Plough plane recommendations

[tibi]

Hello, my fellow woodworking pals,

My next tool on my to-buy list is a plough plane.

Unlike bench planes, Stanley and Record plough planes still hold reasonable prices on eBay. They are 30-50 GBP, often with a multitude of cutters.

I have no experience with plough planes. Is there anything that can render such a plane unusable if I am willing to use some elbow grease and I would be better to pay 4 - 5 times the price for Veritas small plough plane?

Thank you,

Tibor

 

[Adam W.]

I have a Veritas. It's very easy and simple to use.

 

[D_W]

Are there screw armed wooden planes in continental europe? If so, that's what I'd get.

If not, the next choice (Before the veritas for me) would be the record version with the plastic handle (though that's probably going up - I think it's the O44c). I think I paid 50 pounds equivalent for one of those with about 14 irons.

Something changed from pro use to now where we think (not me) a plow plane needs to be a sticky all iron piece of high abrasion resistant-ironed kit with microadjustments, etc. I had the veritas small plow plane and like the record version better.

For big bulk work (Which probably won't be that common), the older wooden planes are better than anything new, but the irons, skate and wedge usually go together so you don't really want to get a plane without its original irons if you're going to use it a lot).

 

[tibi]

Are there screw armed wooden planes in continental europe? If so, that's what I'd get.

If not, the next choice (Before the veritas for me) would be the record version with the plastic handle (though that's probably going up - I think it's the O44c). I think I paid 50 pounds equivalent for one of those with about 14 irons.

Something changed from pro use to now where we think (not me) a plow plane needs to be a sticky all iron piece of high abrasion resistant-ironed kit with microadjustments, etc. I had the veritas small plow plane and like the record version better.

For big bulk work (Which probably won't be that common), the older wooden planes are better than anything new, but the irons, skate and wedge usually go together so you don't really want to get a plane without its original irons if you're going to use it a lot).

Hello David,

Actually, I have inherited one of those. But it has only one 10 mm cutter, which is too wide for drawer bottoms (which is why i need plough plane the most).
It would need repairing as well. Or I could use the difficult parts (wooden nuts and threads) and make a new body myself. But the single 10 mm cutter is too wide for drawer bottoms. 6mm would be better.

 

[Jacob]

STANLEY 13-050 is good and often cheap. Not very trendy as it is ugly and has no brass knobs, but very useful.
Make sure it has all the bits, though In use you soon find that you don't always need all the bits fitted all at the same time
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/13808541/stanley-13-050-manual-cornish-workshop

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I love my one of these:
https://www.workshopheaven.com/quangsheng-no-043-plough-plane.htmlbut it's out of stock (probably less unobtainable than Veritas gear though).
I also have an old Record 050C which is very good but slightly fiddly to set up

 

[D_W]

You could grind the 10mm iron to 6mm

 

[D_W]

Only the last half inch or so.

 

[tibi]

Only the last half inch or so.

That is a good idea too. Maybe I can create a custom plough plane with a constant distance from a fence, that will be used for drawer bottom grooves and cabinet backs from this old plane.

 

[D_W]

That is a good idea too. Maybe I can create a custom plough plane with a constant distance from a fence, that will be used for drawer bottom grooves and cabinet backs from this old plane.

you can make a plane like that in about an hour, it doesn't have to be neat, and they work grand.

I have two planes made like that - they're open sides (you could glue a side on them if you want) and the blade is just flat stock scrap that I had left over.

If you make a lot of fixed size drawers, a plane like that works far far better than a plow plane. It's always set right and the skate is wood and supports near the full width of the cut (you make the skate just narrower than the blade).

 

[thetyreman]

I love my record no44 but it took some work to get it setup properly, mainly flattening the main sole of it was way out of flat, and I am using ray isles blades with it, good once sharpened up.

 

[tibi]

you can make a plane like that in about an hour, it doesn't have to be neat, and they work grand.

I have two planes made like that - they're open sides (you could glue a side on them if you want) and the blade is just flat stock scrap that I had left over.

If you make a lot of fixed size drawers, a plane like that works far far better than a plow plane. It's always set right and the skate is wood and supports near the full width of the cut (you make the skate just narrower than the blade).

As this is the only reason why I would need a plough plane so far, I would give it a try. I will look some plans up on the internet and I will make one.
Do I need an iron skate at all, or wooden one will be sufficient? I can have an iron skate made if I want.

Thanks.

 

[Bod]

Record 043 for smaller work,or Record 044, for larger work, although it will do the smaller sizes of cutters.
These are the older metal handled models.
Either of these you will not go wrong.
When buying either of these be sure all the parts are there, especially the blade clamp.

Bod

 

[D_W]

As this is the only reason why I would need a plough plane so far, I would give it a try. I will look some plans up on the internet and I will make one.
Do I need an iron skate at all, or wooden one will be sufficient? I can have an iron skate made if I want.

Thanks.

Wooden skate is better if you're just going to make drawer grooves. I'll take a picture of one of mine. They can be really really crude and work really well.

 

[D_W]

couple of pictures - I don't really make many moulding planes (but sometimes). The point of the junky planes here is to point out that they work as well as they would if they were nice, as long as the critical parts are done right.

The plane on the bottom right takes 5 hours to make. The two grooving planes take one hour to make and work as well (within reason - like with thin irons such as this plane) and the clad together dovetail plane bottom left and top right "pencil lead grooving" scraping plane were all made as quickly as possible with scrap, and all work well.

Extra pictures of the grooving plane and if it needed to be pretty, you could pretty easily accommodate shaping it to something nicer.

As ugly as the open sided plane is, it works far better than a plow plane with a metal skate and it's always set. It makes cleaner grooves because of the large skate and cut support.

 

[Phill05]

Hi,
I have a Stanley 50 going spare I won't use it anymore now, could do with a clean-up but all good.
PM me if your interested so I can get a delivery cost.

 

[D_W]

Now, that's a dandy offer.

I'll make a separate comment as I went down the rathole with various plow planes, etc (including the veritas) when I explored this whole avenue. There is no reason for a hard iron on a plow plane - very little of the work should be done with shavings thin enough for absolute edge keenness to matter and the iron is far better for freehand sharpening if it's a touch softer.

One of the biggest pains in woodworking is doing heavier work with a really hard iron that nicks and then is a pain to sharpen. If you are already taking unnecessarily thin shavings, even with the "premium" irons, you're headed back to the stones far earlier (in terms of project progress) than you need to be.

What I'm getting toward, partially, is that the offer Phil made is open and shut all you'd ever need (including the irons) if the shipping is reasonable enough to take him up on it.

 

[rob1693]

I like my record 044 got mine for €15 about 5 years ago

 

[mikej460]

I've also got a 44

 

[D_W]

a demonstration (on a common cherry board) of the grooving plane shown above. You'll probably be using something nicer than this cherry and straight for drawers, so only better than this.

There's no nicking irons or anything on this plane and it gets to depth at a fixed depth (you can add a foot if you want better, but keep in mind, this is a 1 hour tool made of a cherry offcut and the wedge is cut from soft wet plywood (yellow pine here, which is never dried very well).

The iron is ground and filed and then hardened using leftover O1 trimmed off of other irons (or plane sides - I don't know exactly where it was from )