User-Made Stanley Style Dovetailed Infill Bench Plane

Filed under: Smoothing Planes, Unknown Makers
Tagged: Closed Handle, Dovetailed, Rosewood Infill, Unknown Maker

Description

At first sight one could be excused for thinking that this was just a body casting from a Stanley plane which has then been infilled with rosewood but, upon closer inspection, you would be able to just make out the outline of the dovetails used to join the three plates together to form the body shell.

There are, however, traces of Stanley as this plane utilises a "Type 11" lever cap, blade and chipbreaker manufactured by that particular maker. The screw for the lever cap is anchored by a steel bar which is fixed to either side of the plane. This is much more desirable than simply drilling and tapping into the rosewood infill, as the pressures involved in holding down the cutting iron would, most likely, rip the screw from it's wooden holding.

One obvious downside to the design of this plane, however, is that the iron is so thin -- a typical Stanley blade measuring only about 1/16" thick. Luckily a thicker cutting iron could be fitted to this plane without too much trouble.

The plane measures 9-1/2" in length and 2-3/8" wide. The blade is a standard No. 4 size which is 2" wide. Though it lacks any form of blade adjustment, the traditional method of a few judicious taps here and there should set the depth of cut easily enough.

The infill has been done well, overstuffed like the best of them. It features a closed-style rear handle with a nice long spur. A Stanley type front knob has been screwed to the front infill, rather than using a traditional front cushion or bun design. It's a little different, but I don't mind the look.