Columbus Wood Show Gloat

[John Weber]

Well all my time at the LN booth in Columbus was well spent. Not only did I pick up many great tips, today a nice 10-1/4 arrived via Mr. Brown. I was looking to add a plane to the "collection", thinking of maybe a No. 6, almost convinced a No. 8 would be nice, even played with the No. 9, but then settled on the No. 10 1/4. It's a Rabbet Jack plane, about the size of a No. 5, but with nickers, and a rabbeting blade. While originally developed for timber framing (no I don't have any plans to do much timber framing), it feels great in the hand and wonderfully reproduced in typical LN fashion. I even took a few shavings out of the box. I'll give it a little honing this week.

John

[James Mittlefehldt]

Since it has nickers John would yoube able to use it say cross grain for raised panels or doing drawer bottoms?

Looks nice.

Wonder if Veritas has something like this in mind as part of their future projects?

[Dave Right]

A great addition to your collection, John!

[Michael Gibbons]

Hey John, Can I borrow it? I promise I'll give it right back!!

[Brett Baldwin]

When you said nickers, soemthing completely different went through my head. That is a sharp looking plane. Happy Shavings.

[Roy Wall]

Great (and smart) choice John!! She's a beauty!!

[Jim Becker]

Very nice gloat, John! And a beautiful piece of "hard working" art, too...

[Bob Noles]

Whoa John..... That's one sweet plane.

[Mike Henderson]

I'm somewhat new, so I hope you'll forgive my question.

Where would you use a plane of this type? That is, what joint or cut would you use it for?

It seems a bit big for the rabbets that you would cut in most cabinet work.

Mike

[John Weber]

Hey guys, thanks, it really is a beautiful plane. I think it could do most any cross grain work you would like, but it is large for fine work on small objects. The tilting knobs are firm and make holding the plane feel great. For a little more info in the 10 1/4 here is a bit from the Patrick Leach's Blood and Gore site:

#10 1/4C Carriage maker's rabbet plane, 13"L, 2 1/8"W, 4 1/4lbs, 1912-1917. *
Corrugated version of the #10 1/4. Putting corrugations on a plane, which probably was better left on the drawing board in the first place, makes for a very rare plane. This is a tough one to find, one of the toughest of all Stanley planes, so be careful of the modern artisan's craftiness.
#10 1/2 Carriage maker's rabbet plane, 9"L, 2 1/8"W, 3lbs, 1885-1964.

This is sometimes called the 'smooth rabbet' since it is the same size as a #4, however in some of Stanley's earlier propaganda this plane and the #10 are both simply called a "Carriage Maker's Rabbet". The usual problems with the #10, and the other bench planes, are also found on this guy. The most common form of damage are cracks and/or repairs to the cheeks of the tool, located just above the cutouts for the cutter.

The earliest models have an adjustable mouth, very much like those found on the common block planes, but the entire section of the sole ahead of the iron moves. Adjustable mouth versions are much scarcer than the non-adjustable mouth versions, and were only offered for about the first ten years of the plane's production.

The mouth is adjusted by turning the front knob, sliding the knob forward or backward, and then tightening the knob; this action moves the entire sole ahead of the iron. The casting that receives the front knob's screw is sometimes broken so take the plane apart to inspect this. The repetitive adjustment to the mouth also puts wear and tear on the rosewood knob; many of them are split or are chipped at their bases. I've seen some of these early models with a metallic disk under the knob in an attempt to overcome the chipping that the knobs suffer; this disk appears original and is similar to the one used on the #62.

This plane always came with the lateral adjustment lever - if you see one that doesn't have one, it's likely from an earlier #3 or #10.

Maybe that explains it a little better then I can.

John

[Doug Ketellapper]

Very nice! I haven't been to a wood show in a few years, but the highlight of the last one for me was the Lie-Nielsen booth. As you said they had a lot of great tips, and on request they showed me how to use the 112 scraper I alreay owned. While I was there, a guy who had purchased a block plane earlier came back and complained it didn't work. The guy demonstrating the planes took it, gave it a quick honing, set the blade and took some nice shavings with it, polished it and handed it back to the guy. It was there too that I realized how great a hammer was for fine adjusting the iron. Wonderful people to deal with and none of the new fangled hype of many of the other booths. Just plain old handtool use.