Thread: My great great grandfather's planes

Cklett,

Lovely set of planes,it would be fantastic if you could find out what boats your great Grandfather worked on,

Cheers Matt.

A lovely set of planes for sure and more so because of the family connection.
I see some woodworm holes on the rebate plane so a week in freezer will ensure they are no longer active. Hope they have not done too much damage.
The sash fillister looks to be in very good condition.
Not sure where to get boxwood but perhaps someone on here has a small stash and can help.
Should you fettling for a while
Regards
John

Wunderbar.

Wowzer!

CK

That is a very nostalgic collection with huge sentimental value. I have never tried to source boxwood, but if I was trying to find some i would attempt to hunt down some old "fubar" wooden planes to salvage the timber from the likes of flea markets or whatever is available close to you. I would look for large jointers if possible as they will have the largest potential yield of timber. Some will be Beech but others will be Boxwood.

As I am typing it has occured to me that you said these tools were British made. The Brits tended to prefer Beech. Are you certain the planes are Boxwood?

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Cklett,

Lovely set of planes,it would be fantastic if you could find out what boats your great Grandfather worked on,

Cheers Matt.

Great thought. I should make some enquiries. Although it might be a mission impossible. However, worth a try. Maybe I can at least find out for which boat builder he has worked.

All I have is a copy of his certificate of apprenticeship from 1892. The original is with my cousin.



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Hi CK; can you take a photo of the sole and end profile of the moulding plane? I have at least one defunct wooden side beader that might be persuaded to surrender it's boxing if it looks compatible. I'm not home for two weeks so can't be 100% certain till then however.

If it is also a side beader these are the cheapest and most common woodies to find at flea-markets; a burgered one full of cracks or missing the iron can be had for $5.

Alternatively something like ironwood would make an acceptable substitute although the boxing colour would be substantially different. Actually; if you use ironwood you could probably dispense with the iron altogether and just let the boxing wear it's way through...

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

CK

That is a very nostalgic collection with huge sentimental value. I have never tried to source boxwood, but if I was trying to find some i would attempt to hunt down some old "fubar" wooden planes to salvage the timber from the likes of flea markets or whatever is available close to you. I would look for large jointers if possible as they will have the largest potential yield of timber. Some will be Beech but others will be Boxwood.

As I am typing it has occured to me that you said these tools were British made. The Brits tended to prefer Beech. Are you certain the planes are Boxwood?

Regards
Paul

Paul,

I believe the molding plane in question is actually a 3/4" side beading plane. It is made by Robert Sorby & Sons, Sheffield.
I also believe the planes are all made from beech.
The boxing I was referring to is a thin strip of hardwood set into the plane. And from what I know these are normally made from boxwood.
Here you can see what I mean.



From what I gather these inserts are called boxing.

In my case quite a bit of it is missing. The strip in there is about 3.5 to 4mm thick and about 26mm wide.

I am not sure if I would have much use for it. It's a pretty big side bead. But I want to fix it up anyway.

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Hi CK. It had been suggested to me on other threads that sacrificing an old wooden ruler might give you the box you need for the beading plane. Persimmon is a timber that some modern wooden plane makers use (especially in the USA).

My spare boxing won't fit that one; it'll be too thin and narrow. Same as MA's sacrificial folding rule idea unfortunately.... but I DO like that idea; thanks Julian!

Maybe look out for a "yardstick." Should be big enough, if you can find one.

Regards
Paul

Here is how its done on new planes.


046 Planemaking - the boxing - YouTube

I think it is taking it as far as boxing will go and likely just using strait sawn wood would do as that looks like the way the few planes with boxing that I have are done.
As Paul says if you can lay your hands on an old yardstick rule that would likely do even if you have to laminate bits together to get the width you need. When all is said and done it is just a strip of something harder than the beech the plane is made from.
Regards
John

While the side beading plane will probably one of the last to fix, I went ahead and cleaned up the wormholed rebate plane from my great great grandfather.

I first cleaned it with methylated spirits and steel wool. First I thought itight have been home made. The shape of the wedge was a bit odd for me. But on the back a " 1 1/4" as well as "32 mm" were stamped in. I don't think anyone would stamp both system in if it is home made.

Also I found a faint maker's mark.



And a little research on German sites found it was made by Otto Kneisel, Zeitz, Germany. That maker existed from 1872 to about 1935. The stamp shows the archangel Michael in battle with a dragon and the letters O and K.

I cannot tell when it was made, but maybe the fact the size is stamped in imperial as well as metric system points more to later stage? I assume they were also exporting to other parts of the world by then? Don't know....

Deutsche Werkzeughersteller und -handler: Otto Kneisel, Zeitz (Sachsen-Anhalt)

On that website is also an other rebate combo plane with the wedge shaped like mine.

Anyway I went ahead and flattened the sole and sharpened the iron. Took some work to flatten the back. But now it works very good again.

Some photos



After your comments regarding the wormholes I decided to wrap it up nicely and put it in the freezer for a couple of days. I am not intending to fill the holes unless there is a compelling argument other than looks. I only applied some BLO.

One down 5 more to go [emoji3]

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I got a wooden jack some years ago with a few holes in it from the UK ebay. I remembered the freezer tip from another thread on here. Cant really say it works but can say it does no harm. Anyhow the hole count has not got bigger over the years. Its a good feeling getting an old plane working again.
Regards
John