Cross posted from the weekly challenge,which this week is "Old".

My old thing is an old woodworking plane. I worked for awhile in a factory that made reproduction pine furniture and we took care to use some period tools and sometimes used hand planes in levelling and finishing the tables. A hand plane properly sharpened leaves a much smoother surface than sanding if done right. One of the problems with this approach is the poor standards employed in making modern quality tools. You can get good stuff made in europe but most of the NA stuff is currently garbage. When smoothing tables it makes it a lot easier to get the table flat if you use a smoothing plane, a #4 1/2. It's wider than the more common #4 but the same length. As far as I can tell this is one from the last run made in North America, in 19010.

There are so many tip offs to the kind of quality that used to be common in these tools that is sadly lacking today.

The base of the plane was cast and the thrown outside to "age" for a year. It takes that long for a casting to become stable. Then they were machined flat. You can see how much it warped because the sides thickness varies as does the base. The base is perfectly flat after 100 years, if you check anything made recently, you can't even find a flat one in a lot of 100. They are machined while still warm and warp brutally. Also, notice the brass screw in the Rosewood knob and the brass fittings and rosewood handle. Both the brass and Rosewood are fittings of a bygone era. When I worked in the plant, this tool was prized by everyone, and borrowed for almost every table that went through the plant. Now it sits out in the shed in my tool box, it's got some rust and saw dust sticking to it. You can see where my hand rubbed off the sawdust last time I used it. I bought it at auction , I found it in a retiring farmer's tool box, along with another old treasure, a routing plane from the same era. I got them both for 5$ each in the late 70's. Even then they were worth 20 times that.

This one patented in 1902, the last date listed is 1910 so I'm guessing it was made then.

Beside it is a circular plane, that's was used to plane wagon wheels, it's bottom could be adjusted to conform to the diameter of the wheel. I have no idea who the maker is or where it came from, and it's missing it's handle, there was a poory made substitute handle on it when I bought it at auction, it looks better without it, and those things are darn hard to use, handle or no handle., another strange thing found in an auction lot in at the Auction Hall, 1/2 mile from my house near Perth Ontario.

And to the far right is a routing plane patented in 1907. These are my old treasures from my cabinet making days.



And the details....

Dates...


All the early Stanley planes were labelled Bailey's,, my Scottosh Grandmother's maiden name was Bailey. All your Bailey planes are belong to me. I'm not even sure if that still continues, I suspect not. You can see the 4 1/2 designation.


Brass blade height adjustment wheel... it looks like this got stuck once and someone cranked it with a pair of pliers, damaging the knurl.




Rosewood handles.

[boriscleto]

De plane boss, de plane!

[esrandall]

I like a lot of the shots you post in the forum, but I think I like the history lesson even more this time. Thanks for this

[TonyTurley]

Great photo, and now I'm drooling. I've dabbled in woodworking on and off through the years, and have watched plenty of Roy Underhill's "The Woodwright's Shop". You've got some gems there. I have a bunch of Black Cherry and Walnut slabs that are stacked in my garage. I cut them from fallen trees, sealed the end grain, and they've been air drying about 5 years. Every now and then I pull a piece down and examine it, but I've never been motivated enough to go further. Now I need to . . . and get back into some woodburning . . . and finish the archtop guitar I've been "building" about 10 years, and . . . too many aborted or stalled projects.

[p38arover]

Thanks for that information, Norm. I bought my Stanley smoothing plane about 43 years ago. I shall have to go and look at the base. The handles on mine are wood but I don't know if they are rosewood. The screw "heads" holding on the handles are brass,too.

[wombat2go]

Norm, interesting post

"I don't always plane wood, but when I do, I prefer Mohawk Shelburne."

Actually my hobby is metalworking, but here is my Mohawk "Made in USA" Shelburne plane.

Measured on the old machinist's gauge table it is sitting on in this photo,
the plane's base still flat to within 0.004 inch (0.1 mm)
and the sides are vertical to about that tolerance too!

At the rear is about the last job it did on white oak, being an optical bench rail
finished in linseed
which has been used for projects including neg copying and lens testing.

White oak is my favorite wood for such projects, super strong and stable.
I have even mounted the 4x5 Speed Graphic on the end of that rail.

