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
