Newbie - Hello

[Alf]

Now the Workmutt clone for a tail vice is clever, Shady. I like that. =D> How effective is it? Crispy Badger* plane too. Mmmm. =P~

Cheers, Alf

*At least that's my best guess. Doesn't look a bit like my one; no worm holes for a start... :roll: :lol:

 

[Shady]

Alf, it's fine: in essence, it's the 'top bits', with one end screwed to the bench (which replaces one set of jaws), and the dogholed and braced piece of pine you can see replacing the other set: turning the handles moves the end in/out/skew as necessary. It's not 'mega' strong, unlike the rest of the bench, but as a mechanism for trapping and locking stuff against dogs for planing, it works perfectly (it's actuallyabout a cm high relative to the rest of the bench, so a packing piece ain't necessary). I took care to shim the mounting so that there's no droop as you crank in/out. (edit - from memory, my biggest concern in mounting was clearance for the workings when 'skewing', because the screw threads 'rotate' off the axis: I just made sure there was about a 3 inch channel for them, and it works fine)

Without offending Rob, if I had the money to burn, I'd buy a veritas twin screw and a tucker tomorrow, but this made use of a cheap bunch of metal and does what I need...

The plane's one of my Grandfather's - lovely laminated iron - I'll photo the makers logo for you.

 

[Alf]

The plane's one of my Grandfather's - lovely laminated iron - I'll photo the makers logo for you.

Now how did you know that was going to be the next question... :-k :lol:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Shady]

OK Alf - plane time! It's a giant version of your new Lie Neilsen, in that it's a skew rebate plane - but without a removable side piece...

Here's the underside(nb - blade retracted for safekeeping - the mouth is not actually that wide!!)

The maker is unclear to me. Best guess is 'Thomas Waugh', as that's stamped in a fine cursive script on the back, along with a size (2and 1/2 iinches) At the front there are about 5 previous owners' stamps, including one D Malloch of Perth, and a Mr Szell...

The blade is an Ibbotson, and is cast steel, with a laminated cutting edge that extends back about an inch from the tip - nice and thick:

Am I right on Waugh? - I've never really worried about it before, or heard the name elsewhere. The workmanship is pretty good all round - the handle's a work of art, and the angled fitting of the wedge is very good indeed. I've always assumed that this is a panel fielding plane (large, skewed blade, rebate edge) - but you've got me wondering if I'm right now. I could also show you my wooden Norris planes, if you llike (now there's a chat up line :wink: )

 

[Chris Knight]

Nice Badger plane Shady! Or perhaps I should say - two nice Badger planes!

 

[Anonymous]

the handle's a work of art

Yep, it is. Beautiful.

 

[Shady]

Darn - how did that happen? - how do I delete??

Mod Edit - All done.

 

[Alf]

Mmmm, bootiful. Gotta be the cleanest woodie I've seen, well, ever, I think. Lovely.

The maker's D(avid) Malloch. 1850 to 1913, when Mathieson bought them up and continued to use the name until at least 1932. Thomas Waugh might be the dealer who sold it on, but there's certainly no record of him as a maker in British Planemakers. Thomas Ibbotson and Co, Paternoster Row, Sheffield, dates given as 1825-1909, but they too were bought up, by Bill Marples and the Boys in this case, in 1905, and they seem to have continued to use the name as well. So dating it is anyone's guess, but all those previous owners suggests some age to me. The tote is lovely, I can tell. (Hey folks, make your own courtesy of BugBear's measured drawing. :wink: ) Oh yes, and it's definitely a badger plane; which is essentially a skew rebate plane but with a fancy name. :roll: Panel planes usually have a built-in fence and panel raising planes a fence and depth stop, and often shorter too.

Now about these etchings... er, Norrises... :lol:

Cheers, Alf

All info brutally hacked from the pages of British Planemakers from 1700 and the Dictionary of Woodworking Tools; without either of which I'd be a hollow vessel indeed.

 

[Howjoe]

All info brutally hacked from the pages of British Planemakers from 1700 and the Dictionary of Woodworking Tools; without either of which I'd be a hollow vessel indeed.

I'm going to show my ignorance now. "Dictionary of Woodworking Tools" is this by R A Salaman? They're about £40ish quid on Amazon. Worthwhile as a reference?

Cheers

 

[Shady]

Mmmm, bootiful. Gotta be the cleanest woodie I've seen, well, ever, I think. Lovely. Very Happy

And she accuses me of being a worrying member of the forums?? \/

Seriously though, after picking myself up off the floor, thanks for the info Alf: I agre on the tote: it's interesting, given that the skill level on display means that it ain't accidental, that it's got that 'Veritas style' bulge about half way up on the backside. Feels very good indeed for my hands (which are large).

