My contribution to obscure tool reproduction

[AndyT]

Thanks for making this and sharing the journey. I was intrigued by the design and did a little digging.

John Whelan has this in his huge survey of wooden planes:

Interesting in more than one way:

- It confirms that it was offered commercially in a catalogue. (The only Hammacher Schlemmer catalogue I know of is a brief version from Rose Tools, which doesn't include this.)

- It shows that the irons were skewed.

Thinking about it a bit, what you have made so far is a rather nice example of the (moderately) widely offered single ironed shooting board planes, the sort that often had a low grip to suit the web between the thumb and the palm, but with a long handle. The point of having the tall, symmetrical handle would be to allow it to be worked both ways - necessary when planing the mitres of mouldings.

So, if you still have the energy, and want to see this fascinating project through, are you up for making a double mitre shooting board to use this on, working either way?

And if that works, how do you feel about a double skew version? :roll:

 

[D_W]

Thanks for the info, Andy. I'm practically obligated to make a miter shooting board for this at this point since I've cut both mortises already, prepped both irons and bedded the plane for them (bedding is minor with double irons, though, they are stronger at bedding less than perfect beds than single irons). I can't rightly leave one of them unused.

I never saw one offered before, and the picture that I showed is the only example I've ever seen (IIRC, straight single irons) - I wonder how many of them they actually sold.

Actually, I wouldn't mind making another one with double skew irons, but I have to come across two irons that would be appropriate for that - at least I'd like to. If I get taper single irons and cut them askew, they end up with uneven taper - not a huge deal, but not ideal. I'm sure a skew plane would start a little easier, but this one works well. Lots of badger double irons out there, too, but if you stand them up straight so they're not cutting all the way to the edge, then there is too much skew and the abutments break as the wedge is driven in (a 20 degree skew on a badger plane ends up being about 28 degrees if you turn the skew enough so that the cheeks can stay vertical, if that makes sense), plus I have only seen them going one way. There is always an option to make irons and caps, but that's labor intensive for me and would involve a lot of belt grinder work to taper an iron and put a hollow in its back.

I'd love to see more pictures of actual planes, but proof that this was a catalog item is pretty cool.

 

[AndyT]

I've also found this - same idea, but in iron. I guess once you had made a pattern, the economics of casting wouldn't be too bad; not like making wooden planes by hand where every multiple is a fresh project.

http://www.jimbodetools.com/Remarkable- ... 18736.html

 

[D_W]

That's an interesting device - relatively similar to the Rogers miter planer, but not in terms of the fence.

Those must've been confined to frame shops, etc. They must've cost a mint at a time when people didn't have a lot of extra scratch.

 

[AndyT]

That's an interesting device - relatively similar to the Rogers miter planer, but not in terms of the fence.

Those must've been confined to frame shops, etc. They must've cost a mint at a time when people didn't have a lot of extra scratch.

...and not cheap now - that one sold for $981.00!

 

[D_W]

That's an interesting device - relatively similar to the Rogers miter planer, but not in terms of the fence.

Those must've been confined to frame shops, etc. They must've cost a mint at a time when people didn't have a lot of extra scratch.

...and not cheap now - that one sold for $981.00!

I'm sure they all have collector's appeal, but those appear to be much less prone to breaking than Stanley's offerings. That one's pretty cheap compared to the last Rogers miter planer that I saw ($1600 or something).

 

[AndyT]

I think I have belatedly solved the puzzle of the routed out recess on this board, which doesn't go the whole length of the track.

I reckon it's the Hammacher Schlemmer one described by Whelan and the cutout was to hold a piece of glass, as a flat, smooth bed for the plane to slide on.

 

[D_W]

I think I have belatedly solved the puzzle of the routed out recess on this board, which doesn't go the whole length of the track.

I reckon it's the Hammacher Schlemmer one described by Whelan and the cutout was to hold a piece of glass, as a flat, smooth bed for the plane to slide on.

Looks from the write up above like you're likely right.very interesting idea.

 

[DoctorWibble]

Dumb question from someone who'd never seen these devices before this thread. Seems if these things were for frame shops then either they'd have several boards to cover their standard frame sizes or one of the fences would be moveable. The one pictures seems fixed. So one plane, multiple boards? Or am I reading the tool incorrectly?

 

[AndyT]

I think it would have been used on cut pieces, not finished frames. So there is no limit to the length of a piece of moulding and the limit to the width is the space between the two fences, about six inches.
You need a fence each way round so you can always work with the decorative, moulded face uppermost and the flat side down.

A lot like making the initial saw cuts on a handsaw mitre box.

 

[D_W]

I'm going to make one of these with two irons askew now, for a professional woodworker.

I can't tell from the hammacher schlemmer picture, but it would appear that the plane is single iron and the irons are probably cut askew. I don't have irons like that, and will instead turn the entire mortise a quarter of an inch and use 2 1/4" irons instead of 2 1/2", but use a similar sized body.

What I've found with this plane is that it likes to take relatively coarse shavings (3 thousandth and above, the shavings in the video were a bit thicker than that yet) if the material is hardwood 4/4 type (i'm sure the problem would be less with small thin stuff). If you fiddle with a bunch of thin shavings, it likes to come out of the cut (which is something that happened long ago when I used a bench plane that had a straight iron. I have no skew versions, so I have no clue if this will alleviate the trouble. If using this thing, I will probably tend toward thicker shavings like it excels with, anyway, to avoid fiddling. One thick snip and everything is totally clean and square.

 

[AndyT]

Wow, that should be a good test - two skew irons in one body. I'll be watching along, wondering how much a Lion mitre trimmer is these days...

 

[D_W]

Wow, that should be a good test - two skew irons in one body. I'll be watching along, wondering how much a Lion mitre trimmer is these days...

George Wilson says the import copies are good (he has one original and one import that he bought just so he could rob the handle from it), so the reality is that they probably don't cost enough to justify building something like these planes.

I could blubber on about them being some kind of challenge, but as Richard has displayed, once you build a few of these types of planes, it's easy to build a good working version, and not really a challenge. Sometimes it's nice to make things you know will work out well, though.

The end user of this one requested only one skew iron, though, after I posted the above (he doesn't read this that I know of, but I was back and forth with him on email). I told him I'd gladly put a second mortise in later if he wanted one, but I'd imagine he's got a way to work miters and is just looking for a shooting plane that's a little nicer to use than a standard bailey or bedrock style bench plane.

Should be a pretty quick plane to make. If I had no kids and wife, I'd just make the entire plane tomorrow, but that'll never happen.