Question about transitional planes

[Richard Magbanua]

I've seen a lot of threads about restoring iron hand planes as well a woodies. However, I haven't seen a lot about restoring transitional planes. It seems I've seen quite a few during my rust hunts and most seem to be in pretty good shape, at least the metal parts are. As I look them over, I would think it would be relatively easy to restore one for use by making a new body for the hardware and even change the length to fill whatever needs you have such as a jointer or smoother. Am I in the ball park here, or are they not worth messing with?

[Michael Schwartz]

I own a transitional block plane, and I have used a number of others and they can work nicely. Just make sure the wood body is in good shape, and from there you would pretty much treat them like you would any wood or iron bench plane. If the wood body is in bad condition I wouldn't mess with them.

They are quite fun to own and use, and are fine for rougher work. Worst case scenario you get one that doesn't work out for your needs throw it on a shelf in your living room.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Absolutely worth messing with. Before I got my 30" wooden jointer, my go to jointer was a 28" transitional. I love the wooden bodies because they are so much easier to tune than a metal plane. A little scraping with a card scraper on the sole if necessary, grind & hone and put it to work. None of this fussing with electrobaths and rust removers and lapping and filing. Just a light cleaning and put them back to work. Try them, I think you'll like them.

[Zach Dillinger]

My favorite jack plane (out of about 15 that I own) is a Union transitional jack. It was the second plane that I bought, right after a horrid Anant jack plane. I oiled the body, sharpened the iron, and put it to work. It takes excellent shavings, not smoother like, but then again I don't want it to do that.

So far it is the only transitional I have. I haven't yet found another in good condition with all the parts that I could afford (for some reason they are priced very high in my area).

Zach

[Richard Dooling]

Transitional planes can be great tools and are often easier to restore than metal bodies. Sometimes the sole just needs cleaning up. If it is twisted or bowed you can true up the body with other planes or on a power jointer. If you need the sides to be truly perpendicular to the sole – no big deal. This can make them nice shooting board planes though a lower angle block plane has advantages over that.

Remember though that if too much of the sole is removed the mouth may be more open than you want depending on how you plan on using the plane.

You can fix this by gluing a dense hardwood plate to the sole. Use a coping saw and rasps to open up a new mouth. Be careful not to increase the thickness of the sole too much or you will lose some of the effective length of the iron.

Another somewhat more involved approach is to chop out the area in front on the blade and make an adjustable mouth as is in the Primus smoother.

I have restored two transitional Sargents. The blades are surprisingly thick and both are proving to be very nice users. The 26” jointer is currently my go to plane for flattening my bench. (Where's my Aleve?) The jack may become a scrub since I can’t find a #40 for a price I like and I have two other #5s.

[Terry Beadle]

I have two transitional jack planes. One I use for a roughing plane and the other as a conventional jack. The conventional jack needed a new mouth. Instead of doing a mouth slip piece, I took 1/8th off the sole and then laminated a 5/16th's thick lignum viete sole to it and then machined/filed/chiseled a new mouth opening. It took just a couple hours work and it really works great. Even though I've set it up for a jack, it will take 2 thou shavings if asked.

The main thing is that the plane steel componets all need to work and if you re-sole one, be sure to identify the exact range of movement you can move the blade up and down. If your re-sole too thick, the blade will never extend...I guess you get the picture.

The transitional planes are really nice to use. They are lighter and as described above, they are really easy to tune with a card scraper. As a jack plane, they do not have to have extremely flat soles. I usually set mine to take a 4 to 6 thou shaving so as Christophere Schwartz says, look and the bottom once and then ignor it forever. ( Comment made on his video ).

They make an excellent scrub plane at a third of the steel plane price too.

I did see one some where, where a fellow replaced the whole wood body with purple heart. Turned out beautiful but I'll bet it took a lot of work as purple heart is a very hard wood when compared to the standard bodies which are out of birch ( I think ). In any case you can make one into whatever you want fairly easily as it is wood and not steel.

My 2c.

Enjoy!

[Richard Dooling]

I think the bodies are generally beech.?

[Richard Magbanua]

Thank you for the replies. I may pick one up the next time I see one. It seems the ones I have seen are in good shape and cost less than the iron ones. I am interested in taking one apart and making a jointer out of it.
I have been wondering if there would be a market for new transitional planes. Perhaps as a kit. Any thoughts?

[Dave Anderson NH]

Warning Richard. If you decide to make a new wooden body for the plane, be very careful in your wood selection. You want something that is stable with humidity changes and fully dry. Also extremely is important is that you prepare your stock so that it is quartersawn for maximum stability.

[Mike Henderson]

The problem I've had with transitional planes is that the sole is worn and the mouth is open too much. Also, it may just be me, but on many transitional planes, the metal part (and often the knob and tote) is not of as good quality as on Stanley Bailey planes. The iron is nothing special in the transitionals I've used.

I'd rather make a (new) full wooden plane with a good iron than use a transitional. The only thing the transitional offers is easier adjustment of the iron and lighter weight than an iron plane.

Mike