Your dating makes sense: my grandfather was patternmaking 'actively' from about 1890, so it's obviously in the ballpark. As to my Norris woodies: here's a double ironed one with an adjustable brass 'height fence'. (I have the original irons and wedges, but took them out for the photos) It cuts a molded profile, and the sole is keyed onto the body by two small sliding dovetails at right angles to one another that run the length of the plane - again, beautiful work.

Second shot shows the dovetailing arrangement (the chip visible at the front is superficial - trust me, the joint is exquisite - real humbling stuff, when you consider that after a century or so there's no gap whatsoever along the length of it's entire 8 planes of reference...) It also shows the 'Norris London' stamp, with '57 York St, Lambeth' under it - and the owners' stamps as it was passed between them. (I still have my grandfathers owners' stamp: still in use today on my tools, and to identify his great grandsons' school shoes in the mess of the changing rooms.. I've always assumed that there weren't two 'norrises' in the plane game, and that it's one of his before he turned metal - no doubt you can enlighten me, given the name and the address...

 

[Chris Knight]

Shady,

I haven't seen a moulding plane with a depth stop like that - reckon it's some kind of specialist or sash plane for accurately forming seals/drip stop etc. Do you have any more info?

 

[Shady]

Chris, I'm afraid not: hope Alf can help us... I'm not sure, but the actual 'holding of it' is quite delicate. I don't think it's to do with a drip stop - only a hunch, but it's got a 'fine work' feel in the hand, and the profile it'll cut is really quite small. I suspect it's more to do with an adjustable depth edge for something like fine shelves in carcass work, but that's a pure guess... I may run some moulding off with it to give us all a visual of what I mean..

 

[Alf]

I'm going to show my ignorance now. "Dictionary of Woodworking Tools" is this by R A Salaman? They're about £40ish quid on Amazon. Worthwhile as a reference?

Howard, I find it worthwhile, but that's mainly because I'm interested in old hand tools and hate not knowing what something is. :roll: The majority of woodworkers get by without it with no trouble. If you did decide to go for it, it's only £30 here

Mmmm, bootiful. Gotta be the cleanest woodie I've seen, well, ever, I think. Lovely. Very Happy

And she accuses me of being a worrying member of the forums?? \/

I walked right into that one, so to speak... ](*,) :lol:

As to my Norris woodies: here's a double ironed one with an adjustable brass 'height fence'.

Now that's rather interesting. My ignorance is going to get an airing now, 'cos I think that's pretty unusual but I'm not sure. I'll have to hit the books and see what I can find, but I think wooden Norris moulders are rather more unusual anyway, and that type is unusual enough from any maker... Seems to be a sort of side bead and rebate arrangement, but the rebate doesn't make any sense 'cos there's no fence. :-k

I've always assumed that there weren't two 'norrises' in the plane game, and that it's one of his before he turned metal - no doubt you can enlighten me, given the name and the address...

Yep, same one. Thomas Norris and Son had the 57 York St address from 1905-1908, which is as precise a date as you could possibly hope for.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Shady]

OK - more details: the brassware adjusting screws are 'woodscrews', seating directly into the body of the plane. Here's a profile it cuts:

Here's the same piece with my hand in for scale:

For your amusement - those boys knew their basic geometry and plane design: thats a cut in dry cherry: because I was feeling lazy and the profiles would need some care sharpening, I just banged the rust pitted and 'not sharpened since my grandfather last did it' blades in to the plane (dad was not into woodwork, and I inherited this from a display cabinet on his death), and tried my luck... 8) No kidding, that's the result... As I said, it's a really delicate moulding. More fascinating the more I look at it, because the front blade cuts the 'raised' part of the moulding, and yet also shapes the 'hollow' - the rear blade simply repeats the hollow??? As you look at it, the fence will control how far 'down' the stock that profile goes.

 

[Chris Knight]

Shady,
Interesting! I don't know nearly enough to be sure but I feel the profile has a functional rather than decorative appearance. In the latter case, I would expect a finer quirk. This one seems to want a mating profile.

 

[Shady]

Chris: that ocurred to me once I'd cut it: I almost felt like cutting the test piece in half and seeing if the 2 profiles would fit together...

 

[Alf]

Well I wonder if it's an Airtight or Show-case Maker's plane? :-k The more I think about it, the more it seems to me it's designed to work the profile into an existing rebate, which would account for the need for the adjustable depth stop. But if it's a functional rather than decorative bead, why the second iron to clean up the surface of the bead? Unless it was dual purpose; the front iron for the bead in a rebate and the back one for an ordinary bead. Or whatever it is. Hmm, we really need someone who knows something about wooden planes for this one.

Cheers, Alf