Rootling in a junk shop.

[Lurker]

I found this….
No blade and not something that I will ever likely use, but at two quid I couldn’t resist.
Interesting vendor

 

[AndyT]

Nice. A compassed coach maker's tee rebate plane, I think.

According to BPM, Mrs Ann Moon was at Little Queen St, Lincoln's Inn Fields, from 1831 to 1851.

I expect you could find an iron for it, if you ever need to cut curved rebates to fit the doors of a fancy carriage...

 

[Lurker]

Thanks

I might make a blade from the countless ones I have stashed away.
I just have to determine the shape.

Need to add a fancy carriage to my to do list now :shock:

 

[Lurker]

Could a mod remove the duplicate photo please?

 

[Mike G]

Well, your location makes the decision a little easier: boat builder's compass plane, or carriage makers compass plane? Loughborough is almost as far from the sea as you can get in Britain. The very easiest way of coming to the right decision, though, is to leave it to Andy........

 

[Lurker]

Well, your location makes the decision a little easier: boat builder's compass plane, or carriage makers compass plane? Loughborough is almost as far from the sea as you can get in Britain. The very easiest way of coming to the right decision, though, is to leave it to Andy........

Except I found it in a junk shop just north of Woodbridge in Suffolk
Us yokels are allowed out now and again y’ know.

It’s little more than palm sized and I thought when I picked it up it might be box wood. So I’m pretty sure Andy is spot on.

 

[AndyT]

This is just a common straight one, but the metalwork would be similar on yours.

 

[Mike G]

Well, your location makes the decision a little easier: boat builder's compass plane, or carriage makers compass plane? Loughborough is almost as far from the sea as you can get in Britain. The very easiest way of coming to the right decision, though, is to leave it to Andy........

Except I found it in a junk shop just north of Woodbridge in Suffolk
Us yokels are allowed out now and again y’ know.

It’s little more than palm sized and I thought when I picked it up it might be box wood. So I’m pretty sure Andy is spot on.

:eusa-hand: Bloody hell, Jim. You've got so close but didn't drop in for a cup of tea and a walk around the workshop.

 

[9fingers]

Could a mod remove the duplicate photo please?

Dun

Bob

 

[Doug]

Except I found it in a junk shop just north of Woodbridge in Suffolk

Nice find Jim, surprised you didn’t get a nose bleed going that far south :lol:

 

[Lurker]

Except I found it in a junk shop just north of Woodbridge in Suffolk

Nice find Jim, surprised you didn’t get a nose bleed going that far south :lol:

Not too bad Doug, you just have to make allowances for the southerners

 

[Lurker]

Could a mod remove the duplicate photo please?

Dun

Bob

:text-thankyouyellow:

 

[Lurker]

Thanks for the photo Andy, I know how to shape the blade now.

 

[AJB Temple]

That's really interesting and has triggered a memory. My brother and I have a couple of packing cases full of these planes, including some curved sole ones, convex and slightly concave, residing in his garage. Dozens of them each wrapped in waxed engineering paper. Unused in our lifetime. They are almost all stamped with the surname name of my maternal grandfather (which is also my brother's first name so I regard them as my brother's), but they can't have been our grandfather's as he was not a carpenter or joiner at any time in his life so far as I know and our recentish family roots are farming. He was one of several brothers, mostly killed in the Great War, but we don't have any information on them. I had assumed that the curved sole ones must be something to do with either making barrels or wheel rims. My brother thinks they may have had something to with canal boat building in the Midlands, but they all had metal hulls I think so it is doubtful.

 

[AndyT]

Curved planes are many and various. The curve can be along the sole (hollow or round).
The curve can be end to end, called "compassed." That curve will almost always be convex, to work a concave curve. (A convex curve can generally be shaped without special tools.)

And there can also be a curve on plan.

Those three curves can of course be combined in any way.

What were they for?

In joinery, for any sort of curved work, such as arch or round headed doors and windows.

In really fancy work, a curved headed door or window could be curved on plan as well. Think of an entrance to a bank or hotel, set on a corner.

The curves might be plain (eg for a glazing rebate) or moulded (to decorate a panel or an edge).

So it's no surprise that such planes were often made or modified by the user, for a specific job.

Other trades which needed planes for curves included makers of carriages of all sorts; cabinet makers; clock case makers; musical instrument makers and pattern makers.

I challenge anyone to come up with a complete, representative collection!

Fortunately, they are fairly easy to find and are a good reminder of past skills.