Restored Antique Plow Planes

I recently restored several hand planes, plow planes to be exact. Plow planes are used to create grooves for either drawer bottoms or most often used in frame and panel construction. A groove is used to let in the panel in a frame and panel. The plow plane excels at this task as it has an adjustable fence and the irons can be interchanged for different sized grooves. Plow planes incorporate a depth stop to determine groove depth.

These vintage plow planes date from the mid-1800’s, some earlier. They were in a neglected state with loose parts, dried and cracked wood bodies and fence, rusty metal components, etc. It is definitely a labor of love to get these plow planes back to a useable condition. I intend to use these often in my furniture making.

In one case, a plow plane was missing two wood wedges that lock the sliding fence arms in place. I used another plow plane as a template to recreate two new wedges and maintain historical accuracy. Going even as far as using beech, the same wood the other plane components were made from.

Along the way I designed and built a shelf for three of them. The shelf sits below my hand tool cabinets and allows easy access to the plow planes. If the tools are accessible they are more likely to be used!

I am very happy with the effort placed into bringing these cast off hand planes back to service. When I pick one of these plow planes up to use, I think of all the early craftsmen that used it and the many stories that surround each of the hand planes. To place context around their mid-1800’s age, there was no electricity, power or light in that era. Horse and buggy transportation. How far we have come with technology in our lives and woodworking. Yet I derive so much more pleasure from using these antique tools than simply turning on and using a machine!

Source link