Can you identify this shooting plane?

Another photo of mystery shooter

Dave Thompson

>Another photo of the M X mystery shooter...

Re: Can you identify this shooting plane?

paul womack

>I can't ID it, but it's VERY odd.

Most dedicated shooting planes have wide, skewed blades.

From your description, it sounds like it ran on a dedicated shooting board fixture.

Perhaps DATAMP might help?

BugBear

Re: Can you identify this shooting plane?

Dave Thompson

>Yes, I would guess it may have originally had a shooting board. Ofcourse it easily adapts to a DIY shooting board. After re-reading my post, I'm not sure I was clear on the sole description. Looking only at the 14" x 2 5/8" sole, 5/8" of the outer edges of the sole are the only portion that are ground. The rest of the sole is slightly recessed and does not make contact with shooting board.

Regarding DATAMP, if I only had a patent date? ;-) or is there another way to look through there. Maybe the original shooting board had a patent date...

Thanks,

Dave

Re: Can you identify this shooting plane?

Alice Frampton, UK

>Could it be for trimming lead type? I have a dim recollection of such planes cropping up in conversation on The Porch.

Cheers, Alf

Thats What I think

Todd Hughes

>I've had a couple of these over the years and hope to never see another one as when I sold them I lost money everytime!...One of those tools that looked to me to be "Rare" and "Expensive" ....well they were when I bought them at least!....Todd

Re: good call - aargh!

paul womack

>I even work in the print industry!

BugBear

Re: Thats What I think

Dave Thompson

>Well, given the $10 Leonard Bailey Victor planes you find, and the $8000 hunting knives you sell, I would imagine you're doing more than all right ;-)

I am curious what the typical price these have sold for as I've never seen one sell before.

As far as I'm concerned, it has the characteristics I'm looking for in a dedicated wood shooter, and at $50 was cheaper than a #51, #9, T5 or #62.

Alf and Todd, thanks for the unexpected insite.

Dave

Re: Thats What I think

Todd Hughes

>Last one I sold a couple months or so ago went for $70.Think I paid $80 for it...ouch! Sold one years ago for about $120 and did OK with a wooden one that was marked with a printing company name on it once I got all that black ink off it.

...Once went to $200 on one at an local auction but thank god got out bid !...well live and learn.....Todd

Re: Thats What I think

Ed Mulligan, Cape Cod

>Sellins in Dictionary of American Hand Tools refers to it as a "Plane, Shoot Board, Lead". He has a brief description and a couple of illustrations.

Ed

Yes I can, but Todd and Paul are...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Finally getting a clue... So to speak :^). It was used to square type blocks from old printing presses.

Wow

Jim in Burlington On

>I'm no collector but that would be a great plane to start a collection with. Thanks for posting nice pics.

follow up info

Dave Thompson

>Thanks for the tip Ed.... I just spent a half hour googling and came up with nothing. It's much easier to find the book you referenced... and now I have one ordered and on the way.

Re: good call - aargh!

Alice Frampton, UK

>I think this could be a high point in my galootin' journey - Todd agrees with me and BB didn't get it first. Coo. I might just quit while I'm - momentarily - ahead! :~)

Cheers, Alf

That's a huge mouth!

HC Sakman @ Victoria, BC

>I hope it closes to much, much smaller mouth.

Chico...

Always room for another book on the ...

Ed Mulligan, Cape Cod

>... shelf or another plane under the bench :)

Trifecta?

Jeff Schmidt

>Now all you need for a trifecta is to find a link to information on the plane.

NOw that Alf and Todd have IDed it

Bill Houghton, cold and rainy in Sebastopol, CA

>let's start a pool on how soon we see something like it from Lee Valley. That screw cap is heavy enough to damp a LOT of chatter.

Deceptive but....

Dave Thompson

>The blade is pushed back a bit so as not to get damaged which makes it look a little bigger. I haven't tried it out since bringing it home from the auction.

A tight mouth certainly makes a difference on long grain since the lead of the mouth prevents the grain from tearing deeper into the wood. The front of the mouth holds the wood down as the blade cuts. It's not clear to me that one would see the same advantages on an end grain cut. The grain just doesn't flow in the right direction for this to assist in the same manner.

not all is lost

Wally B.

>Dave,

Okay, so you will not be "shooting" any miters, why not show the folks the trimmer you bought at the same sale?

I highly doubt it Dave

HC Sakman @ Victoria, BC

>Tight mouth rule applies to end grain as well. Gotta keep those mouths tight! ;-) Non-skewed configuration is another drawback for this plane,if wide mouth is an issue.

Chico...

Re: not all is lost

Dave Thompson

>Ha!! Didn't realize there were other centralian neanders at that auction. I did indeed, but was saving that topic for next week.... after I've had time to work out my question regarding how to sharpen that beast.

Not true... Give it a try...

Dave Thompson

>So, in theory it doesn't work out as mentioned in my above note. But since you got me motivated, dissing my 50 bucks like that... ;-) I headed out into the garage for a trial. In practice I always grab the same low angle planes for end grain which I just leave set for small mouth. For end grain, one is only taking off a tiny bit anyway, so there is never a reason for me to open them up.

I opened up my #164 to the max which is 3/16" and cleaned up some edges. All came out glass smooth without a visble fiber torn out. Tried this on softer woods like pine, bass and butternut, and hardwoods like ash, purple heart, jatoba and blackwood. Either this says mountains for my 164 with a 3/16" mouth, or the theory holds true.

I suggest you give it a spin with an adjustable mouth plane and report back if you see a difference on end grain.

Forgot to mention...

Dave Thompson

>...when you try it, don't skew your plane.

Let me know if you can see yourself in the glass-like reflection of the cut. ;-)

Hey, I've tried... :~)

Alice Frampton, UK

>These printing, er, "types" don't seem to go in for showing pictures of anything but presses. You'd think they had some kind of fixation... I did find a couple of Old Tools threads here and (embarrassingly for BB) here. Tried all kinds of searches under printing, type setting, type casting, and all permutations possible, you name it, but no dice.

Cheers, Alf