L. Cormier Planes

L. Cormier is a rare planemaker's mark in the United States; a single citation was first reported in the fourth edition of Pollak.1 It is not reported in the 1997 list of Canadian planemakers.2 A private collection in Quebec has at least fifty of his planes, substantiating the belief that Cormier worked in Canada. The owner of this trove is Jacques Heroux, who provided the photographs shown with a request for an opinion on their intended use. Seven of these planes are shown in Figure 1.

The only reliable way to document the intended use of an unusual plane is to find an example of its profile in a contemporaneous product, or to find an artisan who actually used a similar tool. Beyond that, the best that can be done is to offer an opinion: which is done below. Both this column and the owner of these tools would welcome your views.

The plane nos. 1 and 2 (Figure 2) are very similar. They could be used as handrail planes for shaping the sides of banister rails. The projection at the center of the rounded part of the sole would form a decorative groove.

Handrail planes are not common. A complete set would include a right and left pair, a "topping" plane for the top, and radiused versions for curved sections. As Sellens noted, handrail planes were listed in American manufacturer's catalogs, but none offered illustrations.3 They were usually equipped with fences to adjust for various heights of handrail, and were offered in pairs to cope with grain reversals. In earlier times, it was not unusual for the architect to design his own decorative moldings, including the profile for the handrail. Planes would have to be made to produce these. Such single-purpose planes would have no need for an adjustable fence.

One opinion offered for the purpose of planes 1 and 2 was that these were mother planes, producing daughter planes for shaping chair rails. This seems unlikely, as the moldings produced by the daughters would have a 3/16 -inch wide protuberance which would be subject to damage by contact with a chair back. In addition, it would be surprising if the demand for chair rail planes of a specific profile sufficed to warrant making mother planes.

The plane no. 3 (Figure 3) would produce a wide, shallow groove rather more than an inch from the edge of the work. This spacing rules it out as a finisher for the bottom of a handrail. One (unlikely) possibility is relieving the underside of wide door sills. The owner suggests that, used as a mother plane, it would produce a daughter that would shape wainscot boards having a bevel on either side. Have you another suggestion?

Note that there is a second stamp on the front, an incuse "H. CORMIER,' distinct from the embossed zigzag border "L. CORMIER" on all of these planes. Heroux reports that Henri Cormier operated a sawmill at one time. Could he have produced wainscot stock of this type?

Plane no. 4 (Figure 4) may have been intended as a mother plane or a coping plane for a larger version of plane no. 7 described below. There is probably a better answer; do you have one?

A reglet plane (not to be confused with a raglet) was used to make the strips of wood (reglets) used to space type in hand typesetting. A slat plane made slats for Venetian blinds, thicker than reglets: these often had slightly hollowed soles. Similar Japanese planes formed grid strips for shoji screens. The general form of these planes is that of a jack plane with projections on either side of the sole. These projections are not fences, but serve by bottoming on the bench top, thus ensuring uniform thickness for their products. Plane no. 5 (Figure 4) is of this form. Do you suppose that it was used by Henri in making blind or shutter slats?

The profile of plane no. 6 (Figure 4) is generally referred to as "nosing molding," "bolection," "belection," etc. It is listed in several compendia, including Sellens.4

Two records were located for a plane similar to the one of plane no. 7 (Figure 4). One was made by G. C. Ward (ca. 1840?)5, the second by A. Kelly & Co. about 1850.6 The profiles of both are the same as that of the present plane save for curved moldings in place of the bevel of the photograph. The application was described by Peter Nicholson7 as a sash molding plane for a meeting rail. Common sash bars are profiled with a decorative molding and a rabbet to hold the glass pane and the putty that keeps it in place. They are made narrow to avoid restricting the view. Using the same profile on a thin meeting rail (the bottom of an upper sash, top of lower) would weaken it too much. It was safer to eliminate the rabbet and replace it with a groove for the glass. The plane shown makes the desired cut.

Feedback

An inquiry from David Wingo leads to an alternate explanation for the origin of the plow of the September column. He provided the photograph (Figure 5) of his I. Cogdell plow (quite similar to the sketch in Goodman8 of a plow by his master, W. Cogdell). The arms of this, Wingo reports, slide freely in their mortises, and there is no means of holding them in position. We know that the cross-grain of the arms shrinks, with age, more than the long grain of the stock; but to have this shrinkage great enough to create such a loose fit is unexpected. Plows without means of securing the arm positions are rare, perhaps because all those with loose arms were restored to usefulness by later addition of wedges and wedge mortises or other means.

Notes

1. Emil & Martyl Pollak, A Guide to the Makers of American Wooden Planes, 4th Edition, revised by Thomas L. Elliot, (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2002).

2. Robert Westley, Guide to Canadian Plane Makers & Hardware Dealers, 2nd Edition, (Kingston, Ontario: The MarLachlan Woodworking Museum, 1997).

3. Alvin Sellens, Woodworking Planes, (Privately printed, 1978).

4. Sellens, Woodworking Planes, 183.

5. Catalog of American Wooden Planes, Issue no. 3, (June 1992): 17.

6. List 18, lot 26, Cliff Yaun.

7. Builders and Workmans New Directory, 1934 ed.; plate reprinted in Arnold & Walker catalog no. 6, 5.

8. W. L. Goodman, British Planemakers from 1700, 2nd Edition, (Needham Market: Arnold & Walker, 1978), 68.

"Plane Chatter" by J. M. Whelan is a regular failure of The Chronicle. Contact him at JMWHELWDPL@aol.com.

Copyright Early American Industries Association Mar 2005
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