New EMIR wooden plane body and other things

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JobandKnock

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Mooching around eBay yesterday evening I found a seller who is offering some of Emmerich-Berlon (Emir) surplus component stock at low prices. Of particular interest to me is item 203583052284 (sorry, but I can't get a URL), a fully machined beech coffin smoother body which requires only a wedge and iron/cap iron to complete it. The price is £3.50 + shipping. The same seller also has beech bench hooks and vice jaws in various widths, so may be worth taking a look at. I'm certainly up for having a go at making my own, so I bought one
 
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There was an ibidder sale recently, with the factory machines and a lot of stock for sale. Most likely from that I would think. Post piks when you get yours (y)
 
Sad, really, because I think they were the last wooden plane manufacturer of any scale in the UK albeit selling into the education market (despite having only started in 1932). Their counterparts, Salmen, who also made training tool kits and home woodworking toolkits but had a longer history of plane making (the predecessor Salmen company having started in 1850 and gone under in 1926), ceased making wooden planes around 1967, the same year I believe that W. Marples called it a day on wooden planes
 
There have been a number of the too good to be true sales that turn out to be scams.

Pete

I couldn't vouch for that one being real, but can say that a decent full complement coffin smoother in the UK can often be $10-$15, and an unused one with iron and wedge and sticker sometimes double or a little more than that.

A body with no wedge and no iron can be a bit of a tough sell - for some reason, ebay UK thinks I shouldn't see picture details and the page is funky, but if the tape is 2 1/2" across the mouth in the one picture, a plane like that would be a bear (actually better for slightly rough use, like final sizing of sticking).
 
It was an Emir first got me into wooden planes. It is a single iron German style plane. I did not know they did traditional coffin smothers. Real or not its a beech coffin body, there are plenty old blades and cap irons around and you just need to make the wedge.
Regards
John
 
A body with no wedge and no iron can be a bit of a tough sell - for some reason, ebay UK thinks I shouldn't see picture details and the page is funky, but if the tape is 2 1/2" across the mouth in the one picture, a plane like that would be a bear (actually better for slightly rough use, like final sizing of sticking).
Then it'll be a bear. It turned up it is real and new, albeit dusty, and mate has said he'll let me have a 2-1/2in double iron to try and get it working - he'll post it in the morning. One thing I will say is that it's bloody huge! Even if it doesn't work, I will always have beech paperweight!

The solid beech bench hooks and the solid beech vice pads (at under £2 a pop) I got at the same time will come in handy
 
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Then it'll be a bear. It turned up it is real and new, albeit dusty, and mate has said he'll let me have a 2-1/2in double iron to try and get it working - he''ll post it in the morning. One thing I will say is that it's bloody huge! Even if it doesn't work, I always have beech paperweight!

The solid beech bench hooks and the solid beech vice pads (at under £2 a pop) I got at the same time will come in handy

If the iron and the wedge fit well and there no bed issues, it should work fine. You've confirmed that it's a 2 1/2" iron coffin smoother - a big one!!

If all of the parts are OK (assuming you'll make a wedge then), it should work reasonably well, though, even if everything isn't perfect.

There's almost zero chance that it can't be made into a good plane, though.
 
Thank you for that. It was cheap enough and the iron will cost me a few beers (and maybe a bit of a blether) when we next meet up, so all I need is some beech - and I think I can see one of the vice jaws disappearing into that...:unsure:
 
you may already have eyes trained for what looks right, but quartered wood for the wedge if you can manage (beech is much easier to find there than it is here. The *trees* aren't that hard to find here if you drive a little, but there's no organized market for them where I am).

I made a cocobolo 2 1/4" smoother a long time ago now (the second plane I made - not the prettiest, but it's functional). It was difficult to find a use for it as the iron is the oddball from i.sorby that's a bit soft. Uncommon enough that I put the plane aside (cocobolo has some unusual habits for a year or two in a plane, too).

Long story short, I found that a bigger coffin smoother is pretty nice going if set for a heavier shaving. Slightly thicker shaving and the iron is completely indifferent about being a click or two soft (But I've since figured out a way around even that - to get soft irons to plane really hard wood without getting their bleeding edge knocked about).

(sizing sticking to make mouldings here).

(and bare - never really surface finished the outside after trying the iron early on).

Long story short, if an immediate use doesn't present itself if it's a bit of a bull smoothing, hold on to it.

I do have a thickness planer, but barely use it. I recall setting this thing with the cap positioned to straighten about a five thousandth shaving and the ripples from the planer are gone in one set of overlapping passes. One light pass with stanley after that and the surface is bright and it's done.

If I were in the UK, I probably wouldn't have been able to turn down those planes at that price, just to knock together some planes quickly (no shortage of 2 1/2 inch double irons here - could be 20 of them floating around in drawers. )
 
I might order one and turn it into a ford 32 roadster model 😂
 

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I've brought one so need to find a 2-1/2 blade I have one in my no5 1/2 so could use that.

I have some Sapele or simalar for a wedge. Unless anyone has a scrap of beech!

Seems genuine he answered about the vices he was selling.

Cheers James
 
Plane body arrived..... !+ Bench hook)

So where is the best place to get a blade ?

Cheers James
 
probably ebay - you need a 2 1/2" double iron set for a wooden plane and not a parallel iron or stanley/record type.

The fit of the wedge/fingers, etc, will depend on not having the stanley cap iron hump, and the planes were designed for an iron that's a bit fat at the business end.
 
that kind would be OK - an earlier mathieson, i.sorby or ward would have a better chance of being a good iron and the cap iron will be functionally better in most cases.

But isn't the body one made to fit a 2 1/2" blade?
 
don't be afraid to buy an entire junk plane if it's got something broken but the iron and cap iron is fantastic.
 

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