L-n 10 1/4

[Larry Rose]

Has anyone got a L-N 10 1/4 Bench Rabbit plane and are they useful in furniture work? I've got several other L-Ns and was wondering about one of these. Yeah Yeah, I know, I've got it bad.

[Mark Stutz]

Larry,
It's probably not one of those planes you have to have, but like all LN, it is nice. I use it to make the long grain sides of raised panels for doors. Probably could be done with a series of othe planes, but I can use the entire width of the plane to get a nice flat taper.

Mark

[Jerry Thompson]

Could the plane be used on the end grain of panels also?

[Mark Stutz]

Jerry,
I tried it, and as expected, does not leave a great surface. Skewed planes are really preferable for end grain work, and leave a surface that I find acceptable without sandpaper, at least on mahofgany and cherry.

Mark

[Pam Niedermayer]

Mark, did you try skewing the whole plane?

Pam

[Mark Stutz]

Pam,
I probably should have been clearer. If it's a simple raised panel, should work fine, but I was doing a fielded raised panel, so you can't skew the entire plane.

[Verne Mattson]

I've used my 10 1/4 to trim shoulders on large tenons - with a sharp iron it worked well.

I've also used it to smooth tapers. With the open sides, you can easily see the start of your taper point. I've haven't used it for end grain on raised panels. I've got a LN 140 for that.

[Rob Luter]

Mark - Tell me about the hold down shown in the picture above. Is it a home brewed solution or something you bought?

- Rob

[Mark Stutz]

Rob,
The bench in that picture is an entry Sjoberg...the kind that you can walk across the room with a hand plane! The hold down came with the bench...maybe the best part of it! The were two holes in the benchtop, 1 1/2 inches IIRC, that had metal sleeves in them. This actually worked quite well.

Mark