Cool adjustable Japanese tonguing plane

[Wilbur Pan]

I recently rehabbed a Japanese plane that looks like it was designed for making the tongue side of a tongue and groove joint, but is adjustable for making tongues of different widths.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l57z9e59R51qb04as.jpg

It works great. I used it last night to make a bunch of tongue and groove joints to join some boards together to make a shelf for the base of my workbench.

The really cool thing about this plane is that I think I’ve found a plane that is not listed in Toshio Odate’s book Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit, and Use. I’ve been through the chapter on planes three times, and I can’t find any mention of it.

You can see more pics and info on this plane here (http://giantcypress.tumblr.com/post/783751805/adjustable-japanese-tonguing-plane).

[David Weaver]

Wilbur, I didn't take the time to wade through all of the details with the comments, but I'd have to say with the nickers and with the skewed irons, that's a real belt and suspenders kind of plane!

I wonder if it was made to work end grain easily (which still doesn't really explain the nickers).

[Jim Koepke]

What a treasure, thanks for sharing.

It looks like the plane could be used one side at a time for making rabbets. That would explain the nickers for cross grain rabbets.

There might also be times when a tongue cut cross grain would be useful on the end of a board.

Maybe a deep study of the joints used where it came from would solve the mystery.

How wide are the blades?

jim

[Tony Shea]

It looks like the plane could be used one side at a time for making rabbets. That would explain the nickers for cross grain rabbets.

It looks as though this function would only work if the sides were taken apart first in order to employ the use of the nickers. Otherwise the unused side of the plane would be riding on top of the board being rabbeted therefore preventing a significant rabbet. This might rule this function out.

I am also at a loss for what the nickers purposes are and actually think that they would cause issues with planing with the grain. They may want to follow grain pattern and throw your cut off a bit. I still think there are uses for this plane that we have not discovered yet and is very interesting to me. Do your homework and post back with what you find out. Very nice find indeed!

[Wilbur Pan]

How wide are the blades?

The blades are 3/4" wide, but due to the skew the effective maximum cutting width is 5/8".

As far as the nickers go, if you disassemble the plane, each half looks exactly like a skinny Japanese version of a fillister plane, with one side having a fence. Regular Japanese fillister planes have blades that are 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 wide.

It is true that the nicker is not absolutely needed if you are making a tongue with the grain, which is what I would guess you would do 99% of the time. But the nicker does keep the sides of the tongue very clean. With the fence, there isn't any issue with the nicker following the grain at all. The nicker has a slightly trapezoidal cross-section, and is held in place by a slot that looks like a wedged sliding dovetail, shaped to fit the nicker, so it's held very firmly and has no lateral slop at all in use.

I posted a video of the plane in action (http://giantcypress.tumblr.com/post/805133626/heres-my-adjustable-japanese-tonguing-plane-in). It's a lot of fun to see the two sides of the plane ejecting spiral shavings simultaneously.

[Tony Shea]

That is pretty cool to see that plane making a normal tounge joint. Very cool plane and it seems to work very well.

[Steve Dallas]

I recently rehabbed a Japanese plane that looks like it was designed for making the tongue side of a tongue and groove joint, but is adjustable for making tongues of different widths.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l57z9e59R51qb04as.jpg

It works great. I used it last night to make a bunch of tongue and groove joints to join some boards together to make a shelf for the base of my workbench.

The really cool thing about this plane is that I think I’ve found a plane that is not listed in Toshio Odate’s book Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit, and Use. I’ve been through the chapter on planes three times, and I can’t find any mention of it.

You can see more pics and info on this plane here (http://giantcypress.tumblr.com/post/783751805/adjustable-japanese-tonguing-plane).

Interesting.

You do know that you can make tongues of different widths by marking and cutting them as rebates and stopping on the gauged lines which represents the desired tongue thickness (width).

[Wilbur Pan]

Yes, I do.

But if you have to make identical sized tongues on several different boards, this tool makes that task a lot faster. Not to mention the fact that even for a single tongue, you're planing both sides at once, which speeds things up as well.

Also, since you are doing both sides simultaneously, both sides of the tongue will be perfectly parallel, which is probably the dimension that is most critical for this part of a tongue and groove joint. If the tongue is off, then a tongue and groove joint won't fit well, but if the shoulders are off, that can be easily corrected with a plane after the tongue and groove joint is assembled.

This plane completely rocks when it comes to making the tongue of a tongue and groove joint, even if I have to do only one. But for me, the coolest thing about this plane is that it's not in Odate's book. This is sort of the equivalent of finding a 17th century English plane that wasn't listed in Moxon's Mechanick Exercises.

Going back to your original comment, I could mark and plane out two rabbets on the edge of a board to make different sized tongues. I could also take rough sawn lumber and flatten and smooth it with only a Bailey #3. There are easier ways of getting both tasks accomplished.

[Wilbur Pan]

Just to show what this plane coupled with a 6mm Japanese plow plane can do.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l5gyb6XB661qb04as.jpg

These boards go together to make the bottom shelf for my workbench. More info and another picture here (http://giantcypress.net/post/809558110/shake-your-tongue-and-groove-thing).

[Steve Dallas]

Looks fine Wilbur, pretty much like any tongue and groove plane but I do understand that it is infinitely adjustable as to the tongue thickness which is an interesting feature.

The 'neatest' thing is that you've put it to practical use on a real woodworking project. It does appear to be working superbly. Use it in good health.