scrub plane

UPDATE: BOTH OF THESE PLANES SOLD…THERE WILL BE MORE FROM TIME TO TIME. THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST.

FOLLANSBEE

Last June I stopped in Baltimore to visit with Jennie Alexander. We talked of many things; the joint stool book, life, death – and worst of all – clean-up. For many years JA & I have talked about our friend Nathaniel & I dealing with the tool collection once Alexander goes to the boneyard. My shop is already full of tools, and Nathaniel has much of what he needs as well. Many of our tools came from JA’s collection. There are a few tools that Nathaniel or I will keep, but for now we’re all set. Well, JA is in fine health as of last night; but we thought it might make sense to sell off some of the tools now, rather than wait X number of years, and have the estate get the proceeds.

So from time to time I am going to offer a few tools here for sale, with the proceeds going right into Alexander’s pocket. I’m going to keep it pretty simple. First one who emails that they want such-and-such a tool gets it. Send a check for the tool & shipping & I will box it up & mail it.

here’s the first two:

An Ulmia scrub plane. 1 1/4″ iron, plane is 1 7/8″ wide, x 9 1/2″ long. A single-iron plane, no chipbreaker. Simple to use & adjust. Almost perfectly brand-new, never used. Beech with a hornbeam sole. We used this type of plane for many years. This one must have been extra. It did shave a little bit of green oak, the wedge has a stain on it. But that’s the only evidence that it ever got any use at all. Brand-new this plane sells these days for $145. We’re selling it for $95.

a detail:

ulmia scrub w iron & wedge — Scrub plane, iron & wedge

A modern Dutch “fore” plane. Like the Ulmia above, this one is beech with a hornbeam sole, single-iron. This one is a maker I don’t know; Nooitgedagt of Holland. It’s 2 1/2″ wide, with an iron just under 2″. Length of the plane body is 9 1/4″. Never used. The iron has a curved cutting edge, rendering this like a fore plane, or wide scrub plane. This is the size JA & I both have used as our preferred plane for gross removal of stock. Similar size by Ulmia is $175. This one is $100.

Detail:

dutch iron & wedge — Nooitgedagt from Holland iron & wedge

Email me or send a comment if you have questions. Thanks,

a few more thoughts about the planes I was discussing in the previous two posts. First off, here is the end view of the ash plane I made, so Alexander can see the orientation of the plane blank:

ash plane end view — ash plane, end view

Alexander & I traded some quick emails this morning, about nomenclature & this style plane. First off, we have no notion as to whether or not English joiners used these short planes as “fore” planes. The only documentary evidence for this plane’s use in 17th-century England is Randle Holme, who refers to it as a smooth plane.

Nor do we know when the term “scrub” plane came into use. It is not a 17th-century term for a plane. Joseph Moxon’s description of a fore plane talks about a plane a good deal longer than these. Doesn’t mean every joiner used planes as Moxon described them…but we have little other evidence.

I know in the joined furniture I make, a long fore plane is rarely necessary. Moxon’s example of what a joiner was making was more like wainscoting for a room, rather than furniture, or “moveables” as the seventeenth century called it. He describes a “quarter” – a piece of wood 2″ x 4″ x 7′ – I rarely work stock of this length…but I can see where a longer fore plane would be helpful there. My work often requires a few pieces of oak four feet, maybe 4 1/2 feet long, but most of the stock is under three feet long. As I resume work on the book about making joined stools, (writing a book in your spare time is not advisable!) Alexander & I grapple with how much history part to include, and how much deviation from period practice is also tolerable.

All of this means what? When I am describing this plane & its function to visitors in my shop, I run down just what we have looked at here; it has a curved iron for rough stock preparation, I think that this is the principal characteristic of the “fore” plane. The ones I use are German/Dutch/Continental style, i.e. a short-bodied plane with a handle at the toe, or forward end of the plane. We know the English used fore planes with convex-ground irons, we know they used (sometimes) planes with a front “tote.”

Here’s a modern German one, in the US we call this a scrub plane nowadays. It’s quite narrow, about an inch & a half, which I find uncomfortable to handle for any length of time.

german scrub plane bottom — bottom of German scrub plane

That’s the main reason why I adapt the German smooth planes to use as a fore plane, they are available in wider sizes.

german plane adapted — PF converted German smooth plane

And now, here is the Little Master, as Alexander was sometimes called, pulling a German-style plane towards the user’s tummy…an oft-praised technique. Jennie confirmed today that yes, in this case, the workpiece is fixed on the bench, not just shoved against a bench hook.