Source for high-angle toothing plane?

[Patrick Chase]

After Stewie's gentle prompting in another thread, I've gone off and read everything I could find on the topic, and realized that my exposure to toothing planes is grossly incomplete, limited as it is to toothed blades for low-angle BU planes. I'm therefore interested in acquiring a high-angle (80+ deg) toothing plane. There seem to be a fair number that look like reasonable candidates on EBay, though I have very little knowledge of the makers and planes in this category.

I don't have a hard-and-fast price limit - if somebody has something new or even custom on offer I would consider it.

Any suggestions or pointers on what to look for on EBay?

Thanks in advance!

[Christopher Charles]

Hello Patrick,

I cast about for a bit in the same manner. I ended up with a LV large scraping plane with a (fine) toothed blade, in part because I got a deal on the scraper plane and had a need for it as well as the desire for a toothed plan. Works great, very easy to adjust both angle and depth. But perhaps overkill here.

Best,
Chris

[Warren Mickley]

Years ago Woodcraft and I think Garret Wade carried the Ulmia toothing plane. With things like this after a while everyone who wants one has one and they get dropped from catalogs. I found the same plane (ECE) on the Dictum site for 70 Euros. 75 degrees, 48 mm wide. In Germany it is called Zahnhobel.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Patrick

Why not just add a 75 degree microbevel to your current BU toothing blade. That will create an 87 degree scraping angle (on your 12 degree bed). How is that different from a vertical blade at 87 degrees?

I suspect the very high angles were only used for toothing veneer, while the current offerings by LN and LV, with their lower cutting angles, are intended for preparing interlocked surfaces.

Regards from Cornwall

Derek

[Mike Brady]

I'll second what Derek said. I use toothing irons in both a low angle jack and a 5-1/2 bench plane. I have never found a need for using my 50 degree frog, but I am planing only hardwood boards, not prepping for veneering. I have no experience with the tooth blade in my scraper, but I would probably go that way if doing more veneering. Both Lie-Nielsen and Veritas have good offerings in toothed blade applications. . By the way, I use toothed irons in applications where I need to reduce thickness or joint boards that are particularly prone to tear-out. I also really like the toothed texture on my bench top, so I level my bench with one of those irons in the plane.

[Patrick Chase]

Hi Patrick

Why not just add a 75 degree microbevel to your current BU toothing blade. That will create an 87 degree scraping angle (on your 12 degree bed). How is that different from a vertical blade at 87 degrees?

Derek

The obvious difference is that the toothing is on the wrong side. True toothing planes are universally bevel-down. I don't know from experience much that matters, though Stewie and a few other sources suggest quite a bit.

[Steve Voigt]

Josh Clark (hyperkitten) has one for sale right now…saw it last night as I was snagging a nice incannel gouge.

[Patrick Chase]

Years ago Woodcraft and I think Garret Wade carried the Ulmia toothing plane. With things like this after a while everyone who wants one has one and they get dropped from catalogs. I found the same plane (ECE) on the Dictum site for 70 Euros. 75 degrees, 48 mm wide. In Germany it is called Zahnhobel.

Thanks!

The current ECE and Ulmia offerings appear slightly different, maybe different versions of the plane over time. The Ulmia is spec'ed as having a 75 deg blade while the ECE is called out at 65-70 deg on different sites. There's also some difference in pictures of the rear grip area below the blade.

EDIT: Dictum and thebestthings call the ECE out as 70 deg, Highland calls it out at 65 (which is lower than I want). Ulmia's site calls theirs out as 75.

[Allan Speers]

Patrick, for that high of an angle, you might consider the LV scraper plane. You can buy an optional toothing blade for it. I have this combo and like it a LOT, especially for pre-treatng knots an such.

I really like the size & heft of the thing. It's wide, stable, and heavy, which is a very good thing for such tasks.

Oddly, I've almost never used it as a scraper plane! - but the one time I needed it (scraping a huge table) I found the little wheel that lets you bow the blade indespensible.

[Patrick Chase]

Patrick, for that high of an angle, you might consider the LV scraper plane. You can buy an optional toothing blade for it. I have this combo and like it a LOT, especially for pre-treatng knots an such.

I really like the size & heft of the thing. It's wide, stable, and heavy, which is a very good thing for such tasks.

Oddly, I've almost never used it as a scraper plane! - but the one time I needed it (scraping a huge table) I found the little wheel that lets you bow the blade indespensible.

I have the LV large scraping plane but not the toothed blade for it. I intentionally didn't bring it up when I created this thread because I wanted to see unbiased opinions. The LV scraper's minimum cutting angle is about 90 degrees, which is on the high end of the range for toothing planes (though I think Stewie's designs are close to 90).

As you note the camber adjustment is a nice productivity aid, compared to filing/stoning a camber onto the blade before turning the hook. I've always wondered why Stanley included that adjustment in the #80 but not the #12 or #112.

[Stewie Simpson]

Of the near dozen toothing planes I have made over time I have kept 3 for my own personal use. Each are fitted with the same type of fine tooth comb.

Front to back; bed angles are 85*65* & 55*.




Each have been fitted with a brass sole.


The finely toothed surface after tear out was removed on a scrap piece of Merbau.



Stewie;

[Jim Belair]

Josh Clark (hyperkitten) has one for sale right now…saw it last night as I was snagging a nice incannel gouge.

I bought mine from Josh.

[Patrick Chase]

Of the near dozen toothing planes I have made over time I have kept 3 for my own personal use. Each are fitted with the same type of fine tooth comb.

Front to back; bed angles are 85*65* & 55*.

[snip]

Each have been fitted with a brass sole.

[snip]

Stewie;

Thank you! Most dedicated toothers that I've been able to find or read about fall within the range of your trio. English designs seem to run high, continental ones a bit lower.

Out of curiosity do you recall the angle on the one that was reviewed on the UK forum? (you posted the link a while back).

[Stewie Simpson]

Patrick. From memory the toothing plane I supplied Jim in the U.K. was 87*.

Stewie;

[Allan Speers]

Stewie, those Nordic-looking planes are sweet !

Who makes the blades?