Tom, you're assuming that rubber plane wasn't a proper name for a
smoothing plane at the time, in that area. As we all know (and as I
said), local tool names can be quite eccentric. Perhaps the person who
put the list together knew it as a rubber plane. The rubbers John cites
appear to be used to smooth surfaces, so a rubber plane would be used to
smooth plane surfaces. Hard to say. Not certain, of course. Just a
helpful guess.

I've never seen one a vintage example of those Japanese jobbies. Doesn't
mean they don't exist, but I've never seen one. And I have a hard time
believing that a rasp would be called a plane.

I almost included a question asking if anyone on the List speaks French,
as this smacks of an English-ization of a French word for a tool, but I
don't know what that French word would be. But I deleted it after a
brief investigation, not finding any connection between France and Fort
Vancouver. Thank you for the information regarding the background of the
carpenters. Surely this will help.
--
Zachary Dillinger The Eaton County Joinery www.theeatoncountyjoinery.com
517-231-3374

On Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 1:40 PM, Tom Holloway  wrote:
> Thanks to all who have ventured their thoughts and info on this
> matter. To me, the logic of the citations John came up with calls to
> mind the Stanley "Sure-Form" rasp, or one of those Japanese jobbies
> that look like several hacksaw blades toothed on both sides and
> riveted together like a grid of diamond-shaped spaces. Or maybe even a
> wood rasp as we know it. Arguing against "another name for a smoothing
> plane" is that surely whoever put the original list together would
> know the proper name, and not invent a new name that none of us can
> now connect with a common smoothing plane. FWIW, I never supposed
> "rubber plane" had anything to with the *substance* we know as rubber,
> vulcanized or not. I have thought along the lines of the action of
> rubbing. But I still don't know why a plane would be called a "rubber
> plane." Would it help if I mentioned that most of the carpenters on
> the payroll of Hudson's Bay Co., which operated Fort Vancouver, were
> of French Canadian origin? Could something have been lost in
> translation between a list provided by a semi-literate French-speaking
> carpenter and the English clerk who was compiling the inventory of the
> shop? Still a puzzlement. Tom H.
>
>
> On Aug 10, 2012, at 7:30 AM, Zachary Dillinger
>  wrote:
>> So, following the logic of the information posted by John, perhaps
>> the rubber plane is a smooth plane. The inventory doesn't have one,
>> unless 1 hand plane is a smooth plane per Tom's assumption.
>> --
>> Zachary Dillinger The Eaton County Joinery
>> www.theeatoncountyjoinery.com 517-231-3374
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 10:09 AM, John L  wrote:
>>> Interestingly, the OED cites a number of potential "rubber" tools
>>> for the plasterer, stone mason and metalsmith. Not sure which of the
>>> following if any apply to your inventory, but it might give you some
>>> leads to pursue. JL
>>>
>>>
>>> A metal or stone implement used for rubbing, esp. in order to smooth
>>> or flatten a surface. Now chiefly hist.
>>>
>>> 1794 D. Steel Elements Rigging & Seamanship 88 Rubber, a small iron
>>> instrument, in a wooden handle, to rub down or flatten the seams.
>>> 1835 J. Holman Voy. round World III. xiv. 422 The plaster
>>> is..smoothed with a rubber, until it acquires an even surface. 1850
>>> C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. III. 1089 The Rubber used by
>>> Masons and Statuaries is frequently a slab of grit stone, to which a
>>> handle is attached by means of an iron strap. 1875 E. H. Knight
>>> Pract. Dict. Mech. 1997/1 In the moldings of stone, an iron rubber
>>> mounted on a wooden stock is employed for fillets, beads, and
>>> astragals. 1933 S. Casson Technique Early Greek Sculpt. i. i. 36 The
>>> hard stones are worked with abrasive rubbers for the general
>>> surfaces and outlines. 2008 V. E. Szabo Monstrous Fishes & Mead-dark
>>> Sea v. 152 The most common objects found on early sites
>>> include..maintenance implements including combs, smoothers, rubbers.
>>>
>>>
>>> A pad or roll of soft material used for rubbing and polishing, spec.
>>> a piece of wadding wrapped in a cloth and used in the application of
>>> French polish.
>>>
>>> 1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 801 The polishing rubbers [for marble] are
>>> coarse linen cloths, or bagging, wedged tight into an iron
>>> planing tool.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> A large, coarse file, esp. one used for metalwork. In later use
>>> chiefly more fully rubber file.
>>>
>>> 1678 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. i. 14 The Rough or Course Tooth'd
>>> File (which if it be large is called a Rubber). 1771 Invoice 3 Dec.
>>> in G. Washington Papers (1993) VIII. 558, 4 Smiths Rubber Files.
>>> 1837 J. Bennett in N. Whittock et al. Compl. Bk. Trades 225 The very
>>> heavy files, such as smiths' rubbers, are made of the inferior marks
>>> of blistered steel. 1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II.
>>> 825 Rubbers..measure from 12 to 18 inches long,..and are made very
>>> convex. 1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 1997/2 Rubber-file, a
>>> heavy, fish-bellied file, designated by weight, which varies from
>>> four to fifteen pounds. 1905 Dental Cosmos 47 1001/1 With a rubber
>>> file or any flat rough file, file the solder away outside the pins.
>>> 1916 Proc. National Acad. Sci. 2 128 The tools required in
>>> metallurgy, as those for..shaping=97hammer, file, rubbers,
>>> polishers. 2000 Modelling & Painting Figures 22 (caption) Begin the
>>> sanding with a rubber file.
>
>
>
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