Wooden plough plane

[profchris]

This just arrived today - a mere £12 delivered and the iron is 1/4 inch which exactly the size I need to plough the truss rod grooves in the guitar necks I'm making. Result!

Looks like the maker was Wilcock of Manchester (any reputation as a maker?) with the last owner's stamp as F. Gerhard. I'm guessing 100-150 years old?

I gave the blade the quickest of sharpenings and it ploughs a groove, though I'll want to practice before I let it loose on the guitar necks. I need to get the blade adjusted to the sweet spot and work out how to hold the device (there are simultaneously, lots of choices but still nowhere convenient to put your hands!).

A couple of questions in case anyone knows:

1. The fence adjustment is really tight - I have to tap the ends of the rods with a hammer to move them. Is this how it should be, or do I remove the fence and then clean up until it slides sweetly?

2. The depth adjustment doesn't at present, and that's definitely too stiff for easy use. Before I disassemble that, any tips about loose bits which might escape and what I should do apart from removing dirt and corrosion.

The normal dirt of ages aside it seems to be in excellent condition.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Fence adjustment - loosen the wedges holding the fence arms before gross adjustment, tap wedges to just grip for final adjustment, and then seat tight with a final tap. If the fence arms are still tight with the wedges fully loose, dissemble and clean.

Depth stop has two knobs, one on the top for adjustment, and one on the side for locking and unlocking. Loosen off the latter first, then adjust, then lock. If still tight with lock loose, dissemble and clean as for fence rods.

Also worth doing - check that the skate is straight and in-line both vertically and horizontally (just hold a steel rule to it - split thou accuracy not required); in the extreme, you may have to unsrew the skate and clean out the groove it seats in (I did with mine, and the skate re-assembled as it should).

Hold by placing the palm of the dominant hand on the heel of the body, and allowing the fingers and thumb to embrace the body. This hand pushes, but doesn't guide. The off-hand holds the fence, pressing it to the workpiece. This hand keeps the plane parallel to the job, but doesn't push.

Depth adjustment for the cutter as for any other wooden plane, but given the narrow cut, can be quite coarse.

Other cutters can be had fairly cheaply; a full set is usually eight cutters from 1 (1/8" nominal) rising by 1/16" intervals (so your 1/4" may well be marked '3') to 8 (9/16"). If you hunt about, full sets can be bought, but they'll cost a lot more than you paid for the plane!

Oh - and BPM2 gives Peter Wilcock at 59, Shudehill, Manchester between 1861 and 1869. He was succeeded by William Chapple at the same address sometime around 1879. All dates are 'circa' - both may have operated both before and after. So your guess at about 150 years old is pretty much spot on!

 

[profchris]

Thanks Cheshirechappie. Wedges and screws were all loose and still nothing moves voluntarily, so its disassembly and cleaning I reckon.

Anyone know about dates? I've found an eBay advert for another Wilcock plane which says (roughly) 1850-1880, but that's not exactly a reliable source!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I've just looked a bit more closely at the pictures - the fence is on the wrong side of the body! It should be on the left, looking from the heel of the plane. Swapping that around might just ease things in the adjustment department.

 

[Racers]

You hold it by covering the clean bits with your hands, just like the previous oner did.

:wink:

Pete

 

[AndyT]

I think the depth stop has been pragmatically mended by a previous owner. The normal arrangement is to have a captive thumbscrew at the top, to raise or lower the stop, and a locking screw on the side. I think yours has some spare bits from a modern plane. That's not to say it can't be made to work - it just looks a bit unusual. Say if you are really stuck - someone will probably have some old spare parts.

Fences on the wrong side are pretty common on eBay planes - at least your wedge is the right way round. Don't be tempted to tighten up the rivets - they need to be a bit sloppy so you don't need to tap both fence arm ends at the same time.

 

[profchris]

Swapping the fence over makes it much easier to hold! From Cheshire's chap's first description of how to hold it I was thinking I'd need contortionist lessons.

One of the arms had swollen a little, but 10 mins work with a cabinet scraper now gives me a reasonable sliding fit.

Sadly the depth adjuster has been ... "adjusted". Inside the screw hole is a jammed piece of metal (part of the original screw?) and the remainder of the hole has been tapped oversize, bulging out the sides of the depth stop as the threads break through. No problem, the screw fits in far enough so I won't lose it, and I'll just adjust by fiddling it up and down. Fortunately I have no plans for precision depth grooves, + or - 0.5mm will work for me.