ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I don't know a lot about my grandfather - my father's father. He died when I was 15, and was not what I would describe as 'chatty'. He was a big man - six three in the old language. I gather he had been quite a blade in his younger days, with a shock of red hair, but he was almost bald when I knew him. Just a few wisps of thin orange hair here and there. He was also quite overweight - at least 18 stone, possibly pushing 20. Hard to say. We never called him grandpa, or anything like that. He was always 'Big Val'. (He was christened Percival George. His father was the George Whiteside that came out to Australia from Ireland as an orphan at the age of eight that I have mentioned elsewhere on the web-site.)

My father told me that, amongst other things, Val was a carpenter. I also know he worked as an engineer in the Army in Hobart for most of his adult life. I recently learnt that he worked as the Health Inspector at Healesville near Melbourne towards the end of his working life, so I imagine there is much I do not know about him. My father pointed me in the direction of his father's old tool box before he died, so I now have that to ponder over. It contains, amongst many other things, one particularly tortured-looking old chisel.

What has particularly sparked my imagination, however, are two wood planes that are too large to sit in the box. I'd be very interested to know if anybody can tell me anything about them. They are both made out of heavy blocks of wood.

The smaller one is nearly three inches high, by about two and a half inches wide, by nearly 17 inches long. The larger one is about the same height, a little over three inches wide, and nearly 22 inches long. They both have a moulded wooden handle on the top, set towards the back. In front of the handle sits a rusty steel blade, sloping down and forward to a slot in the bottom, with a large wooden chock in front of the blade. I cannot see any brand names on either, so perhaps they were hand made.

I have never seen wood planes anything near as large as either of these before. Why were they so large? What were they used for? Can they be traced to any particular period? I'd be really interested to know, if anybody can help.

Large planes were used to smooth long pieces of wood. A shorter bed on the plane meant that the plane would just follow the uneven rises and falls on the surface of a long piece of wood and make the surface smooth but not flat. Probably hand made, there are people about like the woodworkers club in Singleton who delight in making beautifully crafted hand made tools such as wooden planes.

Thanks for this, Neville. I see the sense in what you are saying.

Thanks, Marty.

Stephen they sound like “Jack Planes” used for rough timber to bring it into shape for smaller planes to do the finishing, usually more square in section though. A photo along side a tape or rule would be helpful.

TTFN

Thanks, Dave. I'll see what I can do.

G'day Stephen,
The smaller one is a Jack Plane, the larger is a Trying or Jointing Plane.

The Jack plane is used for quickly reducing timber to the required dimensions. Leaves an acceptable but not perfect finish, - Traditionally, the iron (blade) has a slightly curved edge. This leaves very slight, almost indistinguishable furrows in the finished surface.

The Trying/Jointing plane is for accurately finishing surfaces with a high deal of accuracy. Particularly useful when edge joining two or more pieces of timber. The iron has no curve apart from the extreme outer corners, which are slightly rounded to prevent leaving lines in the finished surface.

Sharpening and setting planes is a skill that can take time to learn, but like most skills, worthwhile and satisfying.

Wooden planes like your Grandfather's have been around for centuries, - examples have been found from the Roman times. Essentially, what you have is little different from the roman ones.

Caring for them, particularly, also takes time and effort. If you want to restore them, it is quite achievable but they can be easily ruined if you don't know what you are doing. I would recommend you find someone (Woodworking club?) who can assess them and advise you.

I don't have any wooden planes, all mine are metal, which I aqquired at auctions over the years.
I have seen hundreds of old wooden planes, - every one of them damaged through lack of care and thus valueless. (Warping, cracking, chips & gouges etc.) Have never found a useable one, - hence my preference for metal. (I have 7, mostly old Stanley's.)

The picture below shows what you can achieve with hand planes; - Part of a kitchen bench/cupboards I built about 5 years ago. The benchtop is made from 5 reject pine planks, flattened to basic dimension with a Jack plane and then edge jointed with a jointing plane.
The benchtop was then given an extremely light finishing plane once this was done.
The finish is oiled, then waxed.

What an amazing source of knowledge you are Henry! And what a beautiful bench, too! Many thanks. I'll try to track down a wood-working club sometime though, from what you say, it probably will not be worthwhile trying to restore them.

Stephen Whiteside wrote:What an amazing source of knowledge you are Henry! And what a beautiful bench, too! Many thanks. I'll try to track down a wood-working club sometime though, from what you say, it probably will not be worthwhile trying to restore them.

Financially, nothing that involves woodworking makes sense. I guess it depends on what those things mean to you.

I reckon woodworking is good for the soul - to me, there's something about creating something with hand tools that satisfies a primitive need.

Yes, there is something primitive and basic about wood that is very reassuring - which partly explains my affection for these great planes, I guess. That, and the fact that they so clearly come from another era, and function as a link to a long ago past that is now largely forgotten - just as we will be in due course.