A Goofy Plane

[Ian Gillis]

Hi

I cleared some space in the basement today and I decided to take a few photos of some of my more galootish tools. These are auction acquisitions from Nova Scotia. This first one is a lot of fun - try to figure which way is up!

The body of the plane looks like fruitwood to me. If it was made around here like I suspect then its almost certainly apple.

See my next post to see it at work.

[Ian Gillis]

Here's the rest of the puzzle - the plane was custom made for this shooting board. The tote is on the side of the plane perpendicular to the sole and a wider piece of maple/birch rides in some grooves in the shooting board. I was told by a gentleman who attended the auction that this setup is called a shingle jointer.

[Wiktor Kuc]

Ian, are there any marking of the maker on this palne?

[Ian Gillis]

Ian, are there any marking of the maker on this palne?
I went and looked it over again. There are no markings of any kind on the body of the plane. The iron is marked I. Sorby, Sheffield.

If the tote wasn't so perfectly formed I'd say it was purpose built by someone here in Nova Scotia. The body is fruitwood and it's actually got a tight knot or a whorl of some kind in it. The thin piece that runs in the groove of the shooting board is beech (not birch/maple as I guessed earlier). It is attached to the plane body with hide glue and brads. Beech is not terribly common in Nova Scotia these days, but there is a settlement called Beech Hill here in Lunenburg Co.

I bought quite a few tools belonging to the same carpenter - as many as I could afford on the day. I got his toolchest and maybe half the planes that were in it. The saws were mostly worn out and rusted very badly. The planes I didn't buy were transitional Stanley's which I don't personally care for. I would guess from his tools that he was probably active from approx 1890 to the 1940's. His tools were sold as part of his son's estate.

Let me know if you want higher res photos, Wictor.

Off to bed I go...

IG

[Mike Wenzloff]

...If the tote wasn't so perfectly formed I'd say it was purpose built by someone here in Nova Scotia...
Hi Ian,

Small point that. It is still possible it was a craftsman-made plane.

Here's one of my pattern maker's planes. This is made by the craftsman that used it:

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/temp/pat_0001.jpg

The link below is to some other pictures I took for someone else:
http://wenzloffandsons.com/temp/bugbear/index.html

Take care, Mike

[James Mittlefehldt]

That is really neat Ian I would love to see a picture of the tool chest itself if possible.

Also would that plane have been used for other applications than shingles, was it used for those houses where they have shingles on the sides made from wood? Sorry just curious that's all, and I love tool chests and work benches.

[harry strasil]

The Shingle part probably refers to the slide fastened to the plane to keep it in position.

[Ian Gillis]

The Shingle part probably refers to the slide fastened to the plane to keep it in position.
Could be. As you know very well, shingles are split from squared up bolts of wood - no jointing or truing up required. I guess I should have asked the oldtimer at the auction to elaborate.

James, I'll get the camera out and take some pics of the toolchest. It's a bit of a brute, so I'll have to enlist LOML's help to shift it. I was looking at it today and thinking I should build a wheeled stand for it. Nowadays a carpenter's toolbox is generally his pickup - 100 yrs ago the toolchest would arrive on site and stay until the job was finished. Portability was not a big concern.

Cheers

IG

[harry strasil]

Here I go butting in again.:o Shingles were rived (rye-v-ed) with a Froe often refered to as a shingle froe and a club, many times they were shaved down to a taper on one end with a wide drawknife often referred to as a shingle shave. A shaving horse with a long support shelf sticking out from the head toward the user is often refererred to as a shingle horse as the shingle was only gripped by the very end of the shingle so the rest could be shaved to a taper and the thin section needed lots of support under it or it would flex.

[Ian Gillis]

Depends where you come from, Jr. Out in British Columbia, where I lived for many years, they split 'em. One of the grades of shakes is called 'splits', as opposed to 'resawn' or 'tapersawn'.

The operation is the same - used to be done with a froe - but they call it splitting. Splittin' cedar shingles and shakes used to provide seasonal work for a lot of people.