Tool Surprise

[Richard Gillespie]

My son and daughter-in-law surprised me with a gift of a matched set of wooden 1/2" tongue and groove planes in mint condition. I am much more familiar with cast iron planes than wooden. Would the intent of these planes be for thinner panels?

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Richard, tongue and groove planes are made to join boards (like flooring or beadboard) of a specific thickness, 3/4" and 1" are common. There's usually a fence that registers against one face of the board and that's why they will only work well on one thickness.

[Scott Quesnelle]

Richard,

Nice gift. What you have is the perfect tool for doing wainscotting or putting together a tongue and groove backing to a bookshelf.

The 1/2" specifies the thickness of material that it is meant to put the tongue and groove. This will allow it to be centred in the material.

Two things to remember with T&G planes.

1)Always pick either the face side or the back side to register the fence on. This need to be consistent for ALL pieces that will join together otherwise some will sit higher than others or not fit together properly.

2) You can use a plane meant for thinner material in thicker material. Just work from the backside. This will mean the groove is set deeper into the material. This was done for some flooring to allow for more material above the groove, this allowed more wear on the floor before the tongue was exposed.

So sharpen them up, wax the soles with a bit of parrafin, and you are in business.

Scott Quesnelle

[Wendell Wilkerson]

My son and daughter-in-law surprised me with a gift of a matched set of wooden 1/2" tongue and groove planes in mint condition. I am much more familiar with cast iron planes than wooden. Would the intent of these planes be for thinner panels?

Out of curiosity, are these antique planes or modern maker planes?

Wendell

[Richard Gillespie]

Out of curiosity, are these antique planes or modern maker planes?

Wendell

They are antiques. My son works in historic house restoration/preservation and the man he works for has an extensive wooden hand plane collection. I haven't asked but I think these planes came out of that collection.

Thanks for all the input guys.

Rick