Category: Hand tools
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The world’s largest functioning hand plane
I recently came across a YouTube video of a massive European-style plane titled “World record – largest plane in the world” which made me curious to learn more. According to Guinness World Records, it was made by Schreinerei Fust who appear to be a Swiss carpentry business and it measured 7.13 x 4.37 x 2.10 m.…
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Removing pitting from plane irons and chisels
Removing pitting can be a real pain, especially if it’s deep. A disc sander or belt sander, if careful, would be ideal for removing pitting but if you don’t have access to one of them, there is another way. Lapping using long strips of coarse sandpaper on a flat surface will rapidly remove metal. Float…
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Restored planes are not always a good buy
Restored planes may look nice, sometimes nicer than when they were new, but they’re not always a good buy.
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Restoring a wooden smoother
This wooden smoothing plane was bit of a mess. Someone had closed the mouth by fitting an insert which had come loose and had then been fixed using a screw, which is not ideal. The adhesive used to fix the insert in place appears to be have the consistency of grout. Possibly someone used whatever…
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EMIR No. 731 Grooving Plane
Another plough plane, this time a wooden one, which I believe is an EMIR No. 731. EMIR was founded around 1937 and was quite late to the wooden plane making business. I’m unsure when they ceased plane production, but they were still making them in the 1960s and until recently, EMIR was still making workbenches.…
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Record 040 plough plane
Another year, another hand plane. This time it’s a Record 040 plough plane which, according to “Record Hand Planes, A History“, was only in production from 1935-1943. Due to the short production run, it is less common than other Record plough planes, such as the 043 and 044, but despite that, they do turn up…
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Review of Hand tools: their ways and workings
Hand tools: their ways and workings by Aldren Auld Watson. First published in 1982, which was a surprise given it was long after the heyday of hand tool use. This book is very much aimed at beginners, and each tool is explained as if teaching a complete beginner. Because of this, the text can be…
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Screwdriver storage
This is just a quick post about a neat idea for under shelf screwdriver storage. It’s not my idea, I believe it came from a blog post I read years ago that I sadly cannot find. It is very simple, just a piece of wood with suitable sized holes for each screwdriver drilled in it…
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Restoring a Record 078 Fillister Plane
Taking a rusty and dirty Record 078 filister plane and cleaning it up to good working condition.
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Cleaning a rusty Stanley 71
I recently acquired a Stanley 71 router plane which was in a sorry state, covered in rust and missing its depth adjustment nut. The plane was so rusted that dismantling it produced small piles of rust, but all the pieces were structurally sound. The most corroded pieces are the screws for the knobs, but even…