This is not a gloat

[Kim Malmberg]

This post might not impress everybody so I'm calling it an interesting find instead of a gloat.


I've always been fond of the smaller tool makers. So when I spotted an Aussie hand plane on a "Online auction site near you™, I had to make a run for it.


After a battle with another curious and probably equally uncertain buyer, I won the auction and a few days later arrived a Turner no 4 smoothing plane.


I won't show you any pictures before you have read far enough, as some of you might turn your eyes away in disgust. But I can assure you, there's no need for parental guidance.


Yes, it has plastic handles. Yes, it has a frog made of aluminum.


While you let this sink in I will tell you the plane also has a very solid and well made body, the handles are translucent (á la MF permaloid) and that the plane is fitted with a Erik Anton Berg cutter made specifically for the Turner tool company.


I will not try to steal the know how part of this as all I know about this company is borrowed from the Village Woodworker (http://thevillagewoodworker.blogspot.com/2012/11/turner-hand-planes-small-review.html) down under.


What I can add is that I agree with his review. This is a very well made hand plane. The celluloid acetate handles feels good in my hands and bring a light smile to my face, much needed in the dark era of Finnish autumn awaiting the even worse. The aluminum frog is of course a slight concern. Will it hold up against had use? But as long as I remember not to tighten either the lever cap or the frog screws too much I ought to be OK. And I just love having a Berg cutter made specifically for metal hand planes which can be used not in only in this plane but also my MF no 9.


So here's my plane. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/finnberg68/sets/72157637135883683/)


It was purchased from an Englishman who says his father worked in Australia for a few years and who thinks his dad must have bought the plane during his stay. From what I know it hasn't been used very much. It's not unused but the scar tissue on the surface has more to do with being stored away improperly than hard use. The plane has some shallow pitting on both sole and cheeks and I discovered rust on the handle bolts as well as the bolt housing inside the handles. By the look of the bleached and very tatty box and the mildew stench coming from it, I would guess the plane has been stored in a outside shed but succumbed to sunshine and varying temperatures, which would very well explain why the plane has been sweating and corroding.


The handles are intact and I hope that adding some wax might help them to stay sound. Luckily they not been subjected to direct sunlight.


There's also a very nice addition to the fastening of the front knob. The raised knob housing has a recess cut into it at the front side. The knob has a mating little toe which fits into the recess. This will keep the front knob from rotating and prevent the user from over tightening the knob. An ingenious invention.


The plane has only been taken for a short spin on some ash, but it does feel promising. The cutter had been resharpened but not across its full edge so it needs a proper resharpening before I can provide a verdict.


What I can say is that I have compared the weight of this plane with a MF no 9 (Type 2) and a Stanley low knob no 4.


The Turner is the decidedly heaviest of them all, even considering this plane has plastic handles and a frog made of aluminum. It weighs in at 1750 grams. Forgive me but you have to do your scale conversion yourself.


The MF no 9 weighs 1680 grams and the Stanley no 4 a mere 1610 grams.


The difference are not mind blowing and might be moot for most users, but it does say something about the solidity of this plane.

[Frederick Skelly]

Thats an interesting find Kim. Thanks for posting it. Maybe some of our Aussie friends who visit this site will have more to add about Turner.
Fred

[Judson Green]

That looks really cool! Dig those handles!

[Jim Koepke]

If it works well, who can knock it?

The frog looks a lot like one someone was asking about not too long ago.

jtk

[jason thigpen]

I've got to admit, those handles are pretty cool! Odd looking, but cool nonetheless.

[Jim Matthews]

That indexing pin in the front knob is clever.

I can see the 1970's era boffins trying to figure which features to
eliminate, to save production costs - and that leaps out of the balance sheet.

It's precisely those clever touches that keep sale going, year after year.
It's the opposite of what happened to Stanley in the US.

[Jim Matthews]

PS - Looks like a gloat, walks like a gloat, squawks like a gloat...

Du suger

[Lornie McCullough]

I enjoyed looking at your pictures. It is a very nice looking plane. The handles make me want to hold one.

Lornie

[David Weaver]

With that berg iron and the cool style of the brand on the lever cap, it's a gloat no matter what.

[bridger berdel]

PS - Looks like a gloat, walks like a gloat, squawks like a gloat...

Du suger


sucks like a gloat....

[Stuart Tierney]

I hate you.

You see, when I was a kid, we'd go for a walk around the neighbourhood, and just down the hill from my house, about 500m, was an older, window filled building that had a small facade, but stretched 'sideways' down the street, so it looked small, but was actually very large.

I remember the name on the front of it being 'Turner'...

They also had a horse in the spare land next to it we'd feed grass and carrots to. We named the horse 'Ned' until we worked out it wasn't a boy, at which it got named 'Ned-ette'.

I've always wanted to find a good Turner plane, since I finally put 2 and 2 together, and realised they were made so close to my house. Note, the listed address on the brochure at the Village Woodworker was Stanley's address (long since gone, but within walking distance of a 5-7 year old and his grandfather), and where I'm talking about was a production factory, not an office. Grandpa told me off hand one day during a walk they made 'hand planes' in the factory. Maybe some other machined items, and you could see through the windows the long 'lines' where the machines would have been.

(And if you've heard of Timbermate wood filler, I know who makes that as well. Not the 'company', but the guy who started it. He used to come into the hardware shop I worked in when I finished school. We were the closest 'potential seller' to his start up factory. I worked at the shop in 1993-1994, they started making filler in 1991.)

I've not yet found a 'good' Turner plane, and very few 'bad' ones that have been abused. The next one I do find, I'll be sticking my hooks into though. Even if I don't use it, my son/daughter will have something they can see that came from where I came from.

(As opposed to stuff where my wife's family comes from. ;) )

That's about all I know about them, other than they are thought to be pretty good planes that succumbed to Stanley at some point and went down with that ship.

And Black and Decker's factory was a few km down the road from us in the other direction. Back when they made really good tools, and made them in Australia. B&D is still going, but danged if I'll ever buy anything they make. That said, my dad's circular saw is still going after 40 years, plastic case and all. Noisy, but powerful.

I know where a lot of good, Australian made tools came from, and many of them not too far from where I grew up. Most of them bought up and dismantled by a bigger company and in the process, had their reputations turned from 'best available' to 'best avoided'.

Stu.

[Kim Malmberg]

He he. I suppose I do.