Loved it. We don't see much about saws so I guess I'd like to see what you come up with. Doesn't matter really. I'll watch most anything you put out. I hope your family is well. --Greg
Rex I love these historical examinations of antique tools & furniture. The tote on the plane you analyze here, besides functional design, this piece is sculpturally gorgeous! I infer that the tool maker must have created exquisite furniture ❤. Thanks for all you do!
Hi Rex! There's no specific tool I'm interested in, but for me it is the examination of those little spots and dents, that tell so much about the history of an item, that makes the story exciting. Greetings from Germany, Marcus
The other day I finally put together a bench vise based on your videos and it works great. But in the process I had to hand-joint a significantly twisted 2x10 board, and got a chance to use my wood river plane. Partway through I decided to try my Buck Bros made in India plane that I purchased for $40 and was shocked at how crappy the cheap plane performed. The blade and chip breaker are too thin to do a good job. The more expensive plane had a blade and chip breaker that was essentially twice as thick as the cheaper one. I bought twice and cried twice. I cried once when I bought the expensive plane, and again when I realized all that time I wasted fighting with the cheap plane. Anyways, you talking about planes made me think of my recent experience. Thanks for researching and posting this video!
Your comment on advances in planes being linked to the use of figured hardwoods reminded me of a stroy told by my high school woodwork teacher many years ago. When settlers first arrived in Australia they found that Australian hardwoods literally destroyed their soft steel English axes. This led to early Australian blacksmiths developing high quality hardened steel axes. Necessity as they say is the mother of invention.
I’m still green but tool restoration is such a joy. I just picked up a random plane for $8 from an antique shop not knowing what it really was. It was so much fun researching its origins, etc. I restored it enough for use, but I like those details like the spots on the wood that show me how it was handled. The owner’s modifications are fascinating too, although I had to remove a rotten leather strip that seems to have been used to soften it bottoming out. Thinking about replacing it too. I spent an hour today cutting dados for drawer bottoms with it… that’s what it’s for. A mid 1800s specialty power tool. Ok, not really a power tool but I think I could knock out a drawer with it faster than setting up a table saw. The hand marks were a turbo in overcoming the learning curve. I got more than $8 worth of intellectual entertainment and a surprisingly useful tool. Plus the satisfaction of returning it to its purpose vs being in a display of “quaint old stuff.”
hard to say what we want because we don't know what you have :) You probably have things that some of us have never seen :) I love this video series though - keep it up.
With summer on us in North America, it is time for outdoor benches and stools - so maybe we could look at some large auger bits on T-handles and tapered reamers for fitting legs. Always look forward to your videos - great content!
I suspect the couple of hammer marks on the toe of that plane were from getting it to fit properly. Imagine trying to make your tool by lamplight. These are all beautiful! Cool tools, Rex. Would love to have them but not necessarily use them.
Psssh! "Lamplight"!? REAL men can make their tools in the dark! I can count on the fingers of both hands how many times I've wished for a light (though I admit: it takes all my fingers). Sooooo... two times. Hmmm... Yanno, on second though...
I just tried that inverted front grip ( 9:07 ) on my regular Stanley n°3 and you know what? I think I'll use it from now! I'm a beginner so I don't have strong habits to overcome yet and this grip works well! I feel it better "connects" my arm muscles with the shoulder and back, to both press down and helps the other hand push forward (which makes the plane more stable as you pull a bit more instead of just pushing from behind the cutter with the other hand).
Nice job, Rex. I really think the biggest reason for switching to metal bodies or infill designs is the wear of wood-on-wood leading to the need for "boxing" to restore a wooden-body plane. You can shape a coffin-style smoother to fit your hands - as Krenov discusses. Perhaps the lack of such fitting in mass-produced wooden smoothers was the driving force for modifications such as you showed? You (and others) have shown how useful a hatchet can be in the workshop. I'd be interested to learn more about why they fell from favor and what tools replaced/displaced them.
And it's not just the old craftsmen of the 19th century who built infill planes from kits. About 25 years ago I bought a casting set from St James Bay Tool Co and made a Norris-style parallel sided bronze smoother. And it has tarnished and worn and you can see how I hold it by the polished spots on the sides. Just like yours.