Regards,

[normhead]

De plane boss, de plane!

Leave it to you....

I like a lot of the shots you post in the forum, but I think I like the history lesson even more this time. Thanks for this

No problem, and you're welcome.

Great photo, and now I'm drooling. I've dabbled in woodworking on and off through the years, and have watched plenty of Roy Underhill's "The Woodwright's Shop". You've got some gems there. I have a bunch of Black Cherry and Walnut slabs that are stacked in my garage. I cut them from fallen trees, sealed the end grain, and they've been air drying about 5 years. Every now and then I pull a piece down and examine it, but I've never been motivated enough to go further. Now I need to . . . and get back into some woodburning . . . and finish the archtop guitar I've been "building" about 10 years, and . . . too many aborted or stalled projects.

I'm so bad at finishing things these days I hate to even start them. You should see the look on Tess' face if I want to start a new project, "What about all the old ones." she says.

Thanks for that information, Norm. I bought my Stanley smoothing plane about 43 years ago. I shall have to go and look at the base. The handles on mine are wood but I don't know if they are rosewood. The screw "heads" holding on the handles are brass,too.

43 years ago hmmmm. 2014-43= 1971. My understanding was that the the last Bailey's planes made the old way were done by about 1950 or earlier, so it's almost sure to be old. There is a Stanley plane book, you might be able to pick up from a local library, I don't know if it's still available. I had one when I found out about my plane, I have no idea what happened to it. I just know I no longer have it.

Unfortunately I have a newer Stanley jointer (#6) that's a piece of crap, still labelled Bailey but not flat enough to join with. But it did inspire me to find out what I should have been looking for. My ex-father in law had a nice old Bailey #6, that was just a joy to use.

---------- Post added 06-18-14 at 07:08 PM ----------

Norm, interesting post

"I don't always plane wood, but when I do, I prefer Mohawk Shelburne."

Actually my hobby is metalworking, but here is my Mohawk "Made in USA" Shelburne plane.

Measured on the old machinist's gauge table it is sitting on in this photo,
the plane's base still flat to within 0.004 inch (0.1 mm)
and the sides are vertical to about that tolerance too!

At the rear is about the last job it did on white oak, being an optical bench rail
finished in linseed
which has been used for projects including neg copying and lens testing.

White oak is my favorite wood for such projects, super strong and stable.
I have even mounted the 4x5 Speed Graphic on the end of that rail.

Regards,

In the high falutin' Toronto Custom ( doing board rooms for the big banks, with custom carved chairs, inlay and burl veneers ) shop I worked in we used to use white oak for sofa frames. Once you get a staple into that wood it never lets go. I'd love to get some up here, as it's also really good for docks. A white oak dock can last over 100 years. They used to use it for the sides of warships, as canon balls would bounce off it. It grows down around Windsor in Canada, so probably right across the river from you, I've never seen it any further north.

---

Last edited by normhead; 06-18-2014 at 04:31 PM.

[Just1MoreDave]

You can buy properly made woodworking planes today from several companies. Lie-Nielsen in Maine makes a 4-1/2, based on a Stanley model that was better than yours, the Bedrock line, discontinued in 1943. It's $325. I have the Lee Valley Veritas 4-1/2 - not a Stanley copy, some interesting ideas, made in Canada. Those are just the larger two makers of American style planes; there are other ones.

Stanley actually got back into making real tools a few years ago. Some say they make stuff that works again, but after declining for my entire life and moving to Bermuda, personally I hold a grudge.

My Veritas #4-1/2 and my Stanley #8C. The #8C was made between 1898 and 1902, pretty serious heft to it.

[Parallax]

Great story, Norm. I love old tools, and watching people use them. There was a show on PBS called The Woodwright's Shop. It answered a lot of those "I wonder how they did that before power tools" questions.

[wombat2go]

They used to use it for the sides of warships, as canon balls would bounce off it. It grows down around Windsor in Canada, so probably right across the river from you, I've never seen it any further north.

I got used to the Australian grades of pine, beautiful, but no match for white oak's strength.
In Australia I had an old Stanley plane in the tool shed and I restored some items including a clock
and a buffet ("sideboard") using it but mainly armstrong method sandpaper.
The finish was beeswax and shellac.



