“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…”

One cold evening, this past November I was taking a break from writing; surfing around the web, from E-Bay to Kijiji through Craig’s List and the like. I stumbled over an add that simply read ‘Old Tools’. I clicked on the add and viewed the pictures; nothing out of the ordinary, a few old hand saws, a couple of wooden planes and then the usual bottom of the tool box items such as auger bits, broken hammers a screwdriver or two…
I noticed as well in the photo a decent looking wooden bodied plough plane and decided to e-mail the seller for a quote. $100. bucks for the lot. Perfect. I made the deal and received the box of antiques. They’ve been sitting in my shop now for a few months and last night I decided to go through the items and have a closer look. Turns out the two wooden bodied planes, a Jointer and this Jack are pretty nice. They’ve both seen some use and have the normal wear and tear, a few decades of grime and decay but both seemed to have been well kept by their previous owners. I took the Jack plane out and disassembled the parts. I gave the entire surface a good going over with some mineral spirits and then this morning I started to re-tune it. The following are the steps I took to resurrect this old Jack plane.
Beginning at the soul, where everything should begin, I took some 100 grit 3X Norton sandpaper and with some double sided tape applied it down to a sheet of safety glass I have for sharpening. I checked the bottom before hitting the abrasive with my winding sticks to see if I could detect any noticeable humps or valleys. Some dark pencil lines scribbled across the bottom will help to keep track of my progress. I’d say no more than 10 minutes on the 100 grit and things were getting pretty smooth. From there I moved along to some 220 grit and repeated the process, again making some pencil marks and carefully monitoring my work. A few more minutes and I was done. I repeated these same steps with the wedge until it too was in the ‘house of pancake range’.
With the soul of the plane addressed and the wedge ready to work I moved onto the chip breaker and iron. If and when you watch my new DVD, (hopefully this coming Christmas when Santa stuffs it in your work sock) you’ll see me explaining some of the advantages and disadvantages in Flea Market tools. I mention that if you do decide to fix up an old tool that I don’t recommend reusing the iron. Instead I usually opt to replace it with a thicker, modern variety. I should say that this philosophy usually rings true, especially with old Stanley planes that originally came with thin irons that are prone to chatter. This plane however had a nice thick iron that seemed like it had lots of life left in it. With that I went to work on flattening the back. Beginning with an aggressive 220 grit Norton water stone I started the ‘ol pushin’ and pullin’ routine. About two solid hours in I had to ask my wife to give my back a rub…serious muscle aches. I was thinking to myself that I should have listened to my own advice but with the couple of hours already invested, I had to continue on. Moving on up from 220 to 1000 to 4000 and finally 8000 the iron was finally there.

Flat…just like the tender spots on my thumbs from pressing down onto and into the antique tool steel. I turned the piece over and checked it across the width for square; not too bad but needed some work. I re-established a straight, square edge on my slow speed wet-grinder, (the only powered tool in my workshop I might add) and then onto re-establishing the bevel. 25 degrees and back to the stones. 1000, 4000 and finally 8000 to finish adding a secondary micro-bevel to the leading edge.

Back over to hone and cut off the burr I finish with the ‘ruler trick’ and call the iron done. I cleaned and dressed the chip breaker as well, actually using my water stones to flatten the leading edge. Some more sand paper on glass to clean up the years of rust and a nice light coat of machine oil for both. You’d be surprised at how quickly rust will develop on old tool steel like these. Seems even more so once you’ve cleaned off the grime that was probably preserving them in some strange way. A nice thing now, which always happens at some point in the refinishing of old tools is the story starts to emerge. Up until this point I really had no idea of where this plane had come from. There were no visible marks or emblems anywhere until the dark dirt was removed from the top of the iron. Ohio Tool Co. Ahhh, good to meet you sir. I Googled the company name and found very little information; the company it seems didn’t last all too long but here is a little history for the galoots in the room.

1823-The Ohio Tool Company started operations in Columbus, Ohio.

