Moving Fillister - My first wooden plane

[Josh Waine]

I picked up this old moving fillister plane to test it out and see if it cuts better than my Stanley #78 that I'm not too impressed with. But since this is my first wooden body plane, I have a few questions about it.

First and probably the stupidest, how do I get the wedge out when I want to back off the blade? I get how you tap it in, but how do you tap it out?

There's no nicker, any ideas what would be the easiest thing to grind down to fit? It's about a quarter inch wide so I was thinking an old saw file or a cheap chisel. Should I just copy the nicker shape on my #78?

Last, the side opening for the shavings is very small. I noticed it's just as small on other moving fillister planes, but on regular skew rabbet planes, it's much wider. I only used the plane once on a 1ft long piece of pine and the shavings were short, almost like cross grain shavings, not long and wispy like I expected. The mouth got clogged pretty fast. This could have been from the dull blade though.

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[John Crawford]

The experts will be along shortly to help. I'll be interested to hear, as I'm just starting to search for a moving fillister as well.

To retract the blade or loosen the wedge, tap on the back of the plane. You'll likely see hammer marks there.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Josh and welcome to the Creek.

As for removing the wedge, it is easier to offer a link than to rewrite it:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?242156-Old-Molding-Planes-and-the-Rehab-Enthusiast

The nickers on these planes were often a cut nail with the end sharpened. The head would be cut off and the sides ground to fit as the nail wore from use and resharpening. Not really sure where my cut nails are at the moment. Not sure if they are available through any hardware stores.

For the shavings you may need to sharpen the blade and work on getting a thin cut and then work to optimum shaving from there. The tip of the wedge should be shaped in such a way as to guide the shaving out. If the shavings continue to clog you will have to figure where they are stopping and correct the cause. The link above looks into one problem with jamming and its correction.

Good luck and if you do work on the plane and document your work add it to the thread above. It will help others in the future.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

Welcome Josh!

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Josh

Welcome to SMC.

That can become a nice user. There is already a slot for a nicker - check if it requires a dovetailed blade. It may be easier to obtain a section of HSS (often stores that sells blades for turning tools will have the blanks). This may be ground without concern for over-heating or the need to heat treat.

An alternative to a dovetailed nicker is this one I made that locks with a screw ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/EvolvingADovetailPlane2_html_78ba76bc.jpg

Don't open the mouth - the clogging is likely because the wedge may be a replacement and not directing the shavings to the opening at the side of the plane. The front of the wedge is usually triangular for this purpose.

The short shavings are also likely because the blade is dull.

Lastly, you retract the blade by first loosening the wedge - tapping the rear of the body - and then doing this again to raise the blade.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Kees Heiden]

There was an interesting blog post about clogging mouths in side escapement planes lately:
http://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.nl/2017/03/wood-planes-that-always-clog-and-wear.html

[Josh Waine]

Thanks for the information everyone. I didn't realize how important the toe of the wedge is, I thought it's only purpose is to securely hold the blade. I tried to get a good picture, hopefully you can see the taper on the wedge looks pretty good. I don't think it's my problem though, mostly because when I tested out the plane I didn't have it set up to take a full width shaving and only about half of the blade was engaged. The shavings then get pushed directly upwards instead of riding along the wedge and out the side. I think my problem is that the blade isn't sharp enough. I'll report back when I finally get around to sharpening it. I do already like it better than my stanley which I had a lot more problems with including a warped sole.

Also you can see I stuck an old triangular file in the dovetailed slot for the wedge. The tapers seem to match perfectly so I think it'll make a suitable replacement once ground.
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[Jim Koepke]

There was an interesting blog post about clogging mouths in side escapement planes lately:
http://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.nl/2017/03/wood-planes-that-always-clog-and-wear.html

Thanks Kees. That is an informative post on wear angles in wood bodied planes.


Also you can see I stuck an old triangular file in the dovetailed slot for the wedge. The tapers seem to match perfectly so I think it'll make a suitable replacement once ground.

Remember the outside edge of the nicker needs to be aligned with the edge of the blade to work well at producing crisp work.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

Aren't plow planes and fillester planes the same thing? I have both Lee Valley plow planes as well as an old woody plow plane.

I had a 78 at one time, but it didn't compare to my plows. I did use a 78 while attending a Paul Sellers class in Waco (many years ago ).

[Jim Koepke]

Aren't plow planes and fillester planes the same thing? I have both Lee Valley plow planes as well as an old woody plow plane.

I had a 78 at one time, but it didn't compare to my plows. I did use a 78 while attending a Paul Sellers class in Waco (many years ago ).

A plow plane's main intended purpose is to cut a slot or groove away from the edge of a work piece. That it can cut at the edge and thus produce a rabbet, rebate or fillister is an added feature.

A rebate, rabbet, fillister plane is not usually able to cut a slot, let alone multiple sizes of slots usually available with a plow or combination plane.

My main rabbet plane is a Record #778. It is a bit better than the Stanley #78 since the #778 has two fence rods as opposed to one. The #778 sometimes drives me crazy (my wife says that isn't a very long drive). The depth stop seems to slip even with the locking bolt tightened down. My hope is a recently added washer with PSA backed abrasive paper will keep it from slipping in use. One of my regular habits while using my rabbet or combination planes is to check the tightness of all the locking bolts while in use. The depth stop bolt was tight, but it didn't stop the depth stop from sliping.

jtk