Tom Ellis wrote:
>
>
>> -----Original Message----- From: paul womack Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2016
10:53 AM To: old tools Subject: [OldTools] Block Plane - 1864 reference
>
>> Apart from the old canard about this tool being used for butcher's blocks,
>> the origin of Stanley's "Block Plane" is vague.
>
> This started out as a question about Stanley's Block Plane, and quickly
digressed into very interesting posts about pre-Stanley use of the term "block."
(Or am I misunderstanding what's been going on here?)
>
> To get back to Stanley and its planes, I read somewhere about using these
planes for trimming the blocking between the framing posts (2x4) of a house. The
use was light-weight, and being able to fit in the pockets of workman overalls
was important.  Now while there may well have been pre-Stanley "block planes,"
it seems to me that Stanley would not have continued the plane type if there
wasn't some contemporary use for it.

I'm trying to look into why Stanley called it a "block plane", and earlier uses
of the same term seems a useful avenue of research.

Especially since the trail of evidence in this thread seems to speak (in
aggregate)
of a small, low angle plane, used for preparing (printing) blocks.

If the Stanley design is a descendant of this lineage, the name might be too.

  BugBear