# Antique wood body planes-1 is W. Butcher



## StayinBroke (Jan 1, 2013)

Hey all, first post in the forums! Hi! Nice to meet ya and looking forward to all I can learn here! The first little bit of info I'd like to glean from the cumulative knowledge here is about antique wood bodied planes. I was at my Parents for the Holidays and found, in a back corner of my Granddads barn, 3 oldies, but goodies. I found 2 coffin smoothers and a jointer. They aren't in the best of shape, but I think with a little work they can be used again. Here's some pics. I'll try to break them up a little bit.
Here's a few of the jointer plane. I'm hoping it's not too far gone because it's in pretty rough shape. It's missing the tote, and the sole is pretty beat up around the mouth. The wood is very dry and cracked pretty much all over. It didn't have an iron, but did have the oirginal wedge and chip breaker. I'm wondering if I was to clean it up a little and give this a soak in some BLO if it would help close up some of the cracks, then inlay some new hardwood into the sole around the mouth, and find an iron to fit though I have no idea what the price of an iron would be, if it would be worth the work. Well, not if it would be worth the work, but if it would be possible for an amateur woodworker like myself to undertake. I can't find a makers stamp/trademark on either the chip breaker or plane body. Anyway here's the pics.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

Try these
http://lumberjocks.com/donwilwol/blog/series/4327

And Dan has some great blogs on transitional which will help. http://lumberjocks.com/Dcase/blog/25991


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## StayinBroke (Jan 1, 2013)

The next one is one of the coffin smoothers. This one isn't too bad. It has a crack in each cheek at the top of the wedge mortise. The sole is in relatively good shape though the wood around the mouth is pretty dry and delicate.It doesn't really have any other major damage besides the cracks in the cheeks. It did not have the original wedge, but a rough wedge of pine shoved and beat in till it fit and probably cracked the cheeks. It did have an iron and chip breaker, though they both are rusted and pitted beyond salvaging. There's practically no life left on the iron anyway. I can see "WARD" and what seems to be some kind of star stamped into the iron, but I can't quite make out what is stamped into the chip breaker. The body does have a makers mark on the tow. It's faint but what I can make out is possibly "PARKER HUB#ARD & CO." The # is a letter I can't quite make out but I think it might be another B. This is stamped in an arch with something underneath it that I can't make out. Here's the pics.


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## StayinBroke (Jan 1, 2013)

The last one I'm kinda excited about. It's another coffin smoother. The wood is the least dry on this one. This one has the original wedge, and a William Butcher iron and chip breaker, and there is a steel striking button set in the heel. The iron chip breaker are in great shape considering it's been sitting in a trunk in the back corner of my granddads barn for probably the last 50 years or so. There is no major pitting anywhere on either and lots of life left in the iron. The body has a couple cracks in the top from the wood drying out, but the sole has a crack running the entire length of it right down the middle. I can see no sign of a makers mark anywhere on the body. Here's the pics.


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## StayinBroke (Jan 1, 2013)

Don, thanks for the info. I may have seen one of them in one of my searches. My biggest problem is that my tools are limited. I have a 10" band saw, a scroll saw and a drill press. I have no other hand planes, or a jointer, though I do have a good set of chisels, but I don't trust myself enough with them yet to be able to pare off the sole of one of the planes and so a replacement. I've toyed around with the idea of cutting a little off the bottom with my band saw, and running the plane over sand paper on a piece of plate glass that I have to level it off before gluing up a new sole and chiseling the mouth out again, but then I have nothing to bring the sole back down to where the mouth is at the proper width. Though now that I think about it one of they guys at woodcraft offered to make a few passes on the joiner for me if I bring it in glued up and ready to go. I'm kinda afraid to go the bandsaw route though because I really don't want to screw it any of them up beyond repair. I think I may just leave them as they are for now besides some cleaning up untill I have an opportunity to get/use the proper tools to do the repairs.


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