Do Wooden planes still have a place?

I think sometimes we look at planes more like we might consider, say, hmm, a bulldozer or a road grader -- the logic where mass and weight and a dropped blade levels all opposition by sheer, unyielding force alone. The funny thing for me is this, a 22" wooden plane, weighs 3.4 kilos, and the bevel up Veritas of the same length weighs 4 kilos but when the wooden plane hits the wood it seems to be ten times lighter because of the reduced friction even though the weights of the two are so close. Of course, we are not just talking Veritas planes, we are talking all metal-cast planes no matter the maker. The Woden plane weighs 3.1 kilos but it is 2" shorter so it will be comparable to the other two cousins.

*Three planes where the weight is similar but the wooden one weighs much lighter on the wood in use by a massive difference.*

Sometimes a commenter somewhere will draw a comparison between the thicker blades in the old planes with the newer heavyweights, saying that they had thick irons too and that they were comparable in thickness to the modern ones and that it must have been because of chatter associated with thinner plates but that was not the case at all. There are differences between the new plate steels used today and hammer-forged steel cutting irons where a trip hammer compels steel into itself with repetitive blows while the steel is yellow-hot throughout the process. Mid process, a hardened plate was hammer forge-welded to softer steel, making up two-thirds of the thickness of the new iron, the iron of which was tapered from around 4mm to 2mm over a five-inch distance. This meant that the sharpening process was less laboursome than the new steels because the hard part of the bevel was only one-third or so of the width of the bevel -- about the same as a Stanley cutting iron bevel.

*You can see the slight difference in colour along the lamination line between hard steel and softer steel.*

So why were the cutting irons so thick? More because the lamination of the steel using the methods available required it and mostly because the thicker, tapered cutting irons countered the forces of planing which had no mechanical device to prevent the blades from being driven back as would happen with a parallel cutting iron. These planes relied on a simple wedge to hold the cutting iron assembly. On Stanley planes and then those such as Norris planes, there was introduced a winding adjustment mechanism fitted to the cutting iron or the cap iron that once set, held the blade at a set distance depth. This advantaged makers like Stanley for a couple of reasons, one, the plane suddenly became much lighter and more compact, the refinements of a mechanism gave instant and highly controlled adjustability. Even Stanley actually laminated some of their plane irons. They are hard to get hold of I find, but they take and hold a good edge that lasts well if you can get hold of them.

*This picture shows more clearly that the hardened part of the iron means less hard steel to sharpen and hone.*

Sliding a large and blocky wooden plane into the wood brings with it the pleasant surprise that often defies describing. The cherry wood that I am currently planing is pure joy to me. Once planed, if I were to withdraw the cutting iron, I could shove the plane and it would glide across the surface for a couple of feet or more. That would not happen with a metal plane. The pleasant surprise of planing with a wooden plane is mostly about the lightness but then too the reality that you can actually plane for longer and I might suggest more accurately. The verticality of the plane is easier with an overhand grip at the fore-end and the push hand firmly enclosing the rear tote.

Overhand works best with large wooden planes like this. It has nothing at all to do with pressing down, neither with the forehand or the rear, that's because a sharp plane pulls itself to task. The silliest thing `i ever heard was that you must bear down on the plane from overhead to make it work. That's not the case at all. The hands are merely the extensions of the upper mass of body pushing forward from behind. You would only need to bear down if you indeed neglect to sharpen. A sharp plane pulls itself to task!

I am not saying that everyone should go back to the wooden planes. Not at all. I am saying that if you see one in good shape in the coming years and it costs less than say £30 or even £100 and you can afford one you should go ahead and add it to your collection to use as needed. They are nice to use and once you get used to the shape and such they will help you in dimensioning your wood greatly.

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