When I came to Michigan the old oak furniture appeared dull and dreary at first,
but I gradually got used to the lighter grades and we now have some fine pieces
in white oak that will last forever.

5 Years ago, I embarked on the project for the door and its frame shown below, using
my Delta table-saw and pedestal drill.
This door is 1.5 inch thick of white oak, and reinforced by oxy-acetylene welded steel grids and brass bolts.
The polycarbonate screen is sandwiched between the grids
The afore-mentioned Mohawk plane had some heavy use due to my in-experience with
out of square door frames in the Michigan "This Old House"

[normhead]

Great story, Norm. I love old tools, and watching people use them. There was a show on PBS called The Woodwright's Shop. It answered a lot of those "I wonder how they did that before power tools" questions.

When I was a tradesmen we used to worship them.

You can buy properly made woodworking planes today from several companies. Lie-Nielsen in Maine makes a 4-1/2, based on a Stanley model that was better than yours, the Bedrock line, discontinued in 1943. It's $325. I have the Lee Valley Veritas 4-1/2 - not a Stanley copy, some interesting ideas, made in Canada. Those are just the larger two makers of American style planes; there are other ones.

Stanley actually got back into making real tools a few years ago. Some say they make stuff that works again, but after declining for my entire life and moving to Bermuda, personally I hold a grudge.

My Veritas #4-1/2 and my Stanley #8C. The #8C was made between 1898 and 1902, pretty serious heft to it.

Some of the tools in the Lee Valley catalogue Leonard Lee first saw in my tool box. He used to come around and see what old stuff we had, and try and find current manufacturers for it. I was one of his first 60 customers. I saw him in the Toronto store maybe 25 years ago, he came running out of the office and yelled "hey Norm" I said, "do you remember all your customers?" He said "no, just you first hundred, you guys were special. I remember all you guys."

Here's a pic of Lee Valley memorabilia...


Leonard ended up with more than 10 of the type of plane at the top of this pic. This is the first one he ever saw, a made in England Stanley #90. I got it at a hardware shop in Ottawa that had been trying to sell it for years. The guy told me he'd never stock another one. Leonard Lee took it out of my box, and said "Next time I go to Europe I'm sourcing these." He carried the identical plane (in his catalogue) for years, he has better ones now. Great for cleaning up rabbets ( or rebates) , or for installing wooden windows. The curved chisel (curved both ways, it may not look like much but it was $70 1974 money)) and the silver violin makers plane I used to hollow out around the holes in cannonball beds where the blanket rail meets the rounded post, the inside around the round tenon hole had to be round to take the shape of the ball. The little bitty finger plane is great for chamfering the edge of finished furniture.

Lee Valley and i have a history.

I got used to the Australian grades of pine, beautiful, but no match for white oak's strength.
In Australia I had an old Stanley plane in the tool shed and I restored some items including a clock
and a buffet ("sideboard") using it but mainly armstrong method sandpaper.
The finish was beeswax and shellac.



When I came to Michigan the old oak furniture appeared dull and dreary at first,
but I gradually got used to the lighter grades and we now have some fine pieces
in white oak that will last forever.

5 Years ago, I embarked on the project for the door and its frame shown below, using
my Delta table-saw and pedestal drill.
This door is 1.5 inch thick of white oak, and reinforced by oxy-acetylene welded steel grids and brass bolts.
The polycarbonate screen is sandwiched between the grids
The afore-mentioned Mohawk plane had some heavy use due to my in-experience with
out of square door frames in the Michigan "This Old House"

Don't you find that white oak a little squirrely for hand plaining? if I remember right, I once had a splinter come off a piece I was planing and go right through my finger, it took pliers to get it out. This is not a pleasant memory.

[wombat2go]

Don't you find that white oak a little squirrely for hand plaining?

Yes, it is tough stuff.
Keep the blade in for thin depth of cut. Hold the plane on angle like the WoodWright.
A few strokes then change ends.

Hey Norm, you got me going , next thing I'll be making a white oak camera!

[TonyTurley]

Ahhh, a kindred spirit. My workbench - and office desk - are just about as cluttered with all of my "treasures". And you go one better by having both an old plane and an old camera. Good stuff.