I have been watching your videos for a long time now and you were great when you started already - but you have grown into such a great storyteller, visually as well as in story arc. This was a wonderful video, a real pleasure to watch! Thank you!
I'm so glad you made this video, as I just bought one these this morning. I was thinking when studying it, it has a home made feel about it. Now I know.
Just wanted to say that I really appreciate your use of the term "craftsman" in this video. I know that in some sense it isn't as inclusive of everyone interested in woodworking, using the modern meaning of words and phrases. But in the traditional understanding, a "craftsman" would have included any women in the trade. And I like the continuity of language so that people today can read the old books about woodworking, and not think that the old writers were sexist. I like the idea that we teach language today such that people can read the books that cover the history of the craft and get an accurate metal image of how things were. Thanks so much for the fun video about a beautiful old tool.
The Compass Rose Tools segue was seamless and perfect. 5 stars. Another interesting historical review. I would like to see more open shots of the tool. Thank you Mr K.
I really enjoy these discussions of tool and use traces. I have written reports covering similar traces in chipped stone tools. I find the process to be really enjoyable.
Personally, I find the infill planes quite beautiful. The iron and bronze/brass together with the wood is just a work of functional art, to me anyway.❤ I am a bit partial to the ones with an iron sole dove tailed to brass or bronze sides, but depending on the wood used and the patina, they can all tell a beautiful story. One only needs an inquisitive and open mind.👀😜
I feel like there could be a series of tool stories just in plane types. Maybe starting with the more sought after collectibles (that you have or can borrow). Or scrapers.
If the user held the tote in their Left hand, the index finger and thumb of the Right hand would naturally lie where you found the marks on the front sides. Thanks for the video.
That was amazing and fun. I had no idea about all that. I have a coffin plain that I picked up for $5 au from i think in usa you call a thrift shop. Now im looking at different im thinking should i be like the old timers and do all the mods you you mentioned it would be a learning curve. I love history of tools please make more. My suggestion is draw knifes i just love them as well as spoke shave’s I would love for you to do something on them. Thanks again you rock i get so much out of your videos. You are very easy to listen to and you cover the topic without the over info. And for a person with extreme ADHD you keep me focused interested and give the right amount if of info to process which keeps me on the path to learn more woodwork. You rock. Im off to be creative.
I've got a later post war Norris A5. It clearly has the same DNA as the Spiers, but the tote connects to the frog at the top, plus it has a machine bolt running the height of the handle, across the grain to strengthen it.
My favourite smoother is my infill spiers but the one I co spider fun to use is my coffin smoother. It's hard to grip until you find that magic grip just behind the iron and then it's an amazing tool
Very informative as usual. I really love the ergonomics of that plane, the connection between the handle and the main body is a nice feature. And as a bonus, it seems to produce very nice shavings, would love to give it a try. Thank you Rex!
Rex, love the video. Could the teeth marks be from planing down the workbench? Anyway, more videos like this please. Would really like to see your restoration of that gunmetal infill.
I’m not sure how it worked in the US Rex, but back in the day,in the UK particularly, carpenters and joiners did not earn a lot of money. And tools were comparatively expensive. So it was much more economical to make what you could, than it is today. In my lifetime the price of powertools is ridiculously lower than it was when I started in the sixties. My father,as a young architect , thought twice before buying a new tool for our home, and I meant a hand drill or a crosscut saw ! which now you could buy for a couple of hours work.
Yo Rex, I didn’t know it until know it until I watch this video, that I have a very close experience from making black powder guns from very rough kits from Italia. I had to match sand casted brass to roughly cut white oak. I learned how to put a shine on all of it and to make them function.
Rex, do you have any tools that shed light onto how the worker's life and lifestyle might have been different from today? When you talk about how workers had to make their own tools, I thought of how I have to make and manage my own laptop and car, in order to do my job. And it's also interesting to see how the tools themselves were modified and customized to keep them patched together, whereas I feel like today tools are disposed of and replaced while they still have a great deal of life left in them.
After 50 years of woodworking and buying many planes I have discovered the best plane by far. It’s one I made myself and has Veritas hardware. What makes it so good? The quality of the Veritas iron and THE LOW ANGLE.
