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rough out some initial text for the wooden hand plane
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@CarsonDavis
CarsonDavis committed May 24, 2024
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I've always liked the idea of making a wooden handplane, but have never quite gotten around to it. You see, making all the metal parts seems like a royal pain in the ass, so reasonable people tend to steal the important metal bits from antique plane bodies. And although I love the glimmer of oil on freshly shaped mahogany as much as the next guy, it's always seemed a shame to cannibalize a antique like that.

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<em>plane.</em>
<em>click me</em>
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<em>broken.</em>
<em>i get bigger</em>
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Which is how I found myself in my local antique store looking specifically for a broken plane. I think I went to three stores before stumbling across this beauty. It's a 112 year old Stanley #5 jack plane manufactured sometime between 1910-1912, and gloriously, the previous owner managed to break the cast iron body cleanly in half.

You can see that they tried to repair it with that metal plate on the side, but they weren't able to get the sole flat, rendering it less than useful without some significant restoration work. And to top it off, the even helpfully broke off part of the handle, which gives me the perfect excuse to remake the whole thing from scratch.

![img-description](signal-2024-05-20-193343_002.jpeg)
_blade date_
_my Type T Trademark_

But let's take a step back. How do I know how old this thing is? Well, turns out there are a bunch of old dudes on the internet that are _really_ serious about antique woodworking tools. You can download [helpful flowcharts](https://woodandshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/stanley-bailey-handplane-type-study-flow-chart-2021.pdf) that will guide you through the various features of a plane to identify which of the 19 primary types of antique Stanley hand planes you have, dating anywhere from 1867-1961.

This particular plane is one of the easiest to identify, as it has three patents cast into the body and features a one inch brass adjustment knob, making it a Type 11 made between 1910 and 1918...which is decidedly NOT the date range I told you earlier.

Turns out if you are lucky, there are also 20 distinct [Stanley trademarks](https://virginiatoolworks.com/2015/02/16/stanley-trademark-stamps/) used between 1872 and 1935. And although that information won't help you out if you plane is more recent, mine is old af and we are able to narrow it down to a type T Trademark, used between 1909-1912. This gives us a very tight window of 1910-1912 for the plane as a whole.


![img-description](20240420_194523.jpg)
the parts
_important metal bits_

![img-description](20240420_203449.jpg)
![img-description](20240420_203948.jpg)
initial parts
dry fit
Although there is definitely some surface rust, the parts seem functional. Neither the blade nor the chip-breaker above it have any significant pitting, so both of them should sharpen up fine. And the large metal piece called the frog will be in serviceable condition with a light sanding and oiling.

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<em>there it is, an entire plane</em>
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<em>dry fit</em>
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![img-description](20240420_201853.jpg)
![img-description](20240420_223625.jpg)
![img-description](20240420_230114.jpg)
![img-description](20240421_111424.jpg)
handle shaping
I started by tracing out the profile of an existing #6 plane, giving myself a little wiggle room since this will need to have a bigger sole. People often buy two #6s or two #5s, and then set up one of them for taking light shavings and the other for roughing out big chunks of wood. If we are being honest, it's more common that people do this with the more versatile #5, but I thought it would be sick to make a giant #6 sized wood plane, so that's what I went with.

![img-description](20240421_113350.jpg)
after finishing

![img-description](20240421_124346.jpg)
![img-description](20240421_151630.jpg)
mark line
cut starter line

![img-description](20240421_152454.jpg)
![img-description](20240421_160910.jpg)
initiate ledge
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<em>rough cut</em>
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<em>initial rasping</em>
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<em>half-hearted sanding</em>
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<em>oooooh</em>
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I had a big chunk of mahogany laying around from an old ukulele project, and I was able to just barely get a handle sized piece from it , cut at an angle. Although I eventually whipped out the power sander, I did the bulk of the shaping with a 9in Shinto Saw Rasp. These things are absolutely incredible, and I cannot recommend them enough.

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<em>finding a comfortable angle</em>
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<em>scoring the line</em>
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I was very careful when shaping the handle to make it as comfortable as possible, constantly gripping it, finding high spots, and sanding them down. However when you actually use the plane, the angle that it attaches to the body is also of upmost importance. To find this, we held different sized gauge blocks under the back of the plane and tested moving it around until finding the perfect angle. The handle will be held into the base with a simple mortise and tenon joint, and we used a second gauge block to scribe out a line, and then an OLFA to score an initial cut.

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<em>starting the ledge</em>
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<em>carrying it fully around</em>
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![img-description](20240423_184557.jpg)
![img-description](20240423_185105.jpg)
saw edge
clean up
Ultimately, I will close in on the tenon with a saw and chisel, but to make sure this is perfect, I started by establishing a shelf with my craft knife.

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<em>sawing out the primary shape</em>
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<em>chiseling the mortise</em>
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![img-description](20240423_214428.jpg)
![img-description](20240423_215046.jpg)
cut slot

![img-description](20240420_210025.jpg)
![img-description](20240420_211446.jpg)
![img-description](20240420_211950.jpg)
![img-description](20240421_130814.jpg)
frog cutting
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<em>sawing</em>
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<em>filing</em>
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<em>stoning</em>
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The saw wandered a bit during the cut

![img-description](20240421_145921.jpg)

frog attachment


![img-description](20240424_203332.jpg)
![img-description](20240424_204146.jpg)
initiate front handle
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<em>roughing cuts</em>
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<em>quick chiseling</em>
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![img-description](signal-2024-05-20-193356_002.jpeg)
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![img-description](20240420_204527.jpg)
test shavings

![img-description](signal-2024-05-22-172558_002.jpeg)
![img-description](signal-2024-05-22-172558_003.jpeg)
![img-description](signal-2024-05-22-172558_004.jpeg)
![img-description](signal-2024-05-22-172558_005.jpeg)

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<em>ooooh</em>
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<em>ahhhh</em>
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<em>so</em>
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<em>prettty</em>
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