Toolemera Blog

It's not that I'm right...

There is this modern marketing spin on making rods and reels as light as possible. Somehow, by saving a few ounces, that will allow you to fish longer, catch bigger fish, cast further and get more dates.

I was just out on the Charles River this afternoon at a quiet spot. There was a young guy (in other words, a guy who still had a full head of hair) fishing a modern baitcaster on a carbon rod. I sort of set him up by asking what he liked about it. It's light weight, plenty of feedback, casts long, etc. etc.

I'm there with a newly rebuilt Mitchell 300A double red line, 8lb PLine CXX line, on a c1970 Conolon Gold #2135 Light Action, Fast Taper 6.5 ft rod. I'm casting a #3 Mepps spinner to his two part texas jig. At least I think that what it was. Need I say I matched or exceeded his distance with ease? He was casting 20lb braid because the water is very weedy and he didn't want to loose his lures. My lures caught a number of times but always were unjammed. Even when I latched onto sunken branches and heavy weeds, even old fishing line, I was able to save the tackle albeit one had a bent hook that needed a little bit of first aid.

I know it's me repeating myself, but these young guys just don't know how to fish. There is way too much time spent on over thinking, listening to marketing hype and buying the newest and bestest instead of learning how to actually use the tackle you have on hand.

At least four times I pulled in tangles of line that smore poor schmoo had cut loose when it became apparent a hook or lure couldn't be undone from a snag. If that was the case, how come I was able to drag in the snag and the snagged junk on 8lb line? Sheesh.

I'm not saying I'm the worlds greates fisherman. Not by far. I just learned before there was tons of marketing hype. Do I see a cross-over to some other craft markets?

Till next, Gary

The Undeath Of Wooden Planes

On many a forum I hear of the passing of wooden planes in favor of the modern metallic plane. Who wants to sweat the details of fettling an old wooden plane? Who knows what that thing is called, what it does, how to use it or if it is even usable?

My most recent two posts on rabbet and fillister planes seems to say there is an interest. The visitor numbers jumped off the scale for those days. Even with the discussion of the vagaries of fillister and rabbet planes, of which many varieties were left out, readers found their way to this blog simply to explore a discussion of a common wooden plane.

Take that, LV!

Till next, Gary

And Shoulder Planes

The other member of the Rebate - Rabbet - Fillister family is the Shoulder Plane. These are finishing planes at their finest. Very low angle blades extending through the stock such that the cut can shave right up to the corner of the cut.

The shoulder plane is used after the rabbet and/or fillister has done it's job. It's also used when making tenons with a backsaw. It's a precise plane, allowing for very thin shavings to be taken, leaving a right angle, clean of marks and ready to be glued or admired.

Because the mouth of the shoulder plane is open on both sides and the body is fairly narrow and not very high, these are typically made entirely of metal or cased in metal. They're pricey but well worth the investment.

I have a Stanley 90 and a 93, both old ones and well worn in. The blades only get a touch up as needed so I expect them to last for decades to come. They may not be lookers, but who cares? They do the job just as well as spiffy clean nickled versions do. Their main purpose for me is cleaning up old joints on old furniture I'm fixing up. They are essential.

Many people complain of the rough surface left by their rabbet planes or fillister planes. That's where the shoulder plane comes into play. If you need to clean up the joint, to correct a mistake or to repair an old surface, a good shoulder plane will do the trick for you. But... most glue joints don't require a perfectly smooth surface so why worry about it unless you really have to. It's not the mating surfaces of the average mortise and tenon that need attention, it's where the two meet that should be a clean 90 degrees. A properly set rabbet plane can often do the job in soft woods or the softer hard woods such as cherry or butternut.

One word on sharpening shoulder plane blades. There are three edges to consider. The lead cutting edge and the two side edges. Opinions differ here. I sharpen all three. The lead edge gets the full treatment. The two side edges act like scrapers so I don't go for the super sharp edge, just a sharp enough edge. I don't use magnifiers, microscopes, waterstones or obsess over sharpening. If it cuts, it works.

We could go on into carriage makers rabbet planes, ship rabbets, jack rabbets and more but you gotta stop somewhere.

Till next, Gary.

 

Rebate, Rabbet, Fillister, Fillitster and Why

Whatever you call them, they cut squared off segments. Add in the halving plane, the fenced rabbet, the jack rabbet, the ship, skewed or straight, nicker or not, handled or not, boxed, full boxed and the possibilities go on. This is and was one important part of the tool kit of any worker in wood.

Add a fence to the sole, take away the conical escapement for a straight escapement and it becomes a moving fillister. Give it a permanently fixed width of cut stop and it becomes a standing fillister.

A primary difference between a rabbet and a fillister plane is the escapement. Fillister planes always have straight escapements. Give it a conical escapement and it becomes a rabbet plane. Why?

