Ed Minch writes:

> Fly rod makers use a block plane with a groove rabetted down the 
> center of the length of the bed.  They use a metal tapering jig that 
> is very clever that allows them to make the hexagonal pieces that glue 
> into the rod sections and make them tapered in a controlled fashion. 
> The sole of the plane rides on the jig, while the rabetted part planes 
> the piece - the blade never touches the jig.  How about a #3 or #4 
> sized plane with a 1/16" or so groove down the length of the sole for 
> the same purpose on a miter jack.  Better minds than I have looked at 
> this for centuries, and I have never used a miter jack, but, hey, I'm 
> just sayin'.

A farmer and part-time fly-rod maker who once borrowed a book from me on 
fly-rod construction, still, so far as I am aware, shapes his rod 
segments using wooden forms and a couple of the humble Stanley 110 block 
planes. I do not think that he has had grooves or slots milled down 
their mid-lines.  However, Ed's description of a grooved plane and its 
use for rod-making sheds a sudden light, for me, on a "curiosity" which 
was displayed by a fleaster for several weeks before someone bought it. 
This "curiosity" was a block plane, it may have been a Stanley 110 but I 
do not remember,  which had four pieces of what appeared to be shim 
brass of moderate gauge sweated to its sole in such a way as the mouth 
was left unobstructed to its full width whilst, as I view it through my 
mind's eye but from a new, Ed-generated perspective, there was, in 
effect, a channel or groove left along the sole's midline, about 1/3 of 
the sole's width, as I recall.

There is little doubt that, if perusal of the List remains part of one's 
daily routine, all of life's little mysteries will, sooner or later, be 
revealed.

Regards from Brisbane,

John Manners 

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