I missed the necro part of this thread when it first came up, but when I started making wooden planes, I got all kinds of suggestions. I set out to make an early 1800s type plane with a double iron as those are a nice point in history where planes were made well, but they also had a double iron. Planes were made well in the UK after that, but the race to make them cheaper in the US occurred quickly (even so, the less than precise planes made in the US work well if they're fitted and the double iron works well).
That's beside the point, sort of ....I was surprised to see in an earlier post that folks thought there wasn't a closed handle design as that's the type that someone suggested i should make. Actually, I got that suggestion more than once.
And strangely enough, I mentioned off of the forums to a few folks that I was going to go on a run of making a few infill planes, and yet again "why don't you make the marples "wooden plane with a wooden infill""?
None of the people here in the states who suggested that type of plane ever actually used or owned one, to my knowledge, they just thought it looked cool.
I'm not certain, but I believe my plane making videos (which will cause you to ice pick your eyes and ears if you don't want to actually make a plane) involve the same in the comments, and i know for certain that I got a whole lot of suggestions that I should've shown how to make a laminated plane with a cross pin rather than a mortised plane because "those planes are a lot more practical".
I never bought one of these marples types, either - they show up through collectors here and often in too good of shape for a trash user like me. I'd suspect that they might leave a user thinking that they're a compromise between metal and wood planes that leaves you wishing you had one of each of the latter.
(from my guesswork, I'd imagine that they work well in softwoods, but in hardwoods - they may indeed have you looking elsewhere. Just as stanley transitionals do over here. Anyone with thoughts?)
I've never had anyone look at my planes and bring up a single other plane design so consistently, though, as the marples design. I think the appearance of it is striking, and people are swayed. Just as they are by boat shaped krenov planes. I did two hours of dimensioning last night with wooden planes and stanley planes. The wood that I'm using isn't the greatest (#1 common cherry over here). Thank goodness I don't have to do the dimensioning with krenov style planes.
Also, having seen the handled type before, I would've immediately expected that to be an original marples plane, marked or not, with replacement hardware in it. The chamfers are too neat, as is the curvature of the front bun. Amateurs or shop makers would always do something in proportion that was a little bit off, and i could duplicate that plane entirely by hand, but it would be torture compared to the quick work they would've done making them.
That's beside the point, sort of ....I was surprised to see in an earlier post that folks thought there wasn't a closed handle design as that's the type that someone suggested i should make. Actually, I got that suggestion more than once.
And strangely enough, I mentioned off of the forums to a few folks that I was going to go on a run of making a few infill planes, and yet again "why don't you make the marples "wooden plane with a wooden infill""?
None of the people here in the states who suggested that type of plane ever actually used or owned one, to my knowledge, they just thought it looked cool.
I'm not certain, but I believe my plane making videos (which will cause you to ice pick your eyes and ears if you don't want to actually make a plane) involve the same in the comments, and i know for certain that I got a whole lot of suggestions that I should've shown how to make a laminated plane with a cross pin rather than a mortised plane because "those planes are a lot more practical".
I never bought one of these marples types, either - they show up through collectors here and often in too good of shape for a trash user like me. I'd suspect that they might leave a user thinking that they're a compromise between metal and wood planes that leaves you wishing you had one of each of the latter.
(from my guesswork, I'd imagine that they work well in softwoods, but in hardwoods - they may indeed have you looking elsewhere. Just as stanley transitionals do over here. Anyone with thoughts?)
I've never had anyone look at my planes and bring up a single other plane design so consistently, though, as the marples design. I think the appearance of it is striking, and people are swayed. Just as they are by boat shaped krenov planes. I did two hours of dimensioning last night with wooden planes and stanley planes. The wood that I'm using isn't the greatest (#1 common cherry over here). Thank goodness I don't have to do the dimensioning with krenov style planes.
Also, having seen the handled type before, I would've immediately expected that to be an original marples plane, marked or not, with replacement hardware in it. The chamfers are too neat, as is the curvature of the front bun. Amateurs or shop makers would always do something in proportion that was a little bit off, and i could duplicate that plane entirely by hand, but it would be torture compared to the quick work they would've done making them.
