Thread: Old 2nd hand wooden planes

seems a waste of a plane .... how dead is the plane?

I don't have one ATM. I call dead as having large splits, chunks missing etc. I'd never do it to a plane that appears even close to salvage.

Just a thought bouncing round in my head.

well in that case wood is wood, if it has a large enough section it should be fine

Wood maybe wood, but I'm specifically talking about boxwood (not Yellow,Red,White box or Brushbox) Buxus (sp) for tool handles.

Might have to put in a little plantation somewhere.

Old wood rulers (rules) are usually boxwood so that is what european boxwood looks like. That said chopping up old planes for chisel handles is bordering on criminal tool abuse. Chisel handles can be made of all sorts. Fruit woods are good.Apple cherry and the like also in local woods spotted gum is good for these that get bashed with a mallet. Mulberry is really good and the best i have tried is osage for looks and peformance.
Regards
John

I'm no expert but I suspect that any plane that is solid boxwood in any condition is worth more as a plane than a chisel handle. Not many around, most woodies I've ever seen have been beech.

(edit) Typically a beech moulding plane may have a slip of boxwood as a wear strip. For example beading plans usually have a boxwood strip that keeps the plane aligned with profile being struck.

Thanks Fuzzie, that satisfied my curiosity and answered what probably should have been my second question.

The gallows and noose can be put away. I never said I had the knife lines on a plane ready to saw, I was just wonderin.

If the plane is of any size, the chances are it is beech - lovely golden finish especially after years of linseed oil. As suggested by others, solid European box is top of the market stuff and should only be cut up as a last resort.
You can tell beech by the medullary rays.

As a ps, I did once cut up an old wooden jack plane (beech) but it really was finished; huge cracks filled with rubbish especially seeing it came from landfill. The amazing part was that the inside still smelled of linseed and there was still a fair amount of useable wood in it.

Pretty decent wooden planes can have no commercial value at all. Users are VERY hard to find, collectors can be found, but they want the very rare, or the mint condition ones.
The ones seen in junk shops seem to be aimed at the decorator types, and big prices on junk is the norm.

Have a look at what actually happens out there. May 8th.
D Malloch SON Smoother | eBay
Look at the description this seller typed, he/she took 10 pictures, probably answered a couple of vacuous questions about it as well, probably packed it, posted it as well...and risks a negative feedback from one of the dirt-bags that hang around eBay For all that effort it sold for $0.01.

I would rather stay warm than put up with what that seller got. I've burned more than fifty wooden planes....also given plenty of the away.


If my opinion is worth anything, if you find an old beech bench plane, even in OK condition...cut it up and use it for whatever you want.

Regards,
Peter

Originally Posted by orraloon

Fruit woods are good.Apple cherry and the like n

On the (rural) news over the last few weeks they have been discussing uprooting something like 750 000 pear and (?) peach trees in the eastern states because ... ardmona?? ... contracts haven't been renewed. Can you imagine it?
Paul

Originally Posted by lightwood

Have a look at what actually happens out there. May 8th.
D Malloch SON Smoother | eBay

It says "The plane can be picked up from Hurlstone Park NSW". Exactly how would the purchaser pay the ripoff price of $0.01 in this case, I wonder? Probably have to leave a 400% tip. Just as well the seller used a digital camera - hate to waste all that profit on film.

Originally Posted by lightwood

....if you find an old beech bench plane, even in OK condition...cut it up and use it for whatever you want.

Yep, better than seeing them go to landfill, or warming up Peter .

That is the sort of thing I was talking about recycling, something absolutley useless for what it was originally made for. When I find a couple that I can give a new purpose to, I'll report back.

As for primary production going down the toilet, don't get me started. The vast majority of us do it now, out of some sort of tradition driven need, my brother and I are 4th generation on the same farm (my family has been on our place since 1909) or way of life, very few are in it for the money now-a-days.

Originally Posted by ozhunter

When I find a couple that I can give a new purpose to, I'll report back.

"Yes" to a highly pictorial WIP please.