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276065 Richard Wilson <yorkshireman@y...> 2022‑08‑05 The man in the pub.
Folks, 

I received the following.  

The author is a galoot in all but subscription to OldTools.

Comments?  Opinions?  (As if there wouldn’t be any opinions here) 

Here’s the extract. - Fact or Fantasy?


	Were you aware that the no.8 plane was not the largest that Stanley produced?
 
        I was talking to a man in the pub whose father had been MD of Stanley,
and it appears that although the no 8 was the largest one produced for the
general galooterie, there were a number of others, up to 15. I understand that
these monsters were among other things used by the makers of snooker
tables..They were made to order, so probably few were made and even fewer
survived.
        If the man in the pub was not talking through his hat, these special
models would be worth a small fortune.




-- 
Yorkshireman Galoot
in the most northerly county, farther north even than Yorkshire
IT #300
276066 scottg <scottg@s...> 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
Was he definitely talking about iron body planes?
A well and properly made and marked, 36" iron body Stanley plane
would set the world on its ear alright.

but.............
  Transitionals go up to #34, which is 30" long already
(and worth a bit when they do come up)
   I could totally see special orders to 36" or whatever.
  yours scott

-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
276067 scottg <scottg@s...> 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
I was once offered a regular wedge set beech jointer plane about 5' long.
   Regular sized jointer blade and closed jointer tote.
Everything normal except super duper long body.

The ask was too much and they wouldn't come down, but the sight of it 
stuck with me.
  I kept asking about it for several years whenever I could, but nobody 
came up with anything.
until...............................
  It was finally John Walters who had seen one too, and had heard the 
makers of wooden water tanks ordered them special.

   It might have been worth the asking price, but I didn't have the 
money regardless.  haahhaah
     yours again scott

-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
276068 Kevin Foley <kevin.foley.135@g...> 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
Seems plausible but unlikely.  Where are they?  Seems not too long ago a book on
metal planes of PA was published citing the range of sizes of jointers.  Almost
immediately somebody popped up with a bigger plane than listed.  A Hahn IIRC.
Publication of a new compendium is alway a point for someone to offer evidence
of errors or omissions, and a lot has been published about Stanley yet no
Stanley superjointers have cropped up.  Also, why give numbers to custom planes,
unless they are more made-on-request than custom.  Possibly patterns cast only
when requested?  But still where are they? Could they have all been scrapped?

Kevin
276069 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
GG's,

In addition to the super-long jointers used by makers of wooden water tanks,
there were wooden long jointers for coopers in making barrel staves.

Some of these coopers stave planes have two sockets for legs! The plane was set
"sole up" at an angle, and the stave pulled downward across the blade while the
plane remained stationary.

The idea of a super-long Bailey jointer in a Kingdom known for magnificent
infill planes seems odd on three counts:

1) A infill "superjointer" ( tm John Ruth ) can be made any length without
special castings.

2) Cast iron gonna get kinda fragile in long sizes. You're only gonna drop it
once!
 
3) Weight vs. Rigidity.  I'd expect that a woodie or transitional superjointer
would be a more practical proposition!

On just what part(s) of a snooker table were these planes used?  Were they
flattening the slate?

John Ruth
276070 Stephen Rosenthal <srosenthal26@g...> 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
I use barrel staves and tops in some of my projects. Wonderfully aged oak that
planes glass smooth and finishes beautifully with varnish or Danish oil. I use a
Stanley 100 1/2 (looking for a LN 100 1/2 if anyone has one gathering dust that
they want to part with) and a Stanley #20 to smooth the staves. Cooper’s planes
are all unique and some are huge. David Barron has one that is 5 1/2 feet long.
Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/Wl42bLPiCpA

Stephen
276071 Scott <scottbgarrison@g...> 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
>
>
> > Seems plausible but unlikely.  Where are they?  Seems not too long ago a
> book on metal planes of PA was published citing the range of sizes of
> jointers.  Almost immediately somebody popped up with a bigger plane than
> listed.  A Hahn IIRC. Publication of a new compendium is alway a point for
> someone to offer evidence of errors or omissions, and a lot has been
> published about Stanley yet no Stanley superjointers have cropped up.
>

Also I find it hard to believe that Stanley publishing all of its catalogs
wouldn't list the option on some catalog page in some catalog somewhere.
Since they were selling things by the doz or more, they weren't a direct to
consumer mail order catalog, and printing was arguably more expensive or at
least a PITA in those days I would think these plus sizes would have made
it into one or more of their annual catalogs
276072 Kevin Foley <kevin.foley.135@g...> 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
The numbers from 9 to 15 wouldn’t work either.  All numbers but 14 are assigned
to other models.

9 cabinet maker's block plane
10 carriage rabbet
11 beltmakers' plane
12 scraper plane
13 circular plane
15 block plane

Kevin in Chantilly
276073 Mike Lynd 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
I recently saw an antique billiards table that apparently had a bed made,
not of slate, but of wood, oak ISTR. I suspect that playing a game of
billiards on it would be a bit like playing crown bowls! It might however
justify the use of a monster plane.

best wishes,

Mike Lynd
276074 gary allan may 2022‑08‑05 Re: The man in the pub.
Hi Steve, and Scott!

   A longer-than-the-#8- made-by-Stanley Bailey bench plane? 

   If anybody knew, it'd be Patrick Leach, and if he knew about it, he'd've
said. See Blood and Gore--
 
    http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html 


B&G's  #8 entry has a bonus photo of O'Deen. What a goofball. Still he makes
Stanley's largest plane look rather smaller than it actually is and there's not
many as can do that.

                   and all the best to all galoots everywhere--gam in OlyWA,
home of legal pot


 

    On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 11:01:26 AM PDT, Scott 
wrote:
 
 >
>
> > Seems plausible but unlikely.  Where are they?  Seems not too long ago a
> book on metal planes of PA was published citing the range of sizes of
> jointers.  Almost immediately somebody popped up with a bigger plane than
> listed.  A Hahn IIRC. Publication of a new compendium is alway a point for
> someone to offer evidence of errors or omissions, and a lot has been
> published about Stanley yet no Stanley superjointers have cropped up.
>

Also I find it hard to believe that Stanley publishing all of its catalogs
wouldn't list the option on some catalog page in some catalog somewhere.
Since they were selling things by the doz or more, they weren't a direct to
consumer mail order catalog, and printing was arguably more expensive or at
least a PITA in those days I would think these plus sizes would have made
it into one or more of their annual catalogs
276077 Michael Blair <branson2@s...> 2022‑08‑06 Re: The man in the pub.
"2) Cast iron gonna get kinda fragile in long sizes. You're only gonna
drop it once!"

Since long jointers are not held and moved, but stand in a fixed
position in a cooper's shop, you'll be hard pressed to drop one. Most
are wooden,but cast iron example do exist. 

https://www.oldtