# E C Emmerich Dovetail Plane



## swirt

Interesting review. I am surprised by the wider mouth on that side. I guess I wouldn't worry about it since that portion of the dovetail has almost no strength anyway and is typically hidden. The only place it might be visible is on the ends of the socket if it is not a stopped socket (like a stopped dado)


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## docholladay

Very astute observation about the mouth opening. I would contact Lee Valley about that. That does not seem normal to me. I have a few wooden planes with skewed irons and none of them have a mouth opening like that. Based on the prices that I have see on EC Emmerich planes, I would expect better than that.

Doc


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## shoarthing

Interesting & helpful to see Emmerich's dovetail plane reviewed - thank you.

An alternative I've used over the past 40+ years is Ullmia's #496 grathobel (dovetail plane) . . . . still in production in red beech/hornbeam (sole) & afaik identical in design to my mid-30s hornbeam/lignum #496. Image below is from a site selling the current model.

The Ulmia grathobel's mouth is parallel, & the nicker is a straightforward triangular-ended sliver of tool steel, with decades of sharpenable material. This plane is good for cross-grain work, with the usual proviso - noted above - of fragile tail corners.

Angle of the sole is an unusual 17° . . . . . only one retail dovetail cutter I know of is made to this slope; sold by Dictum in Germany. Not a hassle to me, since handwork trade practice was to cut with a fine-toothed version of a stair-saw, or use side-rebate planes inside a dado.

Current project is to make a matching-angle female dovetail plane, in maple/verawood


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