Subject: rec.woodworking Antique Tool FAQ

From: [email-masked] (James Roche)
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 18:43:17 GMT

Archive-name: woodworking/antique_tool
Last-modified: 5/3/96

This FAQ was provided by Vince Miller. Comments should be directed to
<[email-masked]>.

Antique Tools FAQ
-----------------

0. Purpose of this FAQ
1. Advantages of Older Tools
2. Is this a collectable or a user's tool?
3. What is this worth?
4. Restoration concerns
5. Who is "Bailey" ?
6. What are the corrugations for?
7. Quality makers (emphasis on iron planes)
8. Makers to avoid
9. What to watch for when buying planes
10. Basic plane types
11. Universal Planes (i.e. 55's) vs. Wooden Moulding Planes
12. Saws (nibs and nuts)
13. Infill ("Norris") style planes
14. Internet Resources

0. Purpose of this FAQ
======================

This FAQ is designed to address the most frequently asked
questions about antique tools on Rec.ww.  It also includes some
questions that in the opinion of the author should be asked more
frequently ;-).  It is designed to complement Ken Smith's
excellent Handtool.FAQ which has appeared in Rec.ww for some
time.  Some important questions concerning the use of old tools
have already been addressed there: i.e., basic tuning of a hand
plane, saw sharpening, etc.  Ken also provides an extensive
bibliography and guide to tool collecting organizations.  I
learned most of this stuff here in Rec.ww, so kudos to all the
folks who posted this stuff originally.

This Faq emphasizes iron planes, since the bulk of traffic
concerns them. 

1. Advantages of Older Tools
============================
Old tools were made in an era when there were many craftsmen and
tradesmen that relied on their tools to earn their living, thus
they had to be durable, effective, and ergonomic.  These would
often be used for hours on end, so the handles had to be
comfortable.  Older tools are often made of superior materials. 
The castings are heavier and more carefully machined, the tote,
knobs and handles are often of brazilian rosewood, the blades are
of quality steel and properly tempered.  In addition, the blades
are often of laminated construction.  A thin piece of (then quite
pricey) steel was laminated to a softer iron back.  This had the
(perhaps unintentional) effect of enabling the steel to be left
harder, since the soft iron would absorb some shock.  This same
method of construction is still used in the best Japanese tools
today.  Some observe that all tools made in yesteryear were not
superb.  The quality  of what remains is a result of the survival
of the fittest and there is alas no shortage of poorer quality
oldtools to be found as well.  

The standard reference for USING old woodworking hand tools is
Michael Dunbar's _Restoring, Tuning and Using Classic Woodworking
Tools_ (ISBN 0-8069-6670-X).

2.  Is this a priceless collectible or a user's tool?
=====================================================
Collectible tools are collectible because they are rare, so
chances are most tools you will find are not going to pay off
your mortgage.  However, there are plenty of rare things out
there.  For an overview of what Stanley tools are collectible see
Patrick Leach's "Stanley Blood and Gore" archived at the
"Electronic Neanderthal" web page (see #14 below for address).
In that very useful guide to all Stanley planes ever made, he
places an asterisk beside those that are better left to
collectors.

There are numerous guides to the prices of antique tools. 
Although these are not precise guides to value, they do make
clear the difference between a #45 and a #44 Miller's Patent
Plow.  Which may very well pay off your mortgage.  Check any of
the published price guides for this sort of information, but take
them with a pound or two of salt.

Most of the collectible Stanley planes are precisely the ones
that are least useful to the user.  They are rare because the
workers of yesteryear didn't find them practical.  An exception
to this rule are the earliest types of each tool which are often
worth quite a bit.  Dating planes is a complex undertaking, but
the simplest trait is the lack of a lateral adjustment lever on
the standard bench planes.  (Do not confuse this with a broken
and lost lateral adjustment lever as some (no doubt well
intentioned ;-) antique dealers have.)  There is a guide to
dating Stanley planes by the same Mr. Leach archived at the
Electronic Neanderthal as well.

Even though a tool is not particularly valuable monetarily, it is
still an important legacy of history and should be treated with
respect.  

3. What is this worth?
======================
A question easier to ask than answer.  This varies greatly
depending on condition of the tool, and the geographic location.
As a ROUGH guideline figure about 60-100% of current retail if
it's a plane Stanley still produces and its in good shape.  

It also depends who you are.  For example, a #7 jointer plane
sells retail new, for anywhere from $65 to over $110 dollars. 
Tool dealers ask from $75 to $100 for them.  If you live in the
right area, you can often find them at flea markets, antique
malls and yard sales for below $30.

In general, if you are new to the purchase of old tools, avoid
buying things that cost much more than $XX (insert however much
you're willing to blow on worthless junk) without acquainting
yourself with the going price.  Do this by talking to tool
dealers (see the handtool faq for a list of folks on the net) or
consulting price guides.  Local dealers of tools in antique malls
often way overprice their tools.  But then again, they
occasionally underprice out of ignorance.

4. Restoration Concerns
=======================
Much of what I'm about to say may sound extreme.  To some extent
it is.  However, until one knows enough about old tools to
distinguish the dross from the fine stuff, it's best to err on
the conservative side.

Even though most old tools are not extremely valuable from a
financial standpoint, they are part of a finite and dwindling
pool of antique artifacts.  As such they should be treated with
care and respect.  Even something as innocuous as the grunge
coating a tool (called patina by devotees) can reveal forgotten
facts about the trades (e.g., what one did with the second hand
when using a ripsaw).  Even if the tool holds no secret such as
this, realize that patina is made of the sweat and shop materials
of its previous owner.  These tools have often provided incomes
for 2 or more generations of artisans and their families, perhaps
before your grandparents were even born.  Meditate on this a
while before breaking out the Comet.  

The patina itself gives a lot of the value to the tool.  This is
especially the case with wooden tools.  Avoid stripping at all
costs.  Simple cleaning is usually ok.  Mineral spirits, rags and
toothbrushes will accomplish a lot.  If you're certain a tool is
nothing special, mild abrasives such as automobile rubbing
compound can be used.  Avoid wire brushes, especially wire
wheels!  They remove material quickly, obscure detail, and leave
a matte finish that initiates can spot a mile away.  I have a
very nice Mathieson infill smoother whose mouth was damaged by an
idiot with a wire wheel.  It is functional and a wonderful plane,
but it will never be what it was and they don't make em' anymore.

Mild rust can be rubbed off with a cloth and mineral spirits.  If
it is heavy, abrasives can be used.  Chemical methods tend to
leave an unattractive surface so avoid Naval Jelly and Coke(tm)
(same active ingredient!).  I have tried soaking a saw in
vinegar; this dissolved the rust, but also pitted the steel (I
know because it etched the weave of the wicking cloth I was using
into the blade).  Electrolysis is used in serious conservation
circles to remove corrosion.  A discussion on this is archived at
the Electronic Neanderthal.

It's best to try to maintain the original finish on the wooden
portions of old tools.  This of course can have its fanatical
extremes, but it's worth striving for.  In general they were
either left unfinished (most wooden planes) or shellacked. 
French polishing is the best way to renew the latter. The
simplest and least destructive of refinishing methods is to apply
a decent coat of paste wax.  The gravest sin is polyurethane.  It
can make the rarest of planes pariahs.  The ultimate rule is
avoid irreversible changes.

Functional modifications should be avoided unless you really know
what you are doing.  All of this may seem extreme, but until you
familiarize yourself with what is valuable and what is junk,
there is a chance you will be ruining a wonderful tool.  Anyone
who has searched for old tools for very long has many stories of
wonderful tools "fixed" by people who simply didn't know how to
use them properly.  I recently saw a wonderful 2" wide complex
moulding plane with its mouth whacked open. I guess the original
tight mouth did not allow the 1" thick shavings the user was
producing to clear the throat. ;-(

That said, there are times when an otherwise useless old junker
can be transformed into a useful working tool by means of radical
surgery--such as turning a handyman class smoother into a scrub,
or an old wooden rabbet into a sliding dovetail plane.

Most accounts of tuning old planes usually emphasize the
importance of flattening the sole.  This is a somewhat
controversial issue in old tooldom.  While a seriously non-
planar sole is a problem, most are quite functional.  Wooden
planes (with which so much of the greatest furniture was made)
are never terribly flat.  I think it's a genre issue.  If you are
writing an article or book on restoring and tuning tools, you
will want to include everything.  Article after article notes
sole lapping and it becomes dogma.  But not all planes need this
treatment.  Nevertheless there are times when a sole is so out of
whack that it has to be flattened, and there's no harm in that. 
Note, however, that lapping the sole can enlarge the mouth
harming its performance.  It will also lesson the plane's appeal
to collectors.  So don't go lappin any #164's.

5. Who is "Bailey"?  The Bailey Patent Design
=============================================
The standard pattern of bench plane that we all take for granted
was invented by a man named Leonard Bailey.  Bailey invented
three major parts of this design: the moveable frog (the wedge
shaped iron support on which the plane blade rests), the lever
cap iron securing system, and the depth adjustment wheel and yoke
system.  Later the improvement of the lateral adjustment lever
was added.  The Stanley company saw the potential success of
Bailey's design and bought the patents from him.  To honor the
dude of whom they quickly tired (there were several patent
lawsuits between them), they cast and engraved his name all over
their planes for some years.  This is why many of the Stanley
planes have "Bailey" cast into them.  The earliest ones also have
it engraved in the chip breaker and adjustment wheel as well.

6. What are the corrugations for?
=================================
Some say that they are intended to reduce the surface area of the
sole and thus friction, but this seems unlikely since friction is
a function of force, not surface area.  

The most common answer is that they are intended to somehow break
the suction that forms between two flat planes.  This suction
increases force and thus friction.  

Others have said that the corrugations are merely a gimmick. 
Their only real value comes into play when one is flattening the
sole.  Then the amount of iron to be removed is reduced--similar
to the scalloped backs of Japanese chisels.

7. Quality makers (emphasis on iron planes)
===========================================
After the initial patents expired, Stanley made all kinds of
improvements to keep their market share.  This resulted in the
many different "types" of the standard planes that were produced
throughout this century.  When the patents expired, many
competitors began to produce lines of Bailey style bench planes. 
Among the quality producers of these knock offs are: Sargent,
Millers Falls, Winchester, Keen Kutter, Fulton and Craftsman and
Record.  (Technically some of these are just labels, not
producers, but you get the idea.)  Sometimes, these are made with
higher quality than the original Stanleys.  These are often
unattractive to collectors, so they can provide very good values
to the user.

8. Makers to avoid
==================
Some of the clones are junk.  Stanley itself made several lines
of lesser-quality tools for weekend putzers who didn't need the
quality the trades demanded.  Among these are their Handyman and
Defiance lines of tools.  Sears also had a lower quality line
called Dunlap.  These can be serviceable tools, but if you buy
one make sure you get a significant discount off of the price of
a top of the line brand.  In antique stores these tools are often
prices the same as the best tools.  These handiman class tools
will seldom do for precise applications like smoothing.

Traits of these lessor tools include the following.  The stirrup
shaped yoke that straddles the depth adjustment wheel is often
made of stamped and bent sheet steel, instead of the sturdier
cast iron.  The lateral adjustment lever is sheet metal twisted
into two planes, without a wheel on the end where it engages the
slot in the blade.  The frog is often not supported well.  The
mating surfaces are not accurately machined.  These tools seldom
have the frog adjustment screw which allows you to precisely
adjust the mouth.  Poorly rounded totes are also often a sign of
lessor quality.  The earliest Stanleys totes are completely
radiused, whereas the latter ones merely have their corners
rounded over.  The best planes were made with knobs and totes of
rosewood or cocobolo.  Lesser ones used beech or other domestic
hardwoods.  However, some of the top of the line planes, like the
Stanley scrub planes always had beech.

There are many other brands of iron planes that are not related
to the Bailey family tree.  These are often referred to as
"Patent planes."  These are the backwaters of plane evolution. 
These are ideas that, good or bad, never made it into the big
time.  Sometimes they are the work of inspired geniuses.  Other
times, they are simply lame attempts to cash in on the success of
Bailey's design whilst skirting his patents.  Generally, they are
much rarer than the Stanleys.  In some cases, collectors seek
them, in others they ignore them while shelling out major moolah
for much more common Stanleys.  Some would make fine users, some
are too valuable, and others are just junk.

9. What to watch for when buying
================================
The most devastating problem is a crack in one of the castings. 
This often happens on the sides of the plane, in the area around
the mouth.  If there is a crack here, chances are the plane will
not work well.  There are often cracks around the mouth on the
bottom of the plane as well.  Chips are often seen in front of
and behind the mouth.  It they are in the front there is a
problem, since this will impede the proper function of the plane. 
Ones behind the mouth, if small and not connected to cracks, can
be considered merely cosmetic.  Often portions of the side are
chipped off.  If these are relatively small, they shouldn't be a
problem.  However, the plane should be appropriately discounted.

Cracks in the lever cap can be disastrous.  These often occur
around the hole for the screw, or by the lever itself.  These
will allow the cap to flex, preventing proper tensioning.  Often
the bottom edge of the lever cap is chipped.  They were sometimes
used as screw drivers for the screw on the iron.  A small chip is
no disaster, but large ones can cause uneven pressure to be
applied to the iron, allowing one side to chatter.

Cracks in the tote and knob are common.  Totes are often
repairable with an adhesive suitable for exotics.  Often past
owners have botched repair attempts, complicating things because
the old adhesive must first be removed.  Radial cracks in the
knob are tougher to fix, and if severe, can hinder proper
tightening of the knob.

Pitting from rust is common on the metal parts of old tools. 
Pitted castings, while ugly, are not really a problem unless
severe.  On the sole they can prevent the plane from leaving a
smooth surface, which is of course the whole point.  Examine
pitting closely beside and around the mouth.  I've seen planes
that have been welded reasonably well, where the clearest sign of
the repair are gas bubbles in the weld that resemble rust pits.
Pitting is more of a problem when it occurs on the rear of the
blade.  This often happens when water collects in the capillary
reservoir formed by the blade and the chip breaker.  If it's
light, it can be ground off when flattening the blade.  Sometimes
it is too deep for this to be possible.  The blade can still be
used for rough work, but it will never leave a smooth surface.

While looking at the blade, check for how much life is left in
it.  New blades had 2" or so of iron below the notch.  Discount
the value if less than 1" is left.

Familiarize yourself with the function of the various adjustment
mechanisms and make sure they are in working order.  With proper
tension on the lever cap, they should work smoothly without
excessive pressure.  Disassemble the plane to make sure
everything is as it should be, and that all parts are there. 
Check important working surfaces for wear: the slot in the
adjustment wheel, the wheel on the end of the adjustment lever. 
Check to see that the screw heads are not stripped or abused:
this can be a sign of rough handling.

Check the sole for flatness.  The sole need not be optically
flat, but serious warping is a problem.  Soles can be hollow,
convex or twisted along their length.  If you can spot the
problem by eye, it's best to pass on the plane.  If you plan to
use the plane in a shooting board or for shoulder work, make sure
the sides are square to the sole.  Sight down the soles and
fences of wooden planes.  Be especially attentive to planes with
mouths that cut completely cross the sole, like dados.  These are
particularly prone to warping out of line.

These are the things to look for when buying a user plane.  The
collector market is a whole different ball game.  There, finishes
are faked, planes are modified to resemble rarer ones, mixed
parts from different types become problems, etc.  Hopefully, if
you are spending that kind of moulah, this FAQ is not your only
guide.

10. Basic plane types
=====================

Bench Planes:
-------------

I will list these in order of use, the Stanley numbering system
lists them in order of size from small to large.

Jack Planes:
------------
Jack Planes range in size from about 12" to 15" in length, and
their irons vary from 1 3/4" to 2 3/8" wide.  These are used for
rough shaping of boards.  Their mouths are left wide, and chip
breakers set back 1/16" or more from the edge of the blade.  They
are made to remove large quantities of wood quickly.  Their
blades are often radiused to facilitate this.  The #5's are the
jack planes in the Stanley series.  The #5 is the basic jack. 
The 5 1/4 is a junior jack made for smaller hands, and for manual
training courses.  The 5 1/2 is a the bigger version.

There is another common bench plane that functions similar to a
jack.  This is the scrub plane.  Scrubs are short, with narrow 
(1 1/4" - 1 1/2"), sharply radiused blades.  They have no chip
breakers, very thick blades and wide mouths.  They are made to
hog off a lot of stock quickly.  Stanley's scrubs are the #40 and
the #40 1/2.  There a lot of European style wooden scrub planes
out there.  These have no rear tote, but a curved "horn" at the
toe, where the knob would be on a Bailey plane.

A well tuned jack can, in a pinch, be used for a smoother, or a
jointer.  They can do an adequate job in each, neither as well as
the dedicated plane.  Some have suggested a relationship with the
saying "Jack of all trades" here.

Jointers:
---------
Jointers are long planes.  They are used to flatten and joint the
faces and edges of a board with some accuracy.  Their long length
lets them ride over valleys and slice off the ridges on a board. 
They begin in size at 18" and go up to 24" in the Stanley line,
other types of jointers go all the way up to 30" or more.  The
longer the plane, the flatter the resulting surface.  The Stanley
jointers begin with the #6 at 18" long.  It's serviceable, but
considered too small for many.  It is attractive to those who
have a hard time with the bigger jointers.  The #7 is Stanley's
standard jointer.  It is 22" long and has a 2 3/8" blade.  The #8
is Stanley's biggest bench plane.  It's 24" long with a 2 5/8"
blade.

Smoothers:
----------
While the jointer leaves an acceptable surface on most woods,
finicky woods with difficult grain require a very precisely set
plane to be adequately finished.  A tightly tuned smoother will
shear off a delicate, lacy shaving leaving a surface with great
depth and clarity.  Such surfaces far surpass the results given
by abrasives, or even scrapers.  There is a belief, propagated by
some major names, that the smoothing plane should be followed by
final scraping.  I remain clueless as to the wisdom of this.
Seems like saying: "after washing the windows, rub the glass with
an oily rag."

Smoothers are smallish planes.  The Stanley #3 is 8" long with a
1 3/4" iron, while the #4 is 9" by 2".  Stanley made a #1 (5 1/2"
by 1 1/4") and a #2 (7" by 1 5/8"), but these are primarily
collector's tools and are priced accordingly.  There is also a #4
1/2 that is 10" by 2 3/8".  The shorter length of the smoothers
allow them to be used on problem spots where the grain may change
direction.  In such cases, one may have to plane in many
different directions on one board to get an adequate finish.

The key to the function of a smoother is a very tight mouth. 
Usually, the frog is set as far forward as possible on a Bailey
pattern plane.  The best smoothers have mouths of around .007" in
width (that's seven thousandths) or less.  Try for less than 1/64
of an inch.  The chip breaker should also be set very close to
the edge of the blade.  Again, 1/64" is a good place to start. 
Remember, you are using this plane last, the board should already
be square and very flat.  You will be removing from .0015 to
.005" (at most) with this plane.  The finer the shaving, the less
chance of tearout.

Block Planes:
-------------
Block planes are designed to shear off end grain.  Perhaps the
etymology is connected to the butcher's block.  Block planes have
the iron bedded bevel up, and have no chip breakers.  Turning the
blade bevel up allows the bedding angle to be decreased, without
requiring the sharpening angle to become more shallow and thus
weakening the edge.  Standard block's are bedded at 20 degrees,
while low angle blocks are bedded at 12 degrees.  The lower
cutting angle allows them to shear without "bruising" the end
grain.  These are very useful tools for trimming and fitting. 
Many have adjustable mouths which can be closed very tight
allowing a delicate shaving to be taken.  They can rival the best
smoothers.  Avoid those that lack adjustable mouths.  No matter
how much Mario Rodriguez loves his pretty Lie-Nielson bronze copy
of the old Stanley #103, it's still no rival for the lowly,
grungy Stanleys with adjustable mouths. Stanley made A LOT of
different block planes.  The most common quality planes are
numbers 9 1/2, 60, 65.  A lot of the others (but not all) are
junk.  

If you find a #62, rejoice!  It's one of the best tools Stanley
ever made.  This is a jack sized plane with a low angle block
mechanism.  It has an adjustable mouth.  Sell it to a collector
and buy Lie-Nelson's primo reproduction.

There are tons of other types of planes.  Many of these were made
for working various elements of fine joinery.  Many of them have
been replaced by the noisey electric router.  I won't go into
them here, but know there are dedicated planes of the following
types: rabbets, filletsters, ploughs, dados, side rabbets,
shoulder planes, skew blocks, edge planes, chisel planes, butt
mortise planes, scraper planes and routers.  For a good
description of many of these, see Dunbar's book. 