1841 to 1880-The firm made use of Prison Contract Labor from the nearby Ohio State Penitentiary.

1851-The company was incorporated with a capital stock of $190,000. It employed about 200 and was frequently called “The Plane Factory” since carpenters’ planes were the chief article of manufacture.

1858-The Ohio Tool Co. officers this year were George Gere, President; A. Thomas, Secretary and Treasurer; and C. H. Clark, Superintendent.

1865-Patents issued in this year for mortising machines used in cutting plane stocks helped to speed production.

1887-The Ohio Tool Co. employed 70 hands.

1893-The Auburn Tool Co. and the Ohio Tool Co. merged with offices in New York and factories in Auburn, N.Y. and Columbus, Ohio.

1900-The Ohio Tool Co. received the highest award given on carpenter’s tools at the Paris Exposition.

1903-The Business Directory of Columbus lists the company at 63 North Scioto Street which was close to the Scioto River. “Scioto” was marked on their second grade planes.

1914-The Company moved to a new plant at Charleston, West Virginia.

1920-The Ohio Tool Company ceased operations.”

With the chip breaker and iron ready to go to work I turned my attention to the throat and mouth of the plane. A little file work to re-establish the edges of the mouth and then into my tail vise to clean out the throat.I test fitted

the newly sharpened iron assembly and was happy with the fit. I then gave the entire body of the plane a nice heavy bath of boiled linseed oil. Ahhh….goes down good. The age of the tool and the dryness of the wood soaked up the oil in no time at all. From there it was now late afternoon and finally time to take it for a test drive. A few small knocks with one of the hammers that came in the box of tools and voila! A nice paper thin shaving rolled up and out of the throat. Like a boxer past his prime getting a second chance at the belt; a title shot. This was a good day for the Ohio Tool Company and a good day for me. It wasn’t about how much the plane cost or how long it took me to get it back in working order; it was simply a day spent in discovering a small piece of some history all but forgotten…Cheers!

The overall dimensions of the plane are 16″ long x 2 7/8″ wide. The iron is 2 1/4″ wide and slightly better than 3/16″ in thickness. I mentioned the nice old Jointer and wooden bodied plough plane; they’ll no doubt get this same treatment sometime in the future when my back stops aching and my thumbs return to their normal shapes! Stay tuned…

Mr. Krenov, meet Mr. Krenov

A while back I went to visit the shop of a good friend of mine and fellow wood-worker, Mike Morrison. In my hand I held one of my prized possessions, my James Krenov Smoothing plane. I had purchased it a year or two ago, the day after I read that Mr. Krenov was no longer making cabinets but selling his hand planes. You can search my Archive section for the full story. Sometime last year, I was telling my friend Mike the whole Krenov story and he too decided to order a hand plane from the cabinetmaking Guru. One of the main reasons for the visit on this particular day was to do a kind of comparison; see if they were any where near the same or completely different beasts all together. When I walked in to his shop and finally held the two planes together I was pretty shocked at the differences between the two. Visually, they’re clearly Krenovian in appearance, his seemed at first somehow ‘denser‘ or ‘sturdier?‘ than mine; although I thought this may be due to the comfort thing I get from having used mine for a year. On this day we were like two kids on Christmas morning, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours! I tried out his on some long grain hardwood he had on his bench top and although it felt like a finely tuned plane, comfortable and yet somehow foreign, it didn’t feel like my Krenov. I realised I’d have to spend some more time on it but couldn’t on this day due to another engagement I had. I left my Krenov in Mikes very capable hands, (obviously a very close friend, if you leave your James Krenov Smoothing plane in his trust)and he spend a few hours comparing the two planes. He’s promised to post a Blog on the findings he had and will post them soon on his site, Morrison Woodworks. Find the link on the side bar. You can also find the James Krenov link where perhaps you too can acquire one of these finely crafted instruments.

One fine day last year I was surfing around the net and came across the James Krenov Direct website. I had stumbled over it before and once again was admiring the pics of his work there. To my surprise I read that James no longer was building his cabinets due to his poor eye sight but was still making his wooden bodied hand planes. There was some contact information on the web site for anyone interested in purchasing one. I immediately wrote a quick note expressing my interest in a plane and also my sympathies to hear about his failing eyesight. I left it at that and within a few days I heard back from Mr. Krenov himself. He said he had “the plane for me! ” I think another two to three weeks passed and then a shoe box came in the mail. My new James Krenov smoothing plane. I was like a kid at Christmas time. I couldn’t wait to get it out and into a nice piece of hardwood. When I opened the box and placed the plane in my hand it was a perfect match. It was not the first wooden plane I’ve held or used, but it was by far the most comfortable. It just feels right in your hand. My wife commented on the look of the tool and mentioned that it was easy to tell Mr. Krenovs eye sight was failing.! So yeah, perhaps to the untrained eye it may look a little ‘rough’ but that’s part of the charm. It’s all about the feel right.?
Well looks aside, when I finally put it to work it didn’t disappoint. It surpassed all expectations and became my main smoothing plane. Funny, when things are not going great and you’re kind of fighting with a certain piece of wood…perhaps some reversing grain and you’re looking over at the wood stove and looking back at the wood your fighting to control tear out with…this tool wins every time. I’ve since made a Krenov style plane and have studied the one I ordered….no chance….not even close…I don’t know why the Krenov works so well? I can’t tell what is done to make it perfectly chatter free..I can’t replicate the throat opening or the irregular shape of the body…only one mans hands can and I’d be interested to see if he has made any two alike.I guess its just one of life’s sweet mysteries…he is indeed a master craftsman we can all learn and draw inspiration from.
If you’d like to see an interview with James Krenov discussing his plane making go to:
www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignArticle.aspx?id=30181

After I ‘Scrub” the rough stock down removing and twists or warps I move on to my Jointer Plane. This is the tool of choice to follow with. It will remove all of the highs and lows from the surface of your piece. Again my Jointer is made by VERITAS here in Canada. This Jointer is unique in the fact that its blade is set ‘bevel-up’ on a 12° bed and when combined with a 25° blade bevel, it creates a cutting angle of 37°. I mostly use this plane with the optional 38° Blade, combined with the 12° bed angle, creates the so called ‘York’ pitch, perfect for dealing with difficult grains in hard wood and the result is almost no tear-out. Another great feature of the VERITAS Jointer is the adjustable throat plate. This makes it super simple to close up the throat so you can take a real fine shaving. Another factor to consider when using any Jointer Plane is the size. The VERITAS is 22″ x 2 7/8″ and weighs 7 1/2 lbs. A big plane to handle, but once you get it going, the extra weight of the tool itself helps to keep it moving along through the wood. I also wax the sole every couple of minutes with just a standard block of Paraffin to help reduce friction.

To start off with saying ‘Hand Planes are the most used tools in my workshop’ would be an understatement. I use them at the roughest stage of the milling process all the way through to the final smoothing stages of finishing.

To begin the process of milling rough lumber the first plane used is the Scrub Plane. Mine is made by VERITAS here in Canada. The Scrub plane is the tool of choice for major stock removal, the first step when flattening rough stock. A scrub plane is not usually used parallel to the grain, but at an angle of about 30°. The blade edge is ground with a 3” radius, so it can take an aggressive cut. Speaking of the blade or Iron as we call it, the Scrub plane has a real thick iron that helps eliminate any chatter. When you first hold the VERITAS Scrub the first thing you’ll notice is the narrow width of the sole. This actually helps alot when aggresive planning is desired on rough stock. The only negative thing I found about the VERITAS Scrub is the tote. ( which sadly seems to be the case with most of the VERITAS line.) Very under-shaped, and not at all comfortable. I removed mine soon after I purchased it and re-shaped it. This actually turned out quite nice and gave the tool a sort of custom feel. I mean no one else will ever have one exactly like it!