Jack Plane

[Nicholas Lawrence]

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When I got this thing I thought for a split second someone had accidentally sent me one of Steve's.

A little rust on the iron, but by far the cleanest wooden plane I have seen.

Sixteen inches.

The wedge was a little off on one side, so I wonder if that is why it saw so little use. A couple of light strokes with a block plane and it now appears to be just about perfect.

[Jim Koepke]

Sweet!

We want shavings, show us some shavings! :D

jtk

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Sweet!

We want shavings, show us some shavings! :D

jtk

It is sweet. It has a massively thick tapered double iron by Sargent. The plane is marked Kenewa. Does anyone know anything about that company?

The blade and chip breaker have a little surface rust, and do not match perfectly, so need a little work, and I have limited time at the moment. Will probably be later this month before you get your shavings.

[Steve Voigt]

Nice score! That looks good. Any chance I could trouble you for a close up of the mortise, and also the wedge?

I don't know anything about Kenewa. Maybe someone else does…

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Nice score! That looks good. Any chance I could trouble you for a close up of the mortise, and also the wedge?

I don't know anything about Kenewa. Maybe someone else does…

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Let me know if this shows what you want to see. I found it in an old Sargent tool catalog. They had a line of Warranted "U.S." wooden planes they sold. They then had a line that were not warranted, which carried the Kenewa name. Looks like it would have cost me $1.20 in 1911. Oddly, that is the same price for a 16" jack from the Warranted U.S. line in the same catalog.

To my (untrained) eye, it looks very well made, except for the issue with the wedge not fitting properly, which was easily fixed. I would be curious what you think of it?

[Steve Voigt]

Thanks for the pics, Nicholas. That is a very nice tidy mortise; surprising for such a late plane. By 1925 the wooden plane industry in the U.S. was dead. I wonder if that is the original wedge? It looks like a commercially-made wedge, but the taper of the fingers looks more gradual that the corresponding taper of the abutments. Is that right?

Anyway, looks like a nice plane in great condition. Hope you get some good mileage out of it!

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I am not sure I understand the question. The iron and chip breaker are quite heavily tapered. Would the wedge not have to taper at a different angle than the abutments? If I took a picture of the wedge by itself in the plane, would that show you what you want to know?

When I got the plane, the fingers on the right side were shorter than the fingers on the left. It looked to me like the right finger might have broken in the last fraction of an inch, but the original "thickness" (to to bottom) on the right was also less then on the left. My only modification was to slightly shorten the left finger and thin it a little bit so that it engages fully on both abutments.

It has occurred to me that the difference between the warranted and non-warranted line might have been that the non-warranted buyer expected to do a little fitting of the wedge, etc. I don't know if that is true or not.

In terms of whether it is original to the plane, I have no way of knowing for sure. The patina on the wedge is pretty much the same as what is on the body of the plane. If it is a replacement it is not a recent one.

[Steve Voigt]

Nick,
Sorry, I wasn't clear at all. I was referring to the tips of the wedge. If you think of the tip as a little triangle, the question was whether that matched up to the mortise. Not in terms of thickness, but in terms of width. That's probably clear as mud, right? Oh well, it's not important! :rolleyes: