Antique Planes, from ‘Mouldings in Practice’

We just got the final files from Matt Bickford for a new book on making side escapement moulding planes – so I’ll be diving into the editing and design of that soon. No word just yet on when it will be published, but it’s in the batter’s circle. So I thought, “Why not take a look back at Matt’s first book, ‘Mouldings in Practice,’” which shows you how to turn a set of complicated mouldings into a series of predictable rabbets and chamfers that guide your hollow and round planes to make any moulding.

Because we get a fair number of questions about buying and using old moulding planes, below are Matt’s circa-2012 thoughts on the subject, from Appendix 1, “Antique Planes.”

– Fitz

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I have neighbors who live in the oldest house in Haddam Neck, Conn. The house was built in the early 18th century. I love visiting their home because I am infatuated with the idea that the American Revolution, the Civil War and Beanie Babies were all discussed in front of their fireplace. When we gather in front of that fireplace and the talk turns to our kids, my mind wanders, and I imagine the house’s previous occupants’ conversations about, “What are we going to do?” in several different historical contexts.

One of the subjects I wrestled with when writing this book was whether to include a chapter on antique planes. I started with these tools. You likely will do the same. Antique planes are available, plentiful, cheap and have a great patina. These planes, like that house, have history. These tools have contributed to the pieces that we ogle, much like that house played a part in our country’s history. They have a lineage of which we are only a part. They have been used by hands more adept than our own. It’s awe-inspiring, intimidating and romantic.

I struggled with writing the chapter, though, because I am simply not the man to do it. I have restored a bunch of antique planes in my woodworking life. It is often difficult, tedious and blind work for the beginner. The knowledge that these vintage planes did work was often the only thing that kept me trying to transform them into workable tools. The idea that they did work and now, with the current wedge, iron or body, cannot wasn’t apparent until I had made several moulding planes for myself.

In short, my experience with antique planes led me to jump at the opportunity to make my own when Lie-Nielsen and Clark & Williams collaborated to begin producing the necessary tools and instruction. The only source I had when I set out to produce my own tools, outside of my blind experience, was Larry Williams’s DVD “Making Traditional Side Escapement Planes” (Lie-Nielsen Toolworks). I watched the entire thing once (with my mother, who loved it! I was two weeks out of major back surgery, and I love her so leave me alone) and a few select chapters of that DVD a couple times more.

There are a few things that I do now when making my planes that differ from the methods Larry shows, but there were none when I made my first planes. That DVD and my limited experience led me to creating functioning planes that hold an edge. The journey is well worth it. I recommend it highly. There is so much information that is superbly presented in that DVD that you could practically start your own business… .

I am not the man to write this chapter because my conclusion was ultimately that, given the time commitment, I would rather make my own. Should you choose to make this antique tool trek on your own, with the help of only books, videos or the Internet, keep the following 10 points in mind when dealing with antique planes:

1. Assume that the sole needs to be addressed, and know that you will need a way to address it. A No. 8 hollow is easy to fix if you have the matching No. 8 round that works. A 1/8″ side bead will likely need a matching router bit in order to repair its sole. For a cove and astragal you will need either a mother plane, or a matching hollow, a router bit and a method for holding the plane at the spring angle across a router table. You are on your own for anything with a Grecian shape.
2. Assume that the iron will need to be reground and resharpened. This often will lead to annealing and re-hardening the steel. Again, I am no authority regarding either of these subjects, and I chose not to write about them. The DVD “Sharpening Profiled Hand Tools” (Lie-Nielsen Toolworks) by Larry Williams of Old Street Tool addresses these both. There are certainly other sources.
3. Warped planes can often be fixed. This will involve planing the chamfer and face flat and, ideally, parallel. It will also require re-establishing the profile upon the sole and getting it centered. The iron will then likely need significant work.
4. The plane’s mouth will never need to be opened because it is simply too tight. It might need to be opened because even a small amount of damage has occurred there and even the slightest shaving will not eject. Which leads me to…
5. There are a wide range of reasons why a plane clogs. I will limit myself to what I can think of in the next five minutes.
   a. The mouth is damaged.
   b. The wedge is damaged.
   c. The blind side of the mouth is damaged.
   d. The iron is not sharp.
   e. The iron does not match the sole.
   f. The iron’s sides have been misground.
   g. The sole is not flat.
   h. The sole is warped.
   i. The ramp is damaged.
   j. Etc. (The list really does continue.)
6. Making an old plane functional will destroy its resale value to anybody but people who make furniture using these tools.
7. “User” grade does not mean ready to “use.”
8. “Fine” does not mean “fine” to go.
9. “Ready to go” does not mean “ready to go.”
10. These planes were often used for several successful working generations. They then sat, were mishandled or, most likely, a combination of both for more than 100 years.
    

Bottom line: There is much that can be wrong with antique planes. If you have limited experience with troubleshooting these matters it is often frustrating and, in my experience five years ago, sometimes futile. I could economically fight this fight now, but I do not want to. Sometimes I look at my old planes and want to finish what I once set out to do. There is a failure that literally stands above my bench. We mock each other daily. Then I think about the other things I like.

When these planes are made functional there is no question that they can perform the same way that a new plane will. On top of that function you will also be included in a noble lineage that new planes do not have. The owners’ name stamps will inspire you. Buy a name stamp of your own and add it. You might hold the plane and think about the time when these curved embellishments were a living art. Imagine the conversation that begins with, “What’s next?”

When I stand in front of a high-style Philadelphia highboy at the Philadelphia Art Museum I imagine the same question being posed. It might have happened at that case’s foot before it was shaped. “What’s next?” This history in wood cannot be replaced. It cannot be trumped. And a lack of this historical lineage is a major shortfall of the most sublime reproductions. Even a reproductionist extraordinaire such as Charles Bender cannot replicate that true history – though his appreciation, coupled with his skill and execution, does challenge it.