Plane definitions from my research ?

[harry strasil]

From the bit of research I have obtained from old books and technical manuals about hand planes.

BLOCK PLANE - This term was basically unknown until metal planes came into existance,and they were at first considered specialty planes for use by the cabinet maker.
Planes smaller than a conventional SMOOTH PLANE, were just refered to as SMALL SMOOTHERS.
I believe the term BLOCK PLANE comes from an old reference that stated that a Plane was just a Block with a Chisel inserted in it to control the depth of cut.

SMOOTH PLANE - The Smallest of the Planes, generally used for the final Smooth finish, and usually from 7 to 9 inches in length. Blade sharpened straight across with corners slightly rounded and normally set very fine for the thinnest shavings.

JACK PLANE - The most commonly used Plane, with the blade sharpened with a 1/16 or more camber to the blade for rough use and set Rank to remove lots of material quickly. Lengths were from 14 to 17 inches in length.

BENCH PLANE- A JACK PLANE with the blade sharpened straight across with the corners rounded usually set a little Rank and used for general work at the bench.

FORE PLANE - A later modification of a TRYING PLANE, with the blade sharpened with a 1/32 camber. Used after the JACK PLANE to smooth out the rougher surface left by the Jack and to remove some of the high spots when surfacing a board. Length was usually from 19 to 23 inches. I believe the name comes from the fact that it was used BEFORE the TRYING PLANE.

TRYING PLANE also TRUEING PLANE - A plane usually between 22 and 26 inches used mainly for the final leveling of a rough board to remove the grooves left from the previous Plane and to prepare the surface for the final smoothing with the SMOOTH PLANE. The name I believe comes from the fact that it was used for trying or trueing a surface.

PANEL PLANE - The longest of the hand planes, sharpened straight across with non rounded corners, used for shooting or trueing the edges of a Panel, and for preparing edges for glueing together. Usually set rather fine and from 28 inches to 36 inches in length.

JOINTER PLANE - A later name for a Panel plane and when made in iron greatly reduced in length.

(note) - COOPERS PLANE OR COOPERS JOINTER - Used by wet and dry Coopers to prepare the edges of barrel staves, is the forerunner of the modern day Electric powered Jointer.

Jr.

[Jerry Palmer]

Going back to 17th Century England, the "fore" plane as well as the "jointer" plane were in use under those names according to Moxon. He described the fore plane as being named such due to its use before the jointer. His description of the setup and use of the fore plane is like that of the modern "scrub", i.e. large mouth very cambered blade and used diagonally and perpendicular to the grain of the wood to remove large amounts of wood quickly to get it generally flat. He warned against too rank a cut because the ploughed grooves would need to be removed later with the jointer. The jointer was then used to remove the valleys left by the fore plane and was followed by the smooth plane to remove the less than smooth surface left by the jointer. This, of course, was in face planing, and the jointer, I would venture to say, was the last plane used on an edge that would be joined to another piece of "stuff" as, as he referred to the wood. The availability of wide planks from large nature grown trees minimized the need for glueing up panels except on rare occassions, so I don't believe he wrote much on edge jointing.

The "try" plane, I think is a later term in the cabinet field for a "fore" sized plane set up similar to a jointer and used in a similar manner on a smaller scale. Jointer planes of wood were often in excess of 3 feet in length, and would be overkill in shops working timbers under six feet or so.

I don't believe Moxon made mention of a Jack Plane which I think was something that came along later as a medium sized plane that could be used for several purposes, especially when metal planes came to be popular and one was often called upon to tote his tools on sight for cabinet and mill work. While three or four woodies would not add a lot of weight, three or four metal planes could add substantially to the weight of the mechanics tool kit.

One of the things that seems to cause some confusion, I think, in nomenclature as well as methods, is that the wood crafts of America derived from both England and the continent, and later from the far east as well. Over at WN we got involved in a long drawn out discussion with much anger at times over some of these same issues. What it really boiled down to was terminology and methods deriving from the different areas. Apparently there was a smaller plane in use, much the size of a smooth plane, that was set up as a scrub and used as such, while the longer Foreplane was the method of choice in England and the time. Both would get the job done, one using less applied force by the operator for each stroke, the other requiring more force, but taking advantage of it greater mass to be able to take bigger bites once it go going. In the end, the same amount of work was accomplished in probably the same amount of time. And this work was being accomplished by the some of the youngest apprentices in the shop who still had plenty of P & V.

[Joel Moskowitz]

A panel plane is an English term - really only referreing to infill planes of about 13-17" and is used for milling panels - not as accurate as a jointer - they are great for overall stock removal.

Another use of the phrase panel plane comes as a shorted term for one of the many purmuations of Panel raising plane. Which is a different animal altogether.

The term "block plane" shows up in the 1860 period and seems to be used interchangably with miter plane - both Wooden and metal. Later, as mitre planes got smaller the term was used to denote cast miniature miter planes (which is bascially what a stanley block plane is) and of course the wooden mitre plane became extinct and full size metal mitre planes retained the name mitre.
For more information the difinitive works on the subject is Whelan's The Wooden Plane. and Greber's the history of the plane (not sure about that title.

[harry strasil]

Yup, proves my point, make a post and information comes outa the woodwork so to speak. Thanks Jerry and Joel.

[Jerry Palmer]

Harry,
I really like your signature line. When ever I see posts on other woodworking forums about cordless drills, which ones to get, brands etc., I post pics of the only cordless ones I have, some egg beaters, push drills, and braces. Long as I'm eating regularly, those are always fully charged.

[harry strasil]

Armstrong powered LOL

[harry strasil]

Jerry, in reference to your post about plane weight, according to the book I have, wood planes were soaked in BLO till they would absorb no more to give them weight and to make them self lubricating, I have a couple that are quite heavy that way as they were taken care of well. Not light by any means and heavier than their iron conterparts.

[Jerry Palmer]

My woodies, other than my recently acquired molders, are all modern ones, a Knight smoother and a couple I've made, so that soaking in linseed oil is new to me. It does make sense on both the lubricating and the weight issues.

Probably known to most folks here, but this site http://www.wkfinetools.com/index.asp has pdf copies of a couple of quite good 19th Century texts. Much easier to read than Moxon, whose English is quite different than ours today.

[Ian Gillis]

I've thought about soaking a woodie that has some checks in it, but I'm reluctant to buy all that oil for just one plane. The procedure I read about called for stopping up the mouth of the plane with glazer's putty and immersing in BLO for several days. The mouth is sealed first so subsequent weeping of oil doesn't cause fouling/sticking or the iron and wedge. It is said to reverse/prevent checking as well as the other benefits already mentioned.

If I knew someone who was oiling a floor or a deck I'd "borrow" a couple of gallons to do a foreplane that could use it.

IG

[Joel Moskowitz]

I would disagree - all the wooden planes I have, seen, used are lighter by a lot than their metal counterparts.
Soaking in Linseed oil was done to stabilize the planes at the factory but I think that was a later "innovation" and according to C+W promotes rot.

Lightness on long planes especially is a real advantage and my main complaint about long metal planes is that for serious work they are just too fatiguing.

[Ken Werner]

Ian, I've BLO'ed a couple of old wooden planes by standing them up in a coffee can with just a few inches of BLO in it. This seemed to work well, and did help the checks. It's an easy and economical way to do it, and I think I stored the BLO and used it on something else afterwards.
Good luck,
Ken

[harry strasil]

One of my old books says to seal the bottom where the blade sticks out with putty and then keep filling the cavity till it quits absorbing the oil.