new (to me) old wooden planes

[Glenn Lewis]

picked these up this morning on a whim. the top one is an Auburn Tool 1" rabbet plane with a skewed blade, the bottom one is Sandusky tool 3/8" beading plane.

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6503/pdr2128.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pdr2128.jpg)

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/3833/pdr2129.jpg (http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pdr2129.jpg)

the rabbet wedge is in upside down i think (can you guys confirm that?). both appear to be in good shape, with decent irons. after getting my worksharp a few months ago, i was determined to go pick up some old planes like this since i have a means to sharpen them now.

is there a good tutorial website or anything on using and tuning these old planes? my priority is to get them sharp and tuned, but i also realized i don't really know the proper technique for using these things! my only experience with hand planes is with my metal stanleys...

thanks!

Glenn

[Jim Koepke]

It does look as if the wedge on the rabbet is installed backwards.

Be careful, a powered sharpening system can ruin a blade. Sometimes quicker than it will sharpen one.

The beading blade especially. The back can be smoothed, but you will need a slip stone to do much more than that.

jim

[David Keller NC]

Let's deal with the rabbet first, since it'll be easier to get tuned and working than the side-bead with a curved blade. First thing to check is whether the sole is straight on the rabbet. Many of these, if not the majority, are warped because the escapement goes all the way through the plane and differential moisture changes over the last 100 years or so have moved the front sole in relation to the back sole.

If this is the case, all is not lost. You can -carefully- shave off a little off of one side of the back and the opposite side of the front to bring the sides back into alignment. Generally speaking, the worth of a rabbet as a user depends on how much of this needs to be done. If you have to remove a lot (say, 1/16"), you may have to remove some width on the iron to get plane working really well.

Be cautious about narrowing the iron, though. the sides must extend beyond the wooden sides of the plane by a shaving's thickness or so (a generous shaving - about 5-10 thousandths), or the plane will not cut, or it will cut sloped sides to the rabbet as the bottom gets cut and the sides don't.

Generally speaking, a rabbet is "roughing" plane meant to do joinery in a hurry - it's not meant to yield really fine shavings with a show surface left behind. For that reason, the mouth is usually fairly open, and there's no need to close it up by throating the plane as you would with a wooden smoother.

Sharpness of the iron is also a little less fussy than with a smoother. While any edge works better the sharper it is, one of these planes will function quite well if the iron's medium sharp. All you may need to do is touch up the bevel and barely touch the back with a slip stone to get it working well.

Finally, since these are your first wooden planes, be aware that the wedge finial (the ovoid shape on the top) is not meant as a place to knock the wedge out of the plane. Doing so will likely shear off the wedge, as you've no doubt seen at flea markets. Instead, give the front of the plane a hard whack with a dead-blow, rubber coated hammer. That's generally enough to remove the wedge and iron. If not, you can gently tap the iron from the top down through the mouth of the plane. Since it's tapered, this will relieve the pressure on the wedge and generally allows its extraction.

(And, BTW - the wedge is most definitely upside-down in the rabbet plane. It's sort of amusing, but I see that orientation all the time in restaurants and other places that use old wooden planes as decoration).

[george wilson]

Yes,turn the wedge over!!! Then it won't look like it is on EBAY!!! :)That little "Knob" at the top provides a bit of a sneck to tap the wedge back and loosen it. Look at the bottom of the wedge: you don't want shavings piling up under that wedge's upside down end angle.

[Glenn Lewis]

Let's deal with the rabbet first, since it'll be easier to get tuned and working than the side-bead with a curved blade. First thing to check is whether the sole is straight on the rabbet. Many of these, if not the majority, are warped because the escapement goes all the way through the plane and differential moisture changes over the last 100 years or so have moved the front sole in relation to the back sole.

If this is the case, all is not lost. You can -carefully- shave off a little off of one side of the back and the opposite side of the front to bring the sides back into alignment. Generally speaking, the worth of a rabbet as a user depends on how much of this needs to be done. If you have to remove a lot (say, 1/16"), you may have to remove some width on the iron to get plane working really well.

Be cautious about narrowing the iron, though. the sides must extend beyond the wooden sides of the plane by a shaving's thickness or so (a generous shaving - about 5-10 thousandths), or the plane will not cut, or it will cut sloped sides to the rabbet as the bottom gets cut and the sides don't.

Generally speaking, a rabbet is "roughing" plane meant to do joinery in a hurry - it's not meant to yield really fine shavings with a show surface left behind. For that reason, the mouth is usually fairly open, and there's no need to close it up by throating the plane as you would with a wooden smoother.

Sharpness of the iron is also a little less fussy than with a smoother. While any edge works better the sharper it is, one of these planes will function quite well if the iron's medium sharp. All you may need to do is touch up the bevel and barely touch the back with a slip stone to get it working well.

Finally, since these are your first wooden planes, be aware that the wedge finial (the ovoid shape on the top) is not meant as a place to knock the wedge out of the plane. Doing so will likely shear off the wedge, as you've no doubt seen at flea markets. Instead, give the front of the plane a hard whack with a dead-blow, rubber coated hammer. That's generally enough to remove the wedge and iron. If not, you can gently tap the iron from the top down through the mouth of the plane. Since it's tapered, this will relieve the pressure on the wedge and generally allows its extraction.

(And, BTW - the wedge is most definitely upside-down in the rabbet plane. It's sort of amusing, but I see that orientation all the time in restaurants and other places that use old wooden planes as decoration).

thanks for taking the time to write that. i already learned a lot from your post. for instance, i managed to rough out a rabbet already, even with the plane in it's "as is" condition in which i brought it home (backwards wedge and all). but i was trying to adjust the iron so that it was flush with one wooden side and it stopped cutting after a certain depth. now i know why.

i also will try tapping the front of the plane to dislodge the wedge, as i did have trouble getting it out after getting it in far enough so that the iron stays put.

as far as making sure it's straight, should i just be sighting down the length to make sure the portion in front of the mouth is aligned with that behind it?