Plane chatter

Glass Check Plane?

This photograph (Figure 1, kindly provided by Fred Hostetter) is of a plane which appears unique to all who have examined it. The tool was made by W Greenslade, Bristol. The mark of a prolific planemaker does not necessarily imply that it was produced in quantity; Jim Blower offers that Greenslade would make planes to a craftsman's own design.

A heel view of this plane is seen in Figure 2, showing two fences both fixed by the same screws. With the iron in place, the right cutting edge protrudes below the stock extension. Both fences are slotted in such a manner as to allow the iron to be withdrawn downward, the upper fence providing the mouth opening for the left cutting edge of the iron.

Douglas Orr proposed that Fred's tool is a glass check plane. These are not uncommon, and it is generally accepted that they were used to cut sash bars, usually of the simple unmolded type used in greenhouses. The present plane does appear to be an adjustable glass check plane of unique design. The "3" on the heel may refer to the fact that the tool was originally equipped with three irons, each slotted to give a different thickness of the web between glass panes. The three fractions on the heel may refer to the thickness of the sash bar stock to be worked; a 8/8 inch bar would be appropriate for the present iron. (It is usual for the sash bar to allow one-third of its width for the separation of the panes.)

The sketch shows the fences adjusted for cutting such a bar. With the upper fence set '/s inch from the sole extension (the area marked "3") and the lower fence set 1/8 inch further to the left, the tool would cut a thin sash bar of the type used in small cold frames. To work 1/8 inch bar stock, an iron with a slot a bit less than 1/4 inch wide would serve; while 7/8 inch stock might call for an somewhat wider slot (although the present iron could be used in a pinch).

One objection to this interpretation of the tool's use is the lack of a depth stop. We would be glad to learn of another example of this plane, or of an alternate explanation of its use.

Unusual Escapement

J. B. Cox has provided an interesting account of his plane made by E. NEWELL/LANESBORO (17,471808). It is birch, 10 inches long and 13/16 inches wide, with an unusual profile. It is a hollow in which the curve reaches both sides of the stock and is tilted. The tilt is not enough to bring the right side of the curve to the horizontal; it still slopes downward there.

The escapement is the round type usually seen on rabbets. The iron is skewed. A skew rabbet usually has the escapement tapered through with a single cut of the taper reamer. A square rabbet, on the other hand, has the escapement made with round eye on either side of the same size; either by drilling through or by two cuts of the taper reamer. The shaving has the option of escaping through either side (or both, if it splits).

The Newell plane has a double tapered escapement similar to that of many square rabbets. Normally, the line where the two conical cuts meet is centered in the stock. Unusually, in this case the two cones do not intersect on the stock center line. The intersection is a spiral beginning about a third of the way in from the left side of the stock, which moves downward to meet the right side of the stock at the mouth.

One explanation of this configuration is that Newell was preparing for the possibility of a shaving split, not unusual in a hollow. The split would be expected to be asymmetrical, the narrower part to the right. The main shaving would exit the left side of the plane, encouraged by the slope of the profile, the skew and the shape of the eye. The smaller part of the shaving would tend to escape to the right, and the alternate exit allows for this.

Still unexplained is the need for a rabbet escapement in this tool. Herb Kean's explanation-that this was only used where the plane was expected to function at the bottom of a groove hints at how the plane was used.1 But where was this cut called for?

1. Tool Shed no. 117, Crafts of NJ, June 2002.

J. M. Whelan writes a regular column or planes for The Chronicle

Copyright Early American Industries Association Jun 2002
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