The rabbet plane is a hogging plane. The fillister plane is intended for finer work and therein lies the crux of this story.

You do find rabbet planes with straight escapements. Generally speaking, these are intended for use on fine grain woods, for taking a fine shaving instead of hogging and are the less expensive version of a moving fillister. As a whole, you'll see rabbet planes with conical escapements, designed to move thick shavings out of the way quickly and efficiently.

In the rabbet plane, blades are either skewed or straight depending on the preference of the user and, to some extent the intended use. If cutting a long rabbet with the grain in a soft, straight grained wood, a staight blade works just fine. Cutting across the grain always requires a skewed blade. I think it was always up to the worker what sort was chosen for the job as plane makers offered both blades.

In fillister planes, the blade is always skewed. There may or may not be a nicker, there may or may not be a depth stop but there will always be a width of cut stop, adjustable or fixed. The escapement is always straight. Typically, fillister planes are single boxed along the leading edge to improve performance. In rare examples (I own one), the entire plane is boxwood. My guess is the plane maker became carried away and forgot to stop when cutting the boxing.

The Stanley 78 is a decent rabbet plane. It's good at hogging in soft woods but not really intended for hard woods. it's a carpenters tool and that's why you see so many of them. The Stanley 289 is a monster of a piece of metal. It excels as a moving fillister. The only problem is finding one with a usable blade and the correct fence. Plus, it can be costly.

A good wooden moving fillister can be found for a fraction of the price a 289 and tuned up in short order. Avoid one with problems with the boxing, a chewed up sole or a rusty iron. A good woodworker took care of the fillister as it was expensive to begin with, was used in fine work and needed to be kept in tune to do it's job. If you find one that is messed up, pass on it. Someone who didn't know what was what has abused that plane.

Same goes for a wooden rabbet plane. Most are beat up. Be patient and wait for one that is in great shape. They're out there. I see them all the time. Get a good 1 or 1.5 inch one with a nicker and you have a plane that will do most any job. If you're looking for a new one, ECE makes a very nice rabbet plane with an adjustable mouth.

One last word or two. You will see rabbets and fillister with fences that look as if they were stolen from a plow plane. These are termed Fenced Rabbets and Fenced Moving Fillisters. They were the cream of the crop and cost a pretty penny. They still cost a pretty penny. My guess is they were used for cutting the deep relieves in wide panels in churches and expensive houses.

Till next, Gary

On Rebate - Rabbet Plane Nomenclature

Take heart! This is not a rant against Christopher Schwarz. It is a comment on the creation of new definitions for well known tools due to an (apparent) failure to conduct some basic prior research.

In the current Popular Woodworking, June 2012; #197, pgs. 34-39, Chris covers the topics of Rabbets and Plows. I was not surprised to find that his descriptions of rabbet, or rebate planes continued to follow that which he had first described in some of his earlier books. Why should this matter to anybody but a hard core plane collector? Inserting a factual error into the common nomenclature can produce a chain reaction over time. For the people who care about facts, it's a pain. For the researcher, the editor or just the collector, it becomes a struggle at times to track down the origin of an erroneous fact.

Let's take a look at the rabbet plane, also termed a rebate plane. Take your pick. Depending on which side of the Atlantic you live on and how you pronounce it, it's the same plane.

Chris confuses Rabbet planes and Fillister Planes. It's not earth shattering but I'ld like to clarify the difference.

A Rabbet plane can be skewed or straight, can have a nicker or not, even two nickers and can even have an offset tote making it a Jack Rabbet plane. I kid you not. These large planes were typically used in house framing and similar big timber operations. BUT, a Rabbet plane never has a fence. Not never, not no how. Or a depth stop. It's a very basic form of plane.

A Fillister plane is at heart a Rabbet plane on steroids. It always has a fence that limits the width of the cut, it almost always has a nicker and frequently has an adjustable depth stop. It may or may not have a tote, close or enclosed. It's the additon of the fence along the sole that makes it a Fillister, also called a Moving Fillister. We'll get on to what a non-moving Fillister is in the next paragraph.

A variation on the Fillister is the Standing Fillister. Sorry Chris, there is no such thing as a Standing Rabbet because Rabbet planes don't have fences. The Standing Fillister is a Rabbet plane with a built in, permanently fixed full length stop that limits the width of the cut. Usually the stop is part of the body and not added on. If the stop also limits the depth of the cut, you now have a HALVING plane, a seldom seen variant.

On a totally complaining note, a friend wrote up a very nice article, replete with photos, on the use of plow planes. Unfortunately, Popular Woodworking turned down the article, saying that Chris was planning on such an article in the sometime future. Given the amount of coverage I see in the article, PWW made a mistake. They should have gone with my friend's article and given the plow plane the full workup it deserves. I would be nice to see PWW follow the trend of the British woodworking magazines and feature more articles by readers as a tip of the hat to those who support their enterprise.

Till next, Gary