new to me wood shoulder plane

[Judson Green]

howdy all

was at my buddies the other day and i bribed him to let me go home with this little guy. Has WARD stamped deeply on the iron tang, so I'm guessing, only after doing some research, its a Ward & Payne iron. There's a little chip at the mouth behind the blade and a good sized chip on the right side just before the mouth. Cant find any markings other than some scribe lines. Its about 1" thick by about 10" long.

Ideas to fix the chips? or live with em?

Possibly a user made plane?

Do you know what wood it is? Seems heavy for its weight.

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[Steve Voigt]

What an interesting plane. Do you know where it came from? Is there a makers mark?
It looks a lot like a 17th c. plane, but not many of those have survived, so it's more likely that it's a user-made later plane. Maybe Kees or Warren knows?
I would first try to rule out whether it has any value. If it doesn't, I would box the sole, or if that is a bigger project than you want to get into, rip 1/4" - 1/2" off the sole and laminate a new one. As it is, you will find it tough to freehand rabbets with the sole as rounded over as it is.

(P.S.it's a rabbet plane, not shoulder plane)

[george wilson]

It is made out of some heavy,non standard tropical looking wood. Pretty crude looking. The escapement is crudely shaped too. The wedge looks original as it seems to be made of the same type of wood.

I'd say it's user made. And just about used up!

[Kees Heiden]

Sorry no idea what it is. But the wedge finial shape doesn't look that old. Standard 19th - 20th century?

[Judson Green]

You guys think its worth rehabbing or just use the iron and make a new one?

[Warren Mickley]

I think it was a very common thing for American woodworkers of the 18th century to buy imported irons for this type of plane and make their own planes. This one was functional even if a little sloppy work. I wonder if the wood was not some birch, like maybe Betula lenta, sweet birch aka "mountain mahogany". It has a dark reddish brown heartwood and has the highest density of our birches.

The iron is the best part, probably nice steel. I would like to know if the edges if the iron are a little bit bevelled or canted.

Usually the escapement is bevelled to encourage the shaving to exit the right side of the plane and the tip of the wedge is also shaped to gently encourage the shaving to bend right. These things seem rather crude on this example.

I would first sharpen the iron and have it working. That will give you some idea of the refinements that would be helpful.
You might glue on a piece of wood to the sole (I would glue on one piece and then cut the mouth). Keep in mind that the sole has probably already lost some material so you should not have to remove much from the present sole. Or you could use the iron with all new wood, or make a new rabbet plane altogether.

[Steve Voigt]

You guys think its worth rehabbing or just use the iron and make a new one?

I think if you are up for making a new body, that would be the best option, but rehabbing could work also. I agree with Warren; get the iron working, take some test cuts, make sure the iron works nicely first before you sink too much time into it.

[Judson Green]

Thanks guys

yes it does seem to be sloppy work, kind why i thought it might have been user made. Mountain Mahogany - any use for this small amount of it? What was it used for? Any commercial uses?

Ill take photos of, measure up and hone the iron this weekend and report back

[Allan Speers]

You guys think its worth rehabbing or just use the iron and make a new one?


I'd tweak it up and try it.

The problem with fixing that wound is that this type of plane is very prone to "warping." That is, becoming not completely straight down its length. Rabbet planes MUST be dead-straight, and the iron must line up with the sides. Gluing-in a fix, or even using epoxy, would likely cause the thing to warp slightly over time, rendering it somewhat useless.

It may work just fine, as-is.

[Frederick Skelly]

I would try to tune it up as others suggest. You can learn a lot by doing that and if it goes poorly you still have a good iron to use in another plane when you're ready to build one.

[george wilson]

The wedge might be a cross between a German type(the sneck),and an English type(the rounded top).

[Judson Green]

Just a follow up with pics of the iron.

Unfortunately, two things...

1) The iron is slightly parallelogram shaped, the back (non-cutting side) is proud of the face. So ill have to file it a bit.

2) Looks like someone took a angle grinder or held it to the side of a bench grinders wheel. So polishing it might be a looong process.

But the top part is nicely tapered.

ill most likely make a new body for it

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[Jim Koepke]

The iron is slightly parallelogram shaped, the back (non-cutting side) is proud of the face. So ill have to file it a bit.

Not sure if I have this right, but on a rabbet plane, the cutter should be a little proud of the sides.

jtk

[Judson Green]

yeah i know. im not explaining it very well. dont think of the plane body at all. the iron isnt back beveled on one side.

[Jim Koepke]

May be that the blade was originally for a skewed rabbet plane.

jtk

[Judson Green]

Could be. The currant sharping is definitely at an angle- see pic 4 above. the plane it came in was very slightly skewed, so slight i dont think it was purposely done.