Thread: Vaughan and Bushnell plane

Interesting that the plane body is drop-forged rather than cast.
Nice restoration job.
Hope it planes well for you
Tom

The plane body is vanadium steel.

I just got a 904.

By the way, the original body paint was a light gray on the 90X series, and black on the 70X series. I prefer black over other colors, but should one worry about those things?

Thanks Tom and Raffo. I have only just "graduated" to stripping planes back and painting (this was the 1st in my home made sand blasting cabinet). And I only have the one can of spray paint- Henry Ford's favourite colour. What else do you know about them R?

Looks good. How is it performing?

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Hi CK. Yet to play with it (only got it finished last night....some other plane is distracting me!) Shavings are getting stuck in the mouth at a certain spot. Mouth is very fine (especially for a #5), so I want to check other possibilities before any files come out. Also, I haven't flattened the sole but it looks pretty good against a rule.

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I did a quick refurbish this evening. As you can see someone decided that red would be a better color.

A couple of things of interest. The iron is also a V & B, 0.068" thick, the thinnest plane iron I have encountered so far. The chipbreaker was not well fitted to the iron, there was a gap in the middle. I've yet to find an old plane with a well fitted chipbreaker.

I'll strip the paint from the handles when the weather is good, maybe repaing the body some day. Removed all the surface rust. The sole looks good, so I didn't lap it. Planed about 40ft of pine with a knot, medium thicknes shavings. The edge survived, no nicking, wood surface is nice and smooth. Also, no chatter.

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Vaughan and Bushnell is still in business here in the USA, nowadys they make hammers and axes. Their plane production was short lived, something like 15 years. Check out their 1927 catalog: Vaughan Product Catalogs

These planes are not common, I'm not aware of any other manufacturer that made a drop forged steel plane. As you can see from your plane, the frog design is similar to the early Bedrock style.

It'd have been impressive to see them stamp #8 plane bodies. If you're intersted in more of their history, this is where I learned the most about these planes: Welcome To Vaughan & Bushnell Planes - V&B Planes.

Rafael

Thanks R. Another thing I noticed was that both the frog (on the underside) and the lever cap (on one of the "sides" of the lever) hand stamped numbers. Mine didn't match, do yours? I also liked the fit between the frog and the base, good tolerances.

There are two characters at the bottom of the frog, but they're not legible. The lever cap doesn't have casting marks.

The frog and base fit is very similar to the early Bedrock. Here next to a round sides 604.

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I have a V&B 905 and a 704.

Well made planes, very good quality overall.

The frog seating design is almost as good as a Stanley Bedrock and the drop-forged sole is a real bonus for them as regular users in a concrete floored workshop like mine (not that I let planes fall very often *fingers crossed*).

The 900 series had a nickel finish on the sole and cheeks and a Vanadium iron. The 900s were their top of the line planes.

The 700 'Uncle Sam' series is same as the 900 series but without nickel finish on the sole and a 'Supersteel' iron.

Pretty rare I believe here in Oz.
You got yours for an excellent price.
V

Thanks R and D22. Very happy with the price, took a punt and it worked out. D does your 905 have the same screw/bolt through the front of the tote? Mine is brass, has a hexagonal head and a two step shaft - a thicker smooth section under the head (that engages nicely with the hole in the tote) and then the threaded, thinner section to screw into the base.

My workshop is packed away due to renovations but I distinctly recall that my 905 doesn't have a brass hex bolt for the tote/rear handle. It has just a regular slotted screw like the large Stanley bench planes have. Just like in the V&B catalogues online:
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This is a 905 from the 1927 catalogue.

V

Originally Posted by raffo

Vaughan and Bushnell is still in business here in the USA, nowadys they make hammers and axes.

Rafael

Just remebered a carpenter I worked with who swore by Vaughan hammers. So much so that he insisted all his apprentices had one. Didn't make the connection til this morning.