Great video Rex!. Very timely too, since I was at a antique mall yesterday and saw an infill hidden in the bottom of a case in the corner or a room. I didn't have time to track down the guy with the keys but I really want to go back and handle it and see if I can justify the $275 price tag on it.
Hi, Rex. I'm a longtime subscriber. I have some feedback that is likely only relevant to a small portion of your viewers. I have some issues with visual processing. The sliding transitions you use are often confusing to my brain and actually hurt my eyes. Some visual effects are fun for everyone, but as in this video, there were sections with quite a lot. I would be very grateful if you considered paring back on the funky transitions. Thanks for listening and all your videos. The teardown vids are my favorites.
12:15 Also, a company called Stanley was producing metal planes that were easier to adjust, had standard irons, were more durable, and were more stable. But to make a Bailey-pattern plane you needed a foundry. The infill planes were in some ways the poor man's version - instead of being cast, they were made of hammered steel and brass plate and required very few tools to make.
This content is brilliant, thank you Rex! A thought I had was about the history of Lie Nielsen. Especially some of their vintage, more esoteric tools. I realize that this project would be ...extravagent... but hey, if enough people feel the same, it might provide you with the perfect excuse!
Heya big guy !!! I know it's been a while, as for what's something I would like to see or hear about ??? The Ultimatum Braces, you know, those high end ones with all the brass, silver, ivory, ebony, etc.. Aside from the materials, what makes them so special, why were they made like that, who would use such a high end tool... so many questions !!!
Would love one on specialty bits for a brace. Recently acquired about 40 bits and not sure what a couple of them were used for. One is square and tapered.
When you hit the front of the plane you hold it upside down so you can see the blade. If you hit the iron you can’t see to fine tune it. I was hoping you would show the tiny one I have, about 4” long.
It seems to me just from watching that the most ergonomic grip for the front hand would be palm heel on the near side brass thumb resting behind the wood and fingers on the far side brass. Is there a problem with that posture?
Good vid, I recently brought a 1/2" infill shoulder plane. It has surprising heft, for it size. Does it work as well as the Veritas 1/2" shoulder plane, no, but it does look good in my office :)
Hey Rex, interesting as always. Your comments about why metal planes, infills in this case, at the end of the 1800s made me think. Lots of challenging new hardwoods coming from where? Could it be the European plundering and carve up of the globe and particularly of Africa after the 1880s! If so, another interesting historical element in the story of tools, and like so much history, not terribly innocent such as colonialism wasn’t. Anyway, i enjoy your work from just down the road in C. Falls Oh. Keep up the good work.
biomechanically that grip could cause issues for your shoulder if you used it long term, unless they were reaching over something to use the plane "sideways"
Could the hammer marks come from custom fitting a high up barn raft, ship part, carriage part where some how the plane gets jammed? Personally, I would use a hatchet or coping saw in such a spot but with a beam in your lap and getting heavier a plane might get be force (or luck) multiplier
I imagine the front was hit by an apprentice that didn't know any better. There's only a couple of strike marks on the tool because after he was beaten for his mistake, he never did it again. It explains the plane stop marks as well.
As a kid, I was used to dad's wooden plane. I bought a metal #4 and tried to adjust it in the same way. I bet someone did the same with that one, hence the hammer marks on the front. And perhaps overshooting and hitting the stop was the same kid. Did he get belted after?
I forgot who, but somebody on RU-vid actually had a video about hammer adjusting a metal plane. And depending on the adjusting mechanism it might make sense...
I wonder if the marks from the planing stop and from being hit with a hammer could be from a small child "borrowing" the plane from Dad and playing around with it.
Who says they didn't have sandpaper. It was pricey, but they had it. Files would get you close, and you could use loose abrasives as well. Sandpaper is not new. Cheers
Sort of sideways. I've been thinking about the challenge low angle planes you and James made and was thinking turned on it's side and relocating the tote and you have a shooting plane.
The plane stop marks might be residual from planing the wood inside the plane itself before it was installed in the tool. Or, maybe it was just some kid playing with the plane.
