mr":1v8je3t1 said:
Chris Schwarz has some interesting and to my mind probably correct thoughts on that topic ...
http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/cSchwarz/z_art/scrubPlanes/scrubPlanes1.asp
It sounded as he'd never used one for very long times
He was making a remark about the planes being japanned all over and still looking like they'd been dredged from the bottom of the sea. Well, using the scrub for more than a few planks is so sweatty that you have everything covered in sweat. A bit gross actually, but explains very well both the japanning and the rust.
I use a horned wooden scrub with 1 1/4" iron for starters and a 2" wide woodie with much shallower camber to remove the pattern from the scrub. For carpentry quality jobs I leave it that way, otherwise I'll go on with a #5 with a very slight camber.
I'd say a scrub would be used more for planing the sides of planks on carpentry jobs. If my father ever needed a bit narrower plank, he drew a line, wasted most of the excess off with an axe and then planed it smooth. That's how I usually do it myself, but if I can clamp the piece on the bench I might end up with the scrub. Any more than, say 3/4" would be a job for an axe in any case.
On finer woodworking or benchwork it would be more surface preparation than edging, it's a two minute job to clean up three feet of rough sawn timber.
In Finland the "tool dialect" leans much more to German carpentry, so most of the hand planes would be fitted with a horn. A coffin smoother would be a very rare bird around here and a jack for hogging off a surface just as scarce.
Pekka