Plough plane shopping

[Andrae Covington]

I have a Marples M44, which is essentially the same as a Record 044, which is similar to the Stanley 50. It was a good ebay deal for a plane which is fairly rare this side of the pond and had only been lightly used. The Records show up more often, and the Stanleys. If you have large hands (which I do not), you may not like this size, as the tote is small and it can be difficult to find a comfortable place for your left hand to rest.

m44-plough.jpgmarplesm44-groove.jpg

[Mike Cherry]

I do have hands that are rather larger than normal it seems, but that looks like a great plough! Lowell, I too have been getting the same errors this morning. I'm honestly leaning towards the Veritas plough with just the 1/4" bit for now. No money left over for beer though sadly lol

[Mike Cherry]

Yea, I figured what with the free shipping through Lee Valley right now... I did it... Actually I might need a beer or three lol. There goes my tool fund I been putting aside for a rainy day lol. Thanks everyone for your input on this!

[John Powers]

I think the 45 and 50 advice is very bad and appears way too often. mine is a boat anchor. you want to cut a groove or putz with a tool.

[Bill Houghton]

If you're going to buy a 45 (or, probably a 50), you want it straight. Look up "Stanley 45 instruction manual" to get an idea of the parts involved; this explanation will make sense after you read it.

The skate on both the body and the moving section (particularly the sliding section) depend on the casting right at the mouth to be unbent. The sliding section, particularly, can get bent easily, and the plane's nearly worthless then. I've still got the sliding section from an early 45 acquisition that's bent both vertically and horizontally; it's useless, so I don't know why I'm keeping it. If you don't get a trustworthy answer to your question about straightness from an online seller, don't buy the plane. And if you're looking at one in the flesh, take a 12" ruler that you trust for straight and check everything.

[Jim Koepke]

I think the 45 and 50 advice is very bad and appears way too often. mine is a boat anchor. you want to cut a groove or putz with a tool.

As long as they are viable options they will be mentioned whenever someone asks about plow planes. Just like wooden bodied plow plane with multiple blades. They can be a pain to get to work properly. Once one learns to set them up properly, they are an acceptable tool.

It isn't hard to see why some have a hard time with the early combination planes. They often seem to be designed by Rube Goldberg.

If you want something really bizarre, look up the Stanley 55. As much as some people hate it, it is still able to do some interesting things.

If one is going to purchase old cars, old tools or just about any old mechanical device with more than one part, one may need to be able to trouble shoot the device to make it work optimally.

The planes with multiple blades or functions can be great additions to a shop. They can also be a great pain in the back side if they do not work well and the user hasn't the foggiest idea of what is wrong.

If you're going to buy a 45 (or, probably a 50), you want it straight. Look up "Stanley 45 instruction manual" to get an idea of the parts involved; this explanation will make sense after you read it.

The skate on both the body and the moving section (particularly the sliding section) depend on the casting right at the mouth to be unbent. The sliding section, particularly, can get bent easily, and the plane's nearly worthless then. I've still got the sliding section from an early 45 acquisition that's bent both vertically and horizontally; it's useless, so I don't know why I'm keeping it. If you don't get a trustworthy answer to your question about straightness from an online seller, don't buy the plane. And if you're looking at one in the flesh, take a 12" ruler that you trust for straight and check everything.

There are many steps and checks involved in setting up a combination plane. Some are more involved than others.

Bill offers some good advice.

For setting the plane up it is important to have the skates 'hidden' by the blade. If the sliding section sits so it hides the edge of the blade, it will not work. If the sliding section isn't parallel to the fixed skate, there will be problems. If the fence isn't parallel to both skates, there will be problems. Sometimes it is necessary to shim the rosewood fence into compliance.

It is easy to make a simple set of gauge blocks from a hard wood. Mine are about 6" long. One is 3/4" X 3/8" another is 1/2" X 1". These come in handy for many tasks including with a plow plane for setting the fence and making sure it is parallel. There are also wooden gauge strips of other thicknesses in my shop. It has to be remembered the blade is a bit proud of the sliding skate so the gauge either has to have a notch for this or the gauge has to be used in front then in back of the blade.

As it seems is always the case when using a plane, a sharp blade can be the difference between sweet and sweat.

jtk

[Mike Cherry]

Thanks Bill, if I ever look at a vintage plough I'll know what to look for. Cheers!

[Robert Harrison]

I use a Stanley 50, a Record 044, and a Record 043. A set of cutting irons came with the Record 044 that are interchangeable across all three. Positive screw depth adjustment in the Record 044, but then the upside to the Record 043 is that it is useful for very small drawers. The upside of the Stanley 50 is using beading cutters, one of which I made myself from an old plane blade. The most used size of plow cutters for me is 1/4 inch, followed by 5/16 inch. Without hesitation, I would say that these are some of my favorite hand tools, based on the way they work. The only thing I don't like about these three tools? The chrome finish flaking off. I wish that the manufacturers had finished them in a different way when originally made.

[Richard Hutchings]

I mentioned I have a wooden molding plane for cutting drawer grooves. The beauty lies in the setup. It's always setup perfect and waiting. I might change the fence and blade width in the future but once I'm happy with it, I don't expect do anything other than grab it off the shelf and use it. I may find it's perfect just the way it is but I haven't had a chance to make any drawers since I got it and my arm will be in a sling for about 3 months. In the mean time, I'm going to keep looking for more of these in different sizes. I love the one I got.

[Daniel Rode]

I've been "shopping" for a plow plane for the last year or so. I saw many #45s and #50s and similar for sale but many are incomplete and/or fairly rusty. They can be very complex planes, so evaluating them was tough for me. Anything nice was $250 and up anything in the $100-$125 range was suspect or obviously problematic.

Since All I really want to do is make drawer bottom grooves and the like, I even searched for orphaned t&g groove planes, weatherstrip planes and so forth. No luck. Today I gave up on searching the auction site. I bought a Record 043 in really nice condition from a dealer. It's complete and should excel at the one thing I want it to do, make small grooves without using my electric router.

[Tom M King]

I have a couple of 55s that I use. I'm pretty sure I paid less than a hundred bucks a piece for each. They work fine as plow planes. I bought an 044C new, but the depth adjustment is terrible. I do like the Record cutters though, and they are interchangeable from the 45 through 55s. My favorite plows are the dedicated size wooden ones with the metal skate. I have a few of them that I bought off ebay for less than 20 bucks that work great, but so far haven't gotten around to modifying a cutter width for drawer bottoms. The 55s also get used when I don't have exactly the right molding plane to match something. The old ones work just as well as any, if you can sharpen something. The 55 in this picture doesn't even have any nickel plating left on it, but still works fine.

Here's my favorite kind, but I haven't spent any time looking for them lately. This one is about my speed. If I didn't already have one this size, I'd probably buy it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-7-8-...16.m2516.l5255

[Daniel Rode]

Tom,

That's exactly what I'd been looking for. I was hoping to find a somewhat rarer 3/4" but I think this could be modified to cut a 1/4" groove.

I guess I was searching for the wrong thing. I didn't find one that nice in a year of looking Even if I would have spotted one, I wouldn't know how to tell good from bad. But for $20, I'd have risked it.

Now that I have the 043 on the way, I don't really need one.