Wood handplane finish

[Richard Dooling]

Anyone know what finish was traditional for wood handplanes? BLO maybe?

[Robert Rozaieski]

Traditionally I don't think they would have had any finish at all. Most I have don't show evidence of ever having been finished. The oils from your hands will give the wood a nice patina with time and use. I usually use BLO on mine after cleaning but it's probably not necessary.

[Richard Dooling]

Ok, thanks.

I've been using Danish oil just to help keep them clean.

[Mark Seay]

At our local Woodcraft store they offer a class for building a Krenov style hand plane and we used the Beall Buffing system which uses three different waxes with the final wax being carnuba. It gave it a beautiful sheen and made the sole very slick and has held up nicely so far.

[David Keller NC]

For American planes and most British planes, Robert's correct - there wasn't any finish. During the middle to late 19th centuries, some of the bigger British firms offered French Polish on some types of planes as an extra-cost option. Typically, these were the more expensive joinery planes, like chamfer, plow and fillister planes. Many of these planes retain some or all of this finish because they weren't used all that much.

George Wilson noted that at Colonial Williamsburg, they used a soaking tung oil finish rather than BLO because BLO allowed mold growth, while tung oil did not.

As an aside, Clark and Williams (a modern manufacturer of traditional wooden planes) uses a wiping varnish for their planes. I've one of them, and can verify that the finish is fairly tough and wear resistant, and will slow down rapid moisture content changes in the wooden stock.

[Ben Davis]

For American planes and most British planes, Robert's correct - there wasn't any finish. During the middle to late 19th centuries, some of the bigger British firms offered French Polish on some types of planes as an extra-cost option. Typically, these were the more expensive joinery planes, like chamfer, plow and fillister planes. Many of these planes retain some or all of this finish because they weren't used all that much.

George Wilson noted that at Colonial Williamsburg, they used a soaking tung oil finish rather than BLO because BLO allowed mold growth, while tung oil did not.

As an aside, Clark and Williams (a modern manufacturer of traditional wooden planes) uses a wiping varnish for their planes. I've one of them, and can verify that the finish is fairly tough and wear resistant, and will slow down rapid moisture content changes in the wooden stock.

Interesting pieces of history David. I too was under the impression that the "classic" finishing for most wooden hand planes was... nothing. I suppose more correctly it was a very slowly and incrementally applied finish of hand oil.

[george wilson]

I have written before that a good thing to do is: Clamp the plane's sole down on a flat,or slightly upwardly bowed piece of wood. The iron and wedge are not in the plane. Stop off the mouth of the plane with good fresh window putty,maybe the lowest 3/8",or 1/2" of the plane's mouth. This is one of the few ways to keep oil from excessively bleeding out through the plane's mouth,and leaking away. Fill the mouth with raw linseed oil,not boiled.You need the oil to dry slowly.Or,you could use tung oil,I suppose.I never used tung oil,as this was before I discovered the mold resistance of tung oil. I always used raw linseed oil. As the oil level in the throat of the plane goes down,replenish it right up to the top.Long planes can take several throats full,but the oil will bleed completely from one end of the plane to the other,even on jointers. This impregnates the plane with oil that will slowly harden,making the plane moisture proof,and self lubricating. I did it to all my wooden planes.Works great.Adds some heft,too. Wipe any excess oil off the surfaces of the plane after it is saturated with oil.

I got this trick from a very old English cabinet maker in the early 70's.

I think the old British planes got that thick,dark brown patina that you see on many of them from wiping tallow on them.I have seen this thick finish on many different wooden tools and wooden machines,like treadle lathes,even on a very large horse driven butter churn in a museum in London. It was real thick on the churn,and upon the big wooden gears some feet away from the churn.The churn was a wooden keg of about 40 gallon size. A large overhead wooden gear was about 10' in diameter. The horse walked in circles under it. Over the years,the tallow hardened,probably aided in its buildup by wood or other dust,dirty hands,etc. I can tell you that it is not resistant to water at all,though.It will wash right off if gotten wet.I found that out once many years ago when I had to drill some holes outside with a beechwood brace,and got caught in the rain. For this reason,I am sure it is not linseed oil,which would be much more water proof.

[Mark Koury]

George,

A fascinating technique! Certainly new to me.

What time-frame are you dealing with here? How long would say a 12 inch plane take to be saturated? How do you know when “it’s done?” Does it have to be renewed during the life of the plane?

Thanks for your participation on this board! You add a lot.

[george wilson]

Mark,maybe 2 or 3 days.Depends upon how dense the wood is.Once the oil bleeds out of the ends,it is done,and it hardens,so no more oil will ever be absorbed.

[Zahid Naqvi]

George, obviously this techniques has been tried and tested. But does it impact the ability of the wedge to grab the plane body. If the oil saturates all the wood I would presume it makes the surface "slick". Wouldn't that make for a slippery wedge. Just curious.

[David Keller NC]

Zahid - I can comment on this technique. I had a set of American molding planes that had been treated with raw linseed oil about 15 years ago. Generally speaking, the wedges would still hold because they held more through mechanical advantage than rough surfaces.

That said, though, 15 years later the planes were still bleeding linseed oil whenever it got above 70 degrees in the shop. That meant that they were always greasy and bit unpleasant to use.

The upside is exactly what George suggests - they're self lubricating.

However, to my taste I'd rather have the plane not grease up my hands, so I don't apply any finish to the wooden planes I have in use in the shop. Instead, I use a "plane wick" - which is basically a shop-made wooden tray with a beeswax insert. One simply drags the plane backwards over this wick every few strokes, and it's quite effective at lubing the soles of bench planes.

For molding planes, I use a cone of beeswax - the point makes it easy to get into the recesses of a quirked profile.

[george wilson]

I have never had my planes leak oil all the time like that,David!! Maybe it's because I always work in an air conditioned and heated shop,but I've never had that problem.

I'll have to take your word for it.I'm wondering how linseed oil could stay liquid for 15 years.

Zahid,I never had trouble with the wedge slipping,and I still have the treated planes in my shop. Maybe I should leave a few outdoors on a warm day and see if they start leaking oil.

David,is it possible that your oil was defective? Did you by any chance use EDIBLE linseed oil? It doesn't dry unless you heat it up to simmering for about a half hour to start the polymerizing process.The old cabinetmaker I got this from never had any such trouble either. I would HATE to always be getting linseed oil on my hands. I don't like the smell of old linseed oil.

Here's a strange story: My wife told me she missed the smell that I had when I was musical instrument maker,and became toolmaker. Some time later,I was using linseed oil in the shop,and she was excited that I had that smell again. It was linseed oil!! When she was a little girl,she would get into her grandmother's closet,and set up a little desk,and pretend it was an office.The closet smelled of linseed oil.She liked the smell I did my best to wash off my hands!!

[Richard Dooling]

An associated question about lubricating plane soles. Am I right in assuming this is done in the earlier stage, before final smoothing?

Wouldn’t the oil/bees wax/paraffin used to lube a sole interfere with glue and stains?

[george wilson]

I wouldn't advise use of any waxes,Richard,for surfaces you are gluing,but the dry oil did not actively get on wood I was planing and cause problems.

[Richard Dooling]

As always, thanks George.

I take back my endorsement for the idea of you putting together a book on your remarkable accomplishments - that would leave you less time to answer our questions!

Thanks