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Recent Bios FAQ

268006 "Adam R. Maxwell via OldTools" <oldtools@s...> 2019‑02‑22 Re: Odd wooden mitre plane issue
I'm not sure how many bona fide manufacturers made wooden mitre planes, since
the low angles don't work that well in wood. I have an oddball one with a single
iron, and a huge inclusion/knot on it; I suspect it's birch, but it's certainly
not beech. I tell myself it's maybe a rare and valuable 18th c. yellow birch
plane, but more likely just something a guy made out of the firewood pile. It
doesn't work very well, but it's a really neat oddity, and I'll be holding on to
it.


-- adam

On Feb 22, 2019, at 10:34 AM, Claudio DeLorenzi  wrote:


With these finds, is it possible that the manufacturer had 'factory seconds' ?
Usually the trademark is removed from any second quality products though.
Claudio


On Thu, Feb 21, 2019, 4:06 PM Kirk Eppler  wrote:

On Mon, Feb 18, 2019 at 9:52 PM Adam R. Maxwell  wrote:

Could the maker have miscalculated when boring a hole for the bed? That's
my first thought. I guess you could hold another tool in there, but that
seems odd.

>
>
Hey gang

Had a few minutes in the shop last night, took a few more pics, and did
some measuring.

Answering a few of the questions, in no particular order.

The "slot" tapers over its length, getting shallower near the top of the
plane. It is very straight, as seen in this picture, and I don't thing a
bug would have been eating that straight.  You can barely see a bit of a
line on the left cheek where the mouth was cut deeper (forgot to measure
this removal).  This implies that maybe the original creator misdrilled the
hole, both in location and in angle.  Or someone thought about changing it
from miter pitch to  closer to regular pitch, and then changed their mind
and stopped.

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Woodworking-Tools/i-4gDh6WM

The included shim tapers over its length, from about 5/32 at the bottom to
about 5/64 at the top. I wonder if this was an attempt to allow the use of
a non tapered iron, after the cutting?

I put a Hock 3/32" thick iron in it, and it left a 3/16" mouth opening, but
the wedge didn't really tighten down satisfactorily with a normal tap.
Since it was beyond the normal wear marks on the wedge, I was concerned.
So I grabbed a 1/16" Stanley iron, and with both of them, the wedge sat in
a more comfortable spot, and locked down on the irons.

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Woodworking-Tools/i-FXmCX3K
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Woodworking-Tools/i-RfMgrh5
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Woodworking-Tools/i-LvJ94p8

This tells me I need to find a honking thick iron, or tapered iron, or
really remake the shim before I glue it in again.  I forgot to measure the
radius of the slot, but am thinking of gluing a dowel in place, then
shaving it down with a chisel and float.

I never got around to testing my gouge theory, it was a bit chilly to be in
the shop without socks, by my wimpy SF standards.

Since the Hock iron looks a bit out of place, I will dig around in the
stash to see if I have any other 1-3/4" irons before I take my next steps.
So far I have found a stack of 2" and bigger irons, and some 1-1/2" and
smaller, but only the two 1-3/4" ones shown.

Appreciate the input so far, always listening for more.


--
Kirk Eppler, dealing with a few iron problems today in HMB, CA
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