Yet another woodie question.

[David Ryle]

Morning gentlemen,
So, in the last few months my collection of wood bodied planes has increased considerably,thanks in no small part due to a higher than usual number of farm auctions that have occurred during the fall. I have really grown fond of purchasing these forgotten tools,cleaning them up,and putting them back into use.
It never fails to amaze me with only a little effort (most of the time),how effectively they clean up. My question is this why was the tote positioned so close to the iron. So often the proximity of the former effectively or almost effectively interferes making corrections to the iron.just curious.

Thanks
David

[Mike Holbrook]

In my, strictly non professional, experience tote position on older planes often relates to adjusting blade depth "on the fly". It is very "handy" to be able to reach the depth adjusting knob while your hand is still on the tote. The side adjustment lever is also fairly "handy" in this position. I think the idea was to be able to watch the shavings come out of the plane and adjust the depth and side to side blade position while actually doing the work. Making planes that allow all sizes of hands access to both adjustments is not easy.

The ever popular Norris adjuster put both adjustments on one very easy to move adjustment lever which could be manipulated from further away.

[James Waldron]

Wooden bodied planes do not have depth adjusters or lateral adjusters close to the tote. They have plane adjusting hammers. Metal planes and transitional planes have those features, but methinks the OP wasn't talking about them.

[Allan Speers]

It's probably for better balance.

Also, with most of these planes the iron has lost an inch or so of its original length. A prisitne blade is a little easier to hit.

And last: Take a look at a purpose-built plane hammer. The tip is long and skinny for a reason. :)

[James Waldron]

Physics suggests that separation of the application of force (the tote) from the center of resistance (the cutting edge of the blade) that makes the resultant (the direction of motion of the plane) less stable and possibly allows the connector between the force and resistance (the body of the plane) to distort.

An unstable, irregular stroke of the plane or distortion of the body of the plane in action could result extra effort or in a mucked up surface on your work and an energy source (that's you) with depleted energy and emotional distress. You wouldn't want any of that.

A short lever arm between the tote and the blade makes planing easier to control and helps produce better planed surfaces.

When new, that plane blade was a bit longer. There's a good probability it set with it's top above the level of the tote and was dead easy to adjust. Repeated sharpening has shortened the blade, so you'll have to adapt. Perhaps a small wooded block on top of the blade will give your plane hammer a clear shot and not be too much trouble setting the depth of cut. Give it a try. YMMV.

Edit: Allan jumped in there while I was writing and dealing with interruptions from SWMBO. I think he and I are saying the same thing.

[Allan Speers]

^ Great minds! :o

[Pat Barry]

Physics suggests that separation of the application of force (the tote) from the center of resistance (the cutting edge of the blade) that makes the resultant (the direction of motion of the plane) less stable and possibly allows the connector between the force and resistance (the body of the plane) to distort.

An unstable, irregular stroke of the plane or distortion of the body of the plane in action could result extra effort or in a mucked up surface on your work and an energy source (that's you) with depleted energy and emotional distress. You wouldn't want any of that.

A short lever arm between the tote and the blade makes planing easier to control and helps produce better planed surfaces.
.
Physics would suggest ...
Really? what physics is that? Maybe elaborate a bit please.

[David Ryle]

Thanks for the input,
Much of what I've read makes a lot of sense,certainly most show signs of significant steel loss due to re-sharpening/grinding. The amount of mushrooming varies but is again significant,I tend to think that in most cases a dedicated iron mallet was not used but whatever hammer was to hand at the time which would account for the distortion on some of them. It makes me wonder however that the manufacturers were not aware of this kind of treatment and did not locate the tote closer to the heel to compensate. By the way the bulk of these planes are either jack or jointers,very few smoothing planes show up,ditto speciality planes router,rabbet,filister etc.

Keep on contributing gents,I've learnt so much from the contributors on this forum.
David

[James Waldron]

I was thinking of the laws of motion. Some woodworkers (including me), upon occasion, apply force to the tote in a direction which is not perfectly aligned with the center of resistance (more or less the center of the cutting edge of the blade) and find the plane tends, as a result, to turn off-course just a bit. The shorter the lever arm between the tote and the blade, the easier it is for us to overcome the turn and get the plane back on course.

[Mike Holbrook]

Sorry I thought the OP was asking a general question regarding plane design. Actually there are quite a large number of transitional planes with the same adjusting mech. as the metal planes. I see more auction and flea market transitional planes than all wood planes. Wood planes have plane adjusting hammers? Maybe you meant wooden planes are often adjusted with a plane hammer, but then many people have and still do adjust metal planes the same way?

[James Waldron]

Sorry to be tardy.

I thought the OP was asking a question about wooden bodied planes, regarding their design. Perhaps I misunderstood. Perhaps wooden bodied planes is inclusive of transitional planes, but I don't typically consider them "of a piece." As I understand the history of these matters, there was a transition from wooden bodied planes to metal bodied planes and thereafter the transitional planes were developed as a "transitional compromise" to bring along the tradition-bound old fogies who rejected the new-fangled metal bodies and demanded wood. But then again, I can't remember where I came across the evolutionary concept and may have gotten that wrong as well. In any case, when someone speaks of wooden bodied planes, transitional planes don't immediately spring to my mind.

[Phil Mueller]

My limited understanding of transitionals suggests it was more a price point move. It allowed for the adjustability of a metal plane on a less costly wooden body.