wooden panel planes?

[thetyreman]

just wondered if any of you use a panel plane which they'd have used up to the late 19th century, it mentions it in gareth hacks 'the handplane book' sounds ideal for panelling, I often struggle with regular planes to get just the right angle, partly because I have to scew the blade at 45 degrees at really weird angles, it can be very tricky, would it be worth making my own wooden panel plane? I've seen them for sale, there's one on ebay at the moment for not much...surprises me that no-one uses them anymore to be honest, they look ideal, what do you think? is it a waste of time? should I just continue using regular planes for it?

 

[MusicMan]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a wooden panel plane - have you a picture! Do you mean a wooden plane with a skew blade, i.e. a "badger" ?

 

[custard]

Philly Planes still make them,

http://www.phillyplanes.co.uk/panelraiser.html

Many years ago I had an old one, despite endless fettling it never worked particularly well.

 

[thetyreman]

Excuse my ignorance but what is a wooden panel plane - have you a picture! Do you mean a wooden plane with a skew blade, i.e. a "badger" ?

not sure what the proper term is, but yes basically it's a wooden body usually beech wood with a skewed blade at 75 degrees (I think) it was an important plane once, here's one on ebay currently: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/19th-C-Panel ... 1438.l2649

 

[thetyreman]

Philly Planes still make them,

http://www.phillyplanes.co.uk/panelraiser.html

Many years ago I had an old one, despite endless fettling it never worked particularly well.

maybe one day but at the moment, that's way too expensive for me unfortunately, I'm sure they are really well made though!

 

[MusicMan]

Ah, I see, to make the raised panel. Thanks both.

 

[AndyT]

Richard Arnold definitely has some old planes like this, has made reproductions, and has used them. I may have some photos from his last open day. If not, try searching for him on Facebook or Instagram if you do such things.

What you will find is that by using the old tools at the bench he has worked out what extra little bit was needed (to be made by the user) to turn an unfenced plane into a quick and productive tool.

 

[custard]

is it a waste of time? should I just continue using regular planes for it?

The body of the plane will almost certainly have shrunk which will mean some work reshaping the iron. Also they don't generally deliver that smooth a job on the cross grain cuts. If you look at the panels on antiques it's clear that was also true back in the day, because end grain tear out is pretty common.

If the objective is the satisfaction of hand tool work then by all means, as you say old panel raising planes are cheap enough.

But if you're trying to produce clean work quickly then power tools work well. I normally panel raise on a spindle moulder, but I have done it on a router table and I've been impressed with the results. Vertical panel raisers mean you don't even need a behemoth of a router or a router table with a huge cut-out,

https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Pa ... se_68.html

One final point. Raised panels, like turned legs, are about as fashionable as horse brasses or kipper ties. All the "country style" kitchen units that were fitted in the 80's, with their signature arched top fielded panels, are now being torn out and replaced. I admire anyone who swims against the tide, but I get the impression you're aiming for a commercial dimension in your work, so it's only fair to point out that fielded panels struggle to sell. Shaker style panels, with the raised section on the inside, are still on trend, but you can make those with just a bench plane.

 

[AndyT]

I found one of Richard's photos on Instagram showing how a simple hooked batten serves as a fence, making a plain panel plane into a versatile tool for fielded panels. This is what I was talking about in my earlier post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYbllg0AyX5/

 

[thetyreman]

interesting thoughts, yet again great advice guys, I know what you mean custard, they definitely aren't in fashion, much prefer the softer looking shaker style panels without the hard angles on the front visible side, that is more the direction I was thinking, so it sounds like I don't need the panel plane really.