11. Moulding vs. Universal Planes
================================
Many people are interested in the #55 because ideally they can
produce many moulding profiles.  Through a combination of
different shaped cutters, using multiple passes, these planes can
indeed produce a wide range of profiles.  They also do plough,
filletster, and match work.  Owning one (rather expensive) plane
saves one the trouble and cost of assembling the whole range of
wooden planes it replaces.

However, there is a downside.  These planes have no mouth--well
actually they have an infinitely wide one.  Thus, the tearout
reduction provided by the mouth on a dedicated moulding plane is
lost.  This may not be as disastrous as it seems, since in
general, one tries to pick the clearest, straightest grained
stock available when sticking mouldings.  Still, it is an issue.

These planes are also temperamental.  "Jack of all trades, master
of none," applies here as much as above.  Unlike a dedicated
moulding plane which has all the registers and stops built into
its stock and set forever, these must be set each time a
universal plane is used.  This can cause inconsistent results. 
That said, I have read articles where people who do restoration
work swear by them.  For folks likely to encounter such a wide
range of profiles, owning one plane, as opposed to 48 or so does
have a distinct advantage.  That said (again!), it is important
to note that these tools were produced at a time when the
repertoire of profiles had become impoverished.  They are not
universally useful for work in all periods.  Dunbar points out
that even the proportions of simple profiles, such as quirked
beads changed over time.

12. Saws 
========

What is the nib on the back for?
--------------------------------
One of the most frequently asked of all frequently asked
questions.  It rivals the everpresent question concerning
aftermarket TS fences, it lacks, however, the longevity of
threads engendered by that question.

Many answers have been suggested: it is used to test the temper
of the steel, to start the cut, to remove splinters from the
kerf, to hold a string for level, to hold string to tie on a
sawblade protector, repressive desublimation, you name it.

The most agreed upon answer is that it is a vestige of earlier
ornate decoration on European saw backs.  According to a 1915
publication of Henry Disston & Sons (who should know something)
the nib is purely decorative.

How do I remove these funky screws?
-----------------------------------
These are split nuts.  You can remove them with a special
screwdriver.  These special tools can only be had by those
willing to file a slot of  appropriate width into a regular blade
screwdriver.

A question that perhaps should be asked: 
"Should I mess with these screws?"
----------------------------------

There are a number of factors to consider when removing the
screws from saw handles.  

     1. The nuts are usually very tightly set into their
countersunk holes and cemented there by the shellac finish. 
Often, all too often, removal will cause the wood to chip out
around the nuts.  This is ugly, a shame, and turns off
collectors.  Superglue has helped this fool when in that
situation.

     2. To function properly, the saw blade must be held
extremely tight in its handle.  Often, due to moisture loss, old
handles become loose.  In this case tightening the nuts, or if
extreme, removing them, and filing 1/16" off the bolt and
reassembling, can help quite a bit.  Note however, that it
sometimes takes A LOT of torque to properly remount the handle. 
Otherwise the saw will buzz, not sing, and you will be deprived
of the bliss you seek.  Sometimes, whilst being torqued on, the
wood will give way and the nuts will spin free. If this happens,
sometimes you can get relief by clamping the handle in a vice and
squeezing it close to the blade before tightening.

13. Infill ("Norris") style planes
===============================
These are often called "Norris" planes after their most famous
manufacturer Thomas Norris of London.  There were many other
makers, Norris earned his name by producing a very precise blade
adjuster.  The basic design was popularized by Stewart Spiers of
Ayr Scotland, who adapted it from earlier designs of mitre
planes.  Years after Spiers' success, Norris and other makers
such as Mathieson and Preston got on the bandwagon.  So, Stew
probably stews each time someone calls the genre by the name of
his copy cat competitor.

What are they?
--------------
They are very precise planes made for precise finishing work.
Their construction consists of a shell made of sheets of mild
steel dovetailed together.  Sheet metal is the "MDF" of the metal world,
the process relieves the internal stresses of cast metal, thus it moves
much less over time.  (Cheaper ones were made of cast iron,
better ones of dovetailed gunmetal.)  This shell is filled with a
hardwood such as beech, rosewood or even ebony.  They are made
for final smoothing of surfaces (thus come as smoothers, panel
planes and jointers) and for final precise tweaking of joints
(thus mitre and shoulder planes).  Ok, there are other kinds like
chariot, thumb, and rebate planes too.

Why are they good?
------------------
Several aspects of thier construction are important.  They have a
thick (3/16") parallel or "gauged" iron, which does not change
size as it's consumed like the tapered irons in wooden planes.
The iron is firmly bedded on a heavy endgrain wood block along
its entire length.  This, along with the metal sole gives the
combined advantages of wood and metal planes: the iron is firmly
bedded and the mouth is not prone to wear.  Their mouths are very
tight.  On a smoother they hover between 7 and 9 thousandths.  On
a mitre plane, they are even tighter.  They have a screw-lever
hold down made of a massive block of gunmetal (a type of bronze)
that can apply great force across the entire width of the blade.
They are usually bedded slightly steeper than the "common" pitch
(45 deg) found on the Bailey pattern planes.  Most infills
measure between 47 and 47.5 degrees.  This is more suitable for
figured hardwoods.

They were designed and built as premium tools.  Made to strict
tolerances, often each blade was custom fit to a plane.  The
mouth is extremely tight.  They are made to take only the finest
of shavings. Another advantage they possess is their massiveness.
This decreases the likelihood of the plane deflecting when
encountering difficult grain or when used on an extremely hard
wood.

All of these design features combined, yield a plane that does
exactly what a plane should: hold the blade firmly at the proper
angle and allow it to clearly shear a layer of wood off with no
tearout.  Not only do they excel with highly figured wood, they
leave a better surface on ordinary woods as well.  This
difference is visable to the untrained eye.  With a Bailey style
smoother, there is always some micro-tearout.  The surface,
although better than sanding or scraping, looks somewhat fuzzy.
With an infill smoother, the surface of the wood actually shines,
you are looking at a perfectly flat plane of wood, where the
fibers are neatly sheared and the pores are left open.  This
results in greater depth when the wood is finished.

Note however, that not all infill planes are equal.  Models with
later production dates can be sloppily made.  The key
descriminating factor is the tightness of the mouth.  Later
planes have wider mouths, and sometimes previous owners have
opened narrow mouths with a file.  This kills the user value of
such a plane.  I would avoid any smoother with a mouth much over
9 thou.  For mitre and shoulder planes, the mouth needs to be
even tighter.

Do I need one?
--------------
Due to user demand and collector speculation, their cost has been
rising for some time.  Decent user smoothers without the Norris
adjuster are going for $300 or so.  Not everyone needs one, but
many folks want one.  They are used only for the final finishing
of a wood surface, as they remove tremendously fine shavings.  I
think it's best to learn how to push a Bailey pattern smoother to
its limits before acquiring one of these, so that one can really
appreciate what they do.  (Sure that's paternalistic, but I still
think its true ;-).  Lie-Nelson's #62 clone with its adjustable
mouth is supposed to be a fine substitute for less money.  There
are several places producing infill repros as both finished
models and kits.  The repros are not cheap, since their
production is very labor intensive.  For those inclined to
provide thier own labor intensity, Jim Kingshott's _Making and
Modifying Woodworking Tools_ (ISBN 0 946819 32 7) includes
several chapters on making these planes using a variety of
methods.  Kingshott's book is in desperate need of editing
however, see Mike Lindgren's reflections on making a plane using
Kingshott's plans in the archives at "The Electronic
Neanderthal."  The book _The Best of FWW: Bench Tools_ has an
article about making a an infill panel plane.

14. Internet Resources
======================
Allan Fisher maintains a Web page devoted to the use, lore, and
acquisition of antique tools called the "Electronic Neanderthal"
it can be found at:
 
http:/www.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html  

Valuable archives and pointers to other net resources can be
found there.  Among the archives are Ken Smith's Handtool.faq,
Patrick Leach's many essays on Stanley tools and Ralph Brendler's
essay on the care, feeding and exercise of cabinet scrapers.

There is a listserv group, the name of which says it all:
"Oldtools."  The faqs and archives of the group can be found at
the Electronic Neanderthal, as well as information about
subscribing.

=================================================================
Vince Miller
Dept. of Theology
University of Notre Dame
[email-masked]
-- 
Jim Roche
[email-masked]
University of Rochester Computer Science Department Rochester, NY 14627