Latest design of handplane?

[PeterBassett]

Perhaps ivory is more decay resistant. Thus more of them would have survived the 2000 year buried wait.

It's not necessarily anything to do with the number of wooden vs ivory planes in existence.

 

[matthewwh]

Gentlemen (and ladies) I believe we are in the presence of the Roman equivalent of a Holtey panel plane. I wonder how many A1's will still be around for folk to scratch their heads about in 4010?

 

[Alf]

Must admit my experience of large chunks of ivory is necessarily lacking - indeed my experience of small chunks of ivory is confined to childhood piano lessons - but isn't it quite hard-wearing stuff? Would the trouble of fitting the metal sole really have been necessary? Or does it have a more open "grain" of which I know nothing? (see above)

 

[bugbear]

Must admit my experience of large chunks of ivory is necessarily lacking - indeed my experience of small chunks of ivory is confined to childhood piano lessons - but isn't it quite hard-wearing stuff? Would the trouble of fitting the metal sole really have been necessary? Or does it have a more open "grain" of which I know nothing? (see above)

Well, in the more modern era (i.e. post 1850) infills routinely used extremely durably woods for the infill, but also had completely metal wear surfaces.

Which appears to be analogous.

BugBear

 

[Alf]

Fair point. 'Cept the infill also provided the means of holding the bits of wood together to make a plane body - without it, no dice. It appears this Roman thing could have been used without the metal at all. More like a steel-shod, um, boxwood/ebony/rosewood/lignum vitae coffin smoother? An example of which I dare say you will now find a picture of...? :wink:

 

[Jake]

There are the coffin smoothers with a steel toe, kind of a half-shod version.

 

[TheTiddles]

Hi,

Looks like one of Mr Grimsdales :wink:

Pete

By the looks of it he's sodded off again, thank goodness for that!

Aidan

 

[Alf]

There are the coffin smoothers with a steel toe, kind of a half-shod version.

Yeah, I know, I have one. You could also get full metal soles for them as well (see Salaman, under Plane Fittings), but don't have one of those. But the plane's the traditional beech, which I assume, wears a bit quicker than ivory.

 

[mr grimsdale]

Hi,

Looks like one of Mr Grimsdales :wink:

Pete

By the looks of it he's sodded off again, thank goodness for that!

Aidan

BOO!

 

[mr grimsdale]

Hi,

Looks like one of Mr Grimsdales :wink:

Pete

Yep I think it's one of mine. It fell out of the panier when the donky stumbled - I was on the way to a job in Yorkshire - seems like years ago, I never thought I'd see it again!

The didn't do cast iron but they did do bronze. Too expensive for woodwork tools I guess. But then ivory is a bit of a luxury. Could it have belonged to early toolie to whom money was no object?

 

[heimlaga]

Ivory :? Sounds insane.

The oldtimers generally were good at finding cheap local substitutes for imported materials. Further back in time when cash was even scarcer and transports even more expensive I assume that craftsmen were even better at finding creative low budget solutions.

So.... Why would a super expensive high prestige material like ivory end up in a plane? Woodworkers and blacksmiths alike have until recently been good at finding cheap solutions when making their own tools.......

This leads me to the assumption that there must have been gentleman woodworkers in Roman times. This plane being made with the purpose of showing that the owner was a GENTLEMAN woodworker and not any ordinary country craftsman.

Just my thoughts.... and I am neither historician nor archeologist.

This leads me nowhere. :?

 

[bugbear]

Ivory :? Sounds insane.

The oldtimers generally were good at finding cheap local substitutes for imported materials. Further back in time when cash was even scarcer and transports even more expensive I assume that craftsmen were even better at finding creative low budget solutions.

So.... Why would a super expensive high prestige material like ivory end up in a plane? Woodworkers and blacksmiths alike have until recently been good at finding cheap solutions when making their own tools.......

This leads me to the assumption that there must have been gentleman woodworkers in Roman times. This plane being made with the purpose of showing that the owner was a GENTLEMAN woodworker and not any ordinary country craftsman.

Just my thoughts.... and I am neither historician nor archeologist.

This leads me nowhere. :?

It could have been a "presentation tool" - I have no idea if the practice existed in Roman times though.

BugBear

 

[AndyT]

I had a look at the book that Smudger linked to - if the Romans were having tables made with exotic veneers, the idea of cabinetmakers having high-prestige tools doesn't seem odd at all.

It's an interesting reminder of how the attitudes that we think of as our own can be the same throughout history.