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First post, so hello.
This old plane has this dovetail piece glued in underneath. Would it have been to help remove the blade?
It may be French, if that helps. I am stumped to think of any other reason for it, but a perfect fit and glued in? It appears to be the same wood as the rest of the body.
Over to you..
Attachment 457519
Attachment 457520
Attachment 457521
Does it look like it has been glued in?
That part of the sole is important, as it helps to prevent tear-out. That piece may have been made to replace a damaged sole, or perhaps it's a replaceable part. Someone here who knows more about oldd planes will be along shortly, I'm sure, to give a definitive answer.
I remember seeing an article years ago that had a wooden plane with different size pieces
on the sole to adjust the mouth?
It's a piece put there to close the mouth up a bit.
Wooden plane soles both wear & can get damaged with use, & need re-flattening from time to time. Because the front of the throat slopes forward, this will gradually increase the gap between the cutting edge & the front of the mouth. When that gap becomes too much to be acceptable, the solution is to insert a piece of wood as demonstrated, to close it up a bit. It just indicates your plane has had a long & honorable life.
A 'fine' mouth is more important on smoothing planes where you really need to control tear-out, and in fact, you need plenty of room to allow large shavings through on scrub planes & roughing jacks. You can also control tear-out by setting the the 'chip breaker' very close to the cutting edge, and many people think that works better than a fine mouth.
Cheers,
Welcome to the forum.
Thanks Ianw, that sounds very likely. It is a beautiful little repair, that no-one will ever see. Shame.Quote:
Originally Posted by IanW
I guess the older generations had to resort to all kinds of tricks like that, whereas these days if something is a bit past it then it is easier to simply go and buy a new one...
Thanks, old1955.Quote:
Originally Posted by old1955
Lurked around a bit, but don't really like posting much on internet forums. More of a reader than a writer I suppose.
Thanks AlexS,Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexS
I love these old planes, but unfortunately there is not a lot they can be used for (apart from planing wood, obviously).
I don't know what the situation is like in Australia, but over here these only fetch around a fiver each. People try to make different things out of them like coat racks, lights etc. I've made a few candle holders...
Attachment 457576
The plane in the original question is the middle one.
That looks like a not uncommon repair.
Here's another example:
Wooden jointer plane repair - by Dave618 @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community
what you have there is a "standard" repair to a wooden plane.Quote:
Originally Posted by B & HA
Not seen all that often these days, but still a "standard" repair.
It's presence indicates a plane sole that has been flattened enough times to need the insert to keep the mouth tight.
Using the same wood for the insert is usual.
Thank you all for your replies. For some bizarre reason I never considered the sole of the plane getting worn.
The blade obviously gets sharpened from time to time, so gets shorter...
Anyway, thanks again for all the answers.