Over in the projects section, I'm recording the long slow process of making a chest of drawers. Inevitably, some of the pictures show old hand tools, (!) and in this post, Sheffield Tony asked about this router plane I was using:
and whether it was made like that, or modified from a smoothing plane.
I'd always thought it must have been made new, because it is so neatly done and because although uncommon it was a style listed in catalogues. Now I've looked again, I'm not so sure.
I can find two old engravings. This is from the 1908 Preston catalogue
and this - from Salaman's Dictionary - is from a Ward & Payne catalogue of similar date:
Both of these pictures show a plane where a small, squarish mortice enclosing the cutting iron all round. (The iron would have been a standard plough plane iron of suitable width - that's why you could buy the plane without an iron in it.)
But my plane, although superficially similar, holds the iron behind a broad wedge, in a mouth which is unnecessarily wide.
So was it user-made by sawing the front off a smoothing plane? Here are some photos of it side by side with a typical "coffin" smoother:
If you did modify a smoother, the stopped groove for the nut on the double iron would need to be extended to the sole. It would also need to be made shallower, either by packing it out or by cutting back the whole bed. I can't see any sign of this on my plane.
Clearly you would need a new wedge, without any cut-out, except at the very tip
The wood used on mine is a good match for the body, which suggests that it was made at the same time.
Also, looking at these side by side, on the smoother there is minimal thickness of wood at the front of the throat - so that the throat is as wide as it can be - but that's where my plane has quite thick bits on its double curves.
So overall, despite the lack of a maker's mark, I think my plane was professionally made and intended to be a router plane from the start.
But looking at it closely, it does seem perfectly feasible to make something similar by modification. I don't want to encourage anyone to ruin a good old plane, but if anyone has a suitable basket case and fancies trying to change it, I'd be interested to see the results.
I'd also be interested to see examples of either pattern of commercially made wooden router plane. I know the 'old woman's tooth' pattern was common and was a tool traditionally made by the user, but I don't believe I have the only example of this sort!
and whether it was made like that, or modified from a smoothing plane.
I'd always thought it must have been made new, because it is so neatly done and because although uncommon it was a style listed in catalogues. Now I've looked again, I'm not so sure.
I can find two old engravings. This is from the 1908 Preston catalogue
and this - from Salaman's Dictionary - is from a Ward & Payne catalogue of similar date:
Both of these pictures show a plane where a small, squarish mortice enclosing the cutting iron all round. (The iron would have been a standard plough plane iron of suitable width - that's why you could buy the plane without an iron in it.)
But my plane, although superficially similar, holds the iron behind a broad wedge, in a mouth which is unnecessarily wide.
So was it user-made by sawing the front off a smoothing plane? Here are some photos of it side by side with a typical "coffin" smoother:
If you did modify a smoother, the stopped groove for the nut on the double iron would need to be extended to the sole. It would also need to be made shallower, either by packing it out or by cutting back the whole bed. I can't see any sign of this on my plane.
Clearly you would need a new wedge, without any cut-out, except at the very tip
The wood used on mine is a good match for the body, which suggests that it was made at the same time.
Also, looking at these side by side, on the smoother there is minimal thickness of wood at the front of the throat - so that the throat is as wide as it can be - but that's where my plane has quite thick bits on its double curves.
So overall, despite the lack of a maker's mark, I think my plane was professionally made and intended to be a router plane from the start.
But looking at it closely, it does seem perfectly feasible to make something similar by modification. I don't want to encourage anyone to ruin a good old plane, but if anyone has a suitable basket case and fancies trying to change it, I'd be interested to see the results.
I'd also be interested to see examples of either pattern of commercially made wooden router plane. I know the 'old woman's tooth' pattern was common and was a tool traditionally made by the user, but I don't believe I have the only example of this sort!
