Open/closed throat router plane? Why ?

[mseries]

When I last used a router plane I was at school, it was about 1980. I have no idea if it was open or closed throat. We used it to route the groove for a stopped housing joint in a small book case that we were making. I have been looking at hand router planes recently as every now and again I think I ought to eschew my power tools and be more traditional. So why do we have open and closed throat router planes, what does one do that the other can't ?

 

[undergroundhunter]

The closed throat is better for narrow housings as it has more support, the open throat seem to be more common. Mine is an open and I haven't run into any problems yet, if I did I could always add a wooden base to "close" the throat.

Matt

 

[AndyT]

It's a good question. I have the Stanley 71 which has the open throat but also has a depth stop which can be used to close it off. For ordinary work, cutting housings across wide boards, I really don't think it matters. The open throat could give you a slightly better view of what is going on, but I don't think it makes much difference really.

If you did want to use one on the edge of a board, where you would normally use a plough, then the open mouth sort would lack support at the front.

They are nice tools though and can give good results quite quickly.

 

[Tom K]

The open throat provides the better view closed throat a steadier footing. Saw a demonstration (may have been on Highland Woodworkers tv) consensus was theres not much in it.