Review By: I.Ball
Category: Old Wooden Planes
Manufacturer: Various
Tool Type: Wooden Planes
Plane Type: Rebate / Rabbet
The old British wooden rebate plane also called the wooden rabbet plane
is the forerunner to the iron shoulder rebate / rabbet plane.
The wooden rebate plane has a rectangular shaped hardwood body which
has a window cut the whole way through the side of the plane body where
the cutter lays.
The cutting edge of the cutter spans the full width
of the plane to ensure the plane can cut right into the corner of a
rebate / rabbet (the cutter is usually about 1mm wider than the sole).
The cutter is secured in place with the use of a wooden
wedge.
The curved window shape is designed to curl the shavings and let them
escape through the side of the plane quickly and easily.
The wooden rebate / rabbet planes were produced in many widths usually ranging from
10mm (3/8 inch) to 38mm (1 1/2 inch). The planes were produced with a square mouth
and with a skewed mouth.
The old wooden rebate planes are usually made from Beech as this was the cheapest
and most readily available of the British hardwoods.
The wooden rebate planes were occasionally made in other materials such as mahogany,
boxwood and rosewood.
The wooden rebate planes were sometimes fitted with a steel sole. The main reason
for this was it extended the life of the plane greatly as the sole of the wooden
plane is more susceptible to damage.
There were also wooden rebate planes (later on) with a moving fence (similar to
the
moving fillister plane design)
There were many, many manufacturers of rebate / rabbet plane, below is a list of some of the makers:
Atkins
Buck
Greenslade
Griffiths
Marples (William)
Mathieson
Moseley
Nurse
Preston (Edward)
Varvill
The manufacturer's mark (if present) can virtually always be found on the front nose
of the plane. If the plane is quite mucky or you hadn't realised, this is the place
to look to identify who made it and if you wish to delve deeper there are a few
books out there to help identify the age of the plane.
The authority of these books (at the time of writing this) has to be Jane Rees 'British Planemakers - 4th Edition'.
The 'British Planemakers fom 1700 - Third Edition' is also good if you come across
a secondhand copy.
The wooden rebate plane is a tool which has been produced in slightly different
forms in various regions around the world.
The old wooden rebate planes went on to be manufactured in many forms of iron shoulder
plane, much of which were sold side-by-side with the wooden rebate planes. The first
metal types were the
infill shoulder planes
such as the
Norris 7 shoulder plane
and then the
iron shoulder planes
such as the
Stanley 92 shoulder plane,
the
Edward Preston shoulder plane
and the
Record 073 shoulder plane.
For a long time all three types of shoulder rebate plane were sold side-by-side.
It wasn't until about the 1950's-1960's when the wooden rebate plane and the infill
rebate plane production virtually ceased and the iron rebate plane became pretty
much the sole rebate plane on the market.
Many of today's shoulder plane are based upon the early iron shoulder planes such
as the
Clifton 420 shoulder plane
and the Lie Nielsen 73 shoulder plane.
Veritas Tools have designed their Veritas shoulder plane with an appearance which
would have looked amazingly futuristic in the days of the wooden rebate planes.
<1700 - 1970>
....
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