t say I’ve ever come across that before. Ian

 

[Ttrees]

Hello David, I noted that you have made a plane before with the offset handle.
Is the offset tote better or worse for planing the face of a panel with using the cap iron (very little camber) meaning a lot more overhang of the plane on the edges of the work.
If so, is it the close edge or the far edge in which the offset is possibly more beneficial,
if it makes any difference at all?

Thanks
Tom

 

[Ttrees]

Hello David, I noted that you have made a plane before with the offset handle.
Is the offset tote better or worse for planing the face of a panel with using the cap iron (very little camber) meaning a lot more overhang of the plane on the edges of the work.
If so, is it the close edge or the far edge in which the offset is possibly more beneficial,
if it makes any difference at all?

Thanks
Tom

 

[D_W]

Hi DW, what’s the purpose of the handle being off to the right hand side? Can’t say I’ve ever come across that before. Ian

I think it encourages a looser grip and not gripping the plane perfectly straight in line but rather allowing the front to come toward the user a little.

I did build an earlier style plane with the handle close to the far right and shorter. The idea with that type was to keep the hand more open, but I don't grip a plane tightly and find the short far offset less comfortable.

 

[Ttrees]

Is this an issue with the woodies, that they can steer away from the user?
Seems odd to hear from my experience with regular Bailey patterns.

 

[D_W]

No, they'll go straight like a dart if you push from behind them, but that may be harder on hands, elbows and shoulders. I think the offset may have been used to present less wear and tear on the user by forcing the plane to tend askew.

But I'm not much of a reader about historical things, so I don't know for sure. This one will be only slightly off center vs the more drastic intent of earlier planes.

 

[D_W]

Forgot, the handle is set to the side away from the user.

 

[Cabinetman]

So it was designed that way to make planing at a skew angle easier? Makes you wonder how they first thought of it.

 

[Exluthier]

I’m very much prepared to be shot down on this, but is the skewed set of the handle a function of handedness, in this instance? Some of the bench planes that I have (German / Czech ones) are offered in left - and right-handed versions.

 

[D_W]

I’m very much prepared to be shot down on this, but is the skewed set of the handle a function of handedness, in this instance? Some of the bench planes that I have (German / Czech ones) are offered in left - and right-handed versions.

Yes, it would be handed, or the English may have expected lefties to work like a right hander. Having the handle on the near side would be miserable.

George Wilson told me that the earlier types with the handle closer to the edge helped prevent carpal tunnel.

 

[D_W]

So it was designed that way to make planing at a skew angle easier? Makes you wonder how they first thought of it.

I could only speculate that someone found it more comfortable or less likely to cause body wear and tear. It seems to have disappeared around the same time as the development of the machine planer.

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

David,

Seek out a zinc plater in your area and see if they also do resin impregnation. If so, that’s your ticket instead of BLO. If you can’t located one, let me know and I’ll see what I can do near where I am.

T.

 

[D_W]

I'm not sure I'd want to do that to a plane as old as this one (probably about 180 years old).

I'm fairly sure, though, that I have owned a plane before that saw the linseed oil treatment (actually two). One was a 20 inch long plane that weighed 9 pounds (which is very unusual - just a beech plane with a 2 1/2" wide iron), and the other was a 28" lamb jointer that weighed just south of 12 pounds. It came with another beech jointer, 0.25" wider and of similar age - the second wider plane was about 8 pounds (beech seems to lose some weight over time as volatile gases make their way out - the wood changes some, too, from smooth to more dry feeling when it's cut or turned).

If that wasn't dried oil, I don't know what it would've been.