Italian Plough Plane

 

Hello.

Just restored an Italian style plow plane.

It is particular:

The craftsman likely purchased the metal hardware and built the wooden body and the adjustable fence himself.

I added a video of the plane in use and a couple of pictures of the cutter. Its shape is unusual, as the cutting portion is decentered relative to the blade tang. This allows the cutting edge to sit properly on the rear skate.

Regards from Italy

 

 

Handplanes What a Passion! English Edition!

                                     

Hello everyone,

It is my pleasure to introduce you to the English edition of my book on hand planes. A few years ago, the Italian edition, "Pialle che Passione," was released. The book has been successful in Italy, and from the outset, I had thought of producing an English version to reach a wider audience of enthusiasts.

The title clearly explains the motivations that led me to write it: "Handplanes What a Passion" is available on Amazon in both paperback and hardcover (see links below). I'll leave you with the description of the contents:

The handplane is perhaps the tool that most vividly embodies, in the collective imagination, the image of a carpenter, the master craftsman capable of transforming a rough piece of wood into highly valuable artefacts. In reality, the plane plays a central role in traditional woodworking processes, accompanying the craftsman through every phase of furniture construction, from roughing the boards to smoothing the surfaces ready for the final finish. Handplanes What a Passion! is a book entirely dedicated to hand planes for woodworking. The author, a passionate user of this tool, reviews both contemporary and historical models, delving into their histories and illustrating the diverse possibilities offered by this highly versatile tool. The book covers planing techniques to guide the reader through the process of smoothing wooden surfaces, as well as the creation of rebates, grooves, and mouldings. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to the restoration of vintage models and the construction of key wooden handplanes that can be crafted by hand.

Arrivederci!

     

    

Available on Amazon worldwide:

USA, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France , Germany, Japan, 

Mexico, Nheterlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden

Close the Mouth

Traditionally, the patch has a trapezoidal form

Repair made with wild olive on beech

Wooden planes offer some advantages in respect to metal counterpart. Between these surely are  the minor weight (then minor efforts) and the easier sliding of plane on the piece; moreover the planed surface normally results smoother.   
The darksides are the easier plane body mouvements caused by weather changments and a minor capacity of resist to wear.

The new patch repalces the old one for closing the mouth

When the sole of a wooden plane wears or has changments in its form, it can be quicly re-levelled. Another plane can be used or a plane surface covered with abrasive paper, too.

The cut must be perfectly orthogonal. 

But, every time the sole is levelled, the funnel form of the throat causes an inevitable event: the mouth enlargement. 
Over time by levelling the mouth, it become too much large and, consequently, the plane has a poor performance.  
It is necessary to remedy by a repair: a patch shaped and glued for a proper mouth closing.  

Prepare the recess

Traditionally, a patch of same wood of the sole is used, frequently an harder wood, for provide an higer grade of wear resistance in the zone in front of the blade cutting edge, inserted as well as an inlay, made internally to the plane sides. 

Smooth the head of the board we will use for preparing the insert.

 This approach provides an elegant solution but of not easy realization; moreover if were necessary to intervent again, to make a patch  of a patch could present some troubleshoting. 
In this specific case I just had to intervent on an old repair and I opted for a slightly different approach.

Cut

I saw some japanese video where, as well as the classic patches and other methods based of mobile elements, an insert extending over all sole width were used, easily replaceable in the case of necessity.  

First, prepare a perfect square piece (10x20 mm will be good), cutting it on the head of a board. 
The piece will be oriented so the head fibers will be exposed on the sole for better wear resistence.

After the position on the sole is traced, cut across the grain for 7-8 mm and level the recess bottom by chisel and router plane. The goal is to create a precise recess for inserting the piece so it can be kept firmly in position without gluing.

By using only glue drops, we avoid a definitive gluing up.

Wait several hours

Some glue drops are sufficinet to insure it in place and, if necessary, they will not impede its eventually future remotion for wich will be enough some chisel shot for pull away the insert. 


Ciao Giuliano

After paring, the mouth appears of right dimensions: 0,4-0,5 mm are good for a smoothing plane.

 

Today’s Plane

It’s longtime I don’t purchase other planes......however I can show you some I restored a while ago. 
It is the case of this jointer plane clearly coming from UK I chose after some years of parking.
It’s the classic 24” beech jointer plane...no maker marks onto the body, except a “2 1/4” at the toe for indicating the iron width. This is a fine example of British plane and has an impressive Marples Shamrock blade and chipbreaker. I use to utilize it for roughing and fast dimernsioning bandsawn pieces.

It remained unused for several years, however no flattening of sole has been required, demonstrating a very stable plane body.
I set it with a substantial cutting depth: the brief video provides an idea of its efficiency.  

Ciao
Giuliano