Moulding Plane Peculiarities #1

[Plumberpete]

As some of you know, I'm in the process of writing a book on the planemakers of Bristol. I have accumulated a fair few planes by the 15 or so plane manufactories that existed in Bristol (for research purposes obviously! ), and have come across a few anomalies that I would like to share with the learned men and women of UKworkshop to see if these are specific to the particular makers, or whether they exist elsewhere.

My first piece of evidence for the jury is the wedges used in moulding planes by William Gillett - as shown below, the wedge has a line scored into it parallel with the horizontal plane of the plane(!). This exists on 5 of the 7 moulding planes I have by William Gillett. As has been discussed elsewhere a large amount of planes have a dot punched into the front of their wedges and I wondered if this 'scoring' was also common practice.

The scored line is at the bottom of the wedge near where the bevelled taper starts.

 

[heimlaga]

I assume that the line was made along the edge of the escapement and used as a guide when paring the bevelled taper. That is how I do it when I make profile planes for my own use. I have seen that kind of a line on several home made profile planes here in Finland.

Though professional planemakers tended to make their planes in batches with standardized measurements so my assumption may be wrong.

 

[AndyT]

I agree with Heimlaga's suggestion that a scored line would show you the correct angle for the end of the pared taper, but have not yet found any examples of this on planes I own.

 

[richarnold]

Hi Pete.
This may be worth checking. Take the iron out of the plane, and insert the wedge without the iron. does the line on the wedge line up with the slope of the escapement? I have seen a number of planes where this occurs, and it is where the maker has used the wedge to prevent break out when chiseling the slope to the escapement.
Cheers, Richard

 

[Plumberpete]

Hi Pete.
This may be worth checking. Take the iron out of the plane, and insert the wedge without the iron. does the line on the wedge line up with the slope of the escapement? I have seen a number of planes where this occurs, and it is where the maker has used the wedge to prevent break out when chiseling the slope to the escapement.
Cheers, Richard

Hi Heimlaga and Richard,

Yes, the line on the wedge does line up with the edge of the bevel on the escapement when the iron is removed. Thank you both! =D>

It's good to know that other planemakers were using this method too, Richard.

 

[jimi43]

WOW!

I was thinking...my dear friend Pete has just posted some interesting stuff about a specific maker...which I know he loves...and I couldn't contribute other than saying..."interesting stuff mate". And then along comes Richard with a blinder..with a fact that I didn't know and which I am sure...will hold me in good stead down the line in making one or two of these woodie thingies! :mrgreen:

So...huge thanks guys for working together to contribute to my morning's reading enjoyment and adding another really helpful (if not obscure) fact to my arsenal of ....useful facts!

Is it not also true that some makers marked their wedges and plane bodies with dots or other marks to match them up after they were made to fit together?

Jimi

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Love it - brilliantly simple explanation that throws light on how it was made.

 

[Mr_P]

Is it not also true that some makers marked their wedges and plane bodies with dots or other marks to match them up after they were made to fit together?

Jimi

T'is true

do-you-own-any-wooden-moulding-planes-t77317.html

 

[AndyT]

Indeed. Many thanks for the question and the sensible answer.