Junior jack plane as a scrub plane?

[Michael Ray Smith]

I have a Stanley No. 40 scrub plane that I use every now and then, and I was wondering about something to sort of fill in the niche between a scrub plane and a jack plane. . . something not quite as aggressive as the No. 40. I wonder about a No. 5 1/4 with the blade cambered to a relatively short radius . . . maybe with the mouth filed out a bit. Anyone ever try that?

[Jim Koepke]

My main scrub plane is an old beat up in high school shop class #5-1/4. It is my go to scrubber.

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My Millers Falls #8 (Bailey #3 size) and a #6 get used at times.

jtk

[Jeff Heath]

Any plane can be setup as a scrub, simply by opening the mouth and cambering the iron to the desired level of aggressiveness. If it were mine, I wouldn't be filing the mouth open on that plane, as they are a bit more rare than a #5, which you can find almost anywhere for $10 to $15. It's yours, though, so do as you please.

I prefer more heft in a plane, and never cared for a #40. Too light for me.

[Paul Saffold]

Like Jim, I have a 5 1/4 set up as a scrub. My only scrub. I just went and checked. The radius on mine is 3.75". It was a POS to begin with so not much lost. However, if I was staring out I would check out the scrub blade/chipbreaker that Hock offers. IF the chipbreaker has the same radius as the blade I would definitely go that route. The CB on mine must be setback 1/4" in the center of the blade just to have the ends right at the edge. Not that the CB needs to be set close like a smoother. To me a light scrub plane is good. It's enough of a workout without any extra weight, but to each his own. The radius on the Hock is 4" http://www.hocktools.com/PI.htm.

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Paul

[Michael Ray Smith]

Any plane can be setup as a scrub, simply by opening the mouth and cambering the iron to the desired level of aggressiveness. If it were mine, I wouldn't be filing the mouth open on that plane, as they are a bit more rare than a #5, which you can find almost anywhere for $10 to $15. It's yours, though, so do as you please.

I prefer more heft in a plane, and never cared for a #40. Too light for me.

Well, sure, any plane can be used to scrub, but there's a reason the No. 40 is so narrow. It just seems to me that the 5 1/4 might be narrow enough to serve well with a bit more weight than either a No. 40 or a No. 3 (same blade as No. 5 1/4). It's not hard to find 5 1/4's unless you're looking for a corrugated sole. And they're easy to find if you're willing to take one that had the crap beaten out of it by a bunch of kids in shop class.

[Michael Ray Smith]

Jim, do you use the original blade? Or a thicker, modern replacement?

[Michael Ray Smith]

Thanks, Paul. That's pretty much what I had in mind.

[Jim Koepke]

Jim, do you use the original blade? Or a thicker, modern replacement?

I use an original Stanley blade.

I would have to check to see if the mouth is filed. If so, it wasn't done by me. I have not had chip clogging with the #5-1/4. My #6 has a tight mouth and will clog on really heavy shavings. It is sometimes used for light scrub work.

I like my Hock replacement blades. Though in my later, more frugal life I feel they aren't really so many dollars nicer. I think there advantage is on a plane doing finer work.

jtk

[steven c newman]

I have two "scrub" planes. A Windsor #33 (Stanley #3 size) with a 3" radius edge. An old Corsair C-5 jack plane. It used a single bolt in the center of the frog's base to hold the frog. It's iron is about 8" radius. Neither was more the $10. Both will hog the waste off, fast. I do have a Four Square Junior Jack 5-1/4. Kind of "minty" SW plane, and is used as a long #3 smoother.

That Windsor #33 came from harbour Freight. the iron is nice and thick, though, as there isn't any chip breaker used on it. Buy it with a coupon, it might even be around....$8.00???

Corsair was $6.00 at a local antique mall. It even has wood handles! Smooth sole, too....

[Roger Rettenmeier]

I converted a Sargent 408. The iron I used was a 1 3/4 " Union. The union irons are about as thick as found on a Stanley 40. I got rid of the 40 for reasons already mentioned...too light.

[Tom M King]

We just use a Scrub plane for scrubbing dirty beams and boards that we don't want to put a good edge into.

I wouldn't have any need for surfacing with anything more aggressive than a Jack. I did, unintentionally, end up with two No. 6s though, and keep one with more camber than the other. It did end up being worth having both of them for the time savings for going from Jack to flat. I bought the first 6 and needed some parts, so won another one cheap on ebay for the parts, and then found the parts I needed soon after that, so ended up with two good users.

[Chris Fournier]

Well, sure, any plane can be used to scrub, but there's a reason the No. 40 is so narrow. It just seems to me that the 5 1/4 might be narrow enough to serve well with a bit more weight than either a No. 40 or a No. 3 (same blade as No. 5 1/4). It's not hard to find 5 1/4's unless you're looking for a corrugated sole. And they're easy to find if you're willing to take one that had the crap beaten out of it by a bunch of kids in shop class.

What would you say the reason for the width of the #40 is?

When you have the answer you'll realise that you can simply use a narrower blade in any body that you want, use a more accute thumbnail profile on the blade, or simply take lighter cuts. Either of these three solutions will allow you to use a wider bodied plane just like the #40.

[Tom M King]

The reason for the narrow width is because you are taking such a deep cut that it would be a lot more effort with a wide cut.

Here are some pictures of a 35 year old ECE scrub plane I bought new. It's seen many hours of work. What looks like a dent in front of the iron is actually wear, and not a shadow. Sweat is what took the finish off. It's never been wet otherwise.

Yes, the iron is Really dull in these pictures. I brought it out to sharpen it to use it on some old beams. It can be dull to the point of having a flat on the edge and still throw thick wood strips two feet in the air, but like anything, works best when sharp.

I think the reason you don't see old "scrub" planes is probably because they repurposed old smoothers that had too much wear, sort of like this one does. It doesn't make much, if any, difference for a Scrubber.

[Chuck Nickerson]

Yes. My $40 scrub is radiused at 3", and my 5-1/4 is radiused at 5". It's nice to have a slightly gentler scrub available.

[Jim Matthews]

The gentle curve you imply would be excellent for reducing the width of boards, too.

I've used this on boards that are tough sawing, or the dimension is critical.
http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/scrub-plane-to-width/

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

The gentle curve you imply would be excellent for reducing the width of boards, too.

I've used this on boards that are tough sawing, or the dimension is critical.
http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com/scrub-plane-to-width/

Unless the board is approaching the width of my plane iron, I haven't found a need to swap in a curved iron for working on the edge, I can just set a straight iron quite rank and do the same job as shannon demonstrates with the scrub. Certainly, I often grab something set up with a scrub-like blade simply because it's most likely already set rank.

Do love the way curve irons make traversing the grain so easy, separating the fibers on either side of the "scoop" . . . when I was first introduced to that, it was a real eye-opener.