Cool Wooden Mystery Plane!

[Noah Barfield]

Hi all,

I have a large plane that I need some help I.D.ing. The plane iron is marked L&I. J. White, 1837, Buffalo, NY. As you can see, it has two handles, removable, attached with dovetailed grooves. It's massive--12" x 3" x 3" with a 2 3/4" wide iron. It has an "S" and an "8" stamped on the back of the heel. I'm guessing it's some sort of jointer? Why the two removable handles? What about the dip in the middle of each handle? Is the dip supposed to accommodate someone's forearm? Your help is much appreciated!

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Noah

[Eddie Azevedo]

Two man floor plane?

[Noah Barfield]

Two man floor plane?

Interesting--that would be neat to see in action!

[Jim Koepke]

There is a similar one here:

http://www.thebestthings.com/woodplan.htm

About 10 from the bottom of the page.

jtk

[Noah Barfield]

Jim, thanks for pointing that out! I saw that plane last week when I started researching my batch of wooden planes. One big difference is that the handles are fixed on that smoothing plane, whereas mine seem to be designed for easy-ish removal.

Noah

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Just a guess - but it looks like the curve on the top of the handles is to make it easier to adjust the iron. I guess if you're going to make two, make them the same. Just guessing, though, not based on any info.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've also seen a few videos where planes like this are used by two folks - sort of a push-me-pull-you, I suppose.

This was the first one I can remember seeing:

http://youtu.be/wGDkliy1DEU?t=9m45s

(The link should jump you to the 9:45 mark where the plane is in use.)

[Noah Barfield]

Josh--thank you for the video clip-it answers some questions! It turns out I was mistaken about the intention of the dovetail joints on the handles being for easy removal. I tapped one out and there's remnants of old glue.

[Andrae Covington]

Josh--thank you for the video clip-it answers some questions! It turns out I was mistaken about the intention of the dovetail joints on the handles being for easy removal. I tapped one out and there's remnants of old glue.

I'd say the sliding dovetails are for strength, to keep the handles from pulling out in use.

L. & I.J. White made planes and edge tools in Monroe, MI from 1837-1844, then in Buffalo, NY from 1844-1928. In the later period, they were almost as big as D.R. Barton. I kind of wonder if someone chopped down a jointer or other large-ish plane, and added the handles and new/replaceable sole.

[Noah Barfield]

Thanks Andrae--I had not heard of them before I got this plane! I don't think it's a chopped down / modded plane though. The ends are well shaped and there's an intentionality in the design that's different from a mod. The body is made of two matched pieced of wood set with the grain facing each other. The bottom does look like it's meant to unscrew and be replaced with wear. Hmmm. If only old tools could talk--it would be really cool to know the history of this plane!

[Bill Houghton]

The curves provide a place to rest your forehead when you've spent the afternoon using the plane to smooth a floor - or whatever task the plane was designed for.

[Trevor Walsh]

From the way things look I'd say the handles are original, but the applied sole is really telling. I've only seen planes with handles like that as large handrailing planes or cornice/crown molders. I'd guess that sometime when standard millwork and router/shapers came along the new owner who couldn't sharpen it serviceably decided to bastardize it into a jointer. Sorry to say but I think it's more of a Tragedy Wooden Mystery Plane. I can't stop wondering what profile it would have cut.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Mentioned this in Noah's thread in the classifieds, but here's another Swedish video with the two-man-plane thing going on . . .

http://www.svtplay.se/klipp/98754/laggade-trakarl-tillverkas-i-bollebygd-utan-ljud-1923
(around the 4 minute mark)

Still think I remember another video like this.

I was kind of thinking the same thing as Trevor, in regards to whether this had been a molding plane originally - I've seen other planes with similar handles for large molding profiles. Only time I've seen planes with handles like this in person, actually, but I don't have much knowledge about these things.

There's an antique shop south from here with a crown molding plane with what was like a 4 inch iron if I remember correctly.

[Noah Barfield]

Thanks to everyone for their insights! I just looked at the 1909 and 1913 tool catalogs for L&I J White, but did not come across this particular plane. Hmmm--it's a mystery. Josh, I just finished watching the second video--how cool!

[Bill White]

The first two man plane I ever saw was at Williamsburg. A moulding plane with a guy pullin' the plane with a rope while another man "rode" the plane to hold it on the workpiece. Looked like a lot of hard work to me.
Bill

[David Weaver]

When something doesn't have a name on it, it's hard to tell, but I don't think the plane is professionally made, I think it's a nicely made craftsman-made plane. That is just a guess, though. who knows where the handles came from, they're more crisply executed than the rest of the plane.

The sole appears to be beech, and the body (and wedge) of the plane appears to be oak. I think someone had a need, and they fit the bits and pieces to meet it.

I don't know how many professionally made planes were anything other than beech or birch.