Confused, wooden rabbet or shoulder plane

[ayuce]

I've got confused with the wooden planes in similar forms below. Some people calls these as rabbet plane, some people as shoulder plane. Angle of blade seems to me a bit high for cross grain, so such wooden planes won't be so succesful as shoulder plane but for rabbeting. Am I wrong ?

 

[bugbear]

You're quite right.

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

Indeed. Rebate/rabbet plane, bevel down, 45°, optimised for taking off thick shavings to remove wood quickly.
Shoulder plane, normally all metal or infill, shallow angle, bevel up, only for fine shavings, generally shaped so you can lay the plane on its side and push/pull to make a cut. Used for final adjustment, not for bulk removal.

 

[Corneel]

The actual cutting angle is almost the same, wooden rabbet or shoulder plane. The usual shoulderplanes have a 15 degree bedding angle, add a 25-30 degree sharpening angle, and the result is not far removed from the 45 degree rabbet plane. It is the really tight mouth and taking very thin shavings that makes the shoulder plane more a tool for delicate trimming tasks and for end grain work, while the wooden rabbet plane is for hogging of wood to create a deep rabbet quickly.

 

[Trafalgar]

ECE make a version of that plane with an adjustable mouth. They also make it with the adjustable mouth and with the Primus depth adjusting mechanism if I'm not mistaken. At any rate, it's possible in either configuration to take a very light shaving through a very tight mouth.

 

[AndyT]

ECE make a version of that plane with an adjustable mouth. They also make it with the adjustable mouth and with the Primus depth adjusting mechanism if I'm not mistaken. At any rate, it's possible in either configuration to take a very light shaving through a very tight mouth.

Conversely, you could consider the Stanley 92 a metal version of the ECE design - it has an adjustable mouth and adjuster for the depth of cut. Patrick Leach, for one, says that Stanley promoted it as an all-rounder:

"Stanley made these planes general purpose so that they can be used as regular rabbet planes, chisel planes, and shoulder planes. Their cutters are pitched lower than might be expected for rabbeting so that they can be used as shoulder planes. The English designed two distinct planes for these tasks, with each particularly suited for the tasks. However, the English versions, despite their functional and visual superiority over the Stanley versions, are considered very expensive by most in the user community, making the Stanley products an affordable alternative. " - from http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan11.htm

Perhaps it is confusing after all!

 

[Trafalgar]

Absolutely. Although I like the height of the ECE for planing against a batten -- much less a knuckle buster than the low-slung Stanley.

 

[Corneel]

ECE even makes a double iron version with the adjustable mouth. That's as close to a shoulder plane you can get with a wooden design. Still perfectly fine for making rebates.

 

[D_W]

ECE even makes a double iron version with the adjustable mouth. That's as close to a shoulder plane you can get with a wooden design. Still perfectly fine for making rebates.

I have one of those. They work fabulously. Bit of a pain to get the iron out, but the fact that you can get a good surface with them with a light or heavy cut no matter what you're planing - until the clearance runs out, is really nice.

They want the moon for them (new), but they come up on ebay over here from time to time for $25-$40.

 

[Corneel]

They're not very expensive in Germany. 70 euros, or 82 with lignum vitae sole.

http://www.fine-tools.com/sims.html

I'v egot one, but must confess that it is still under restauration (since 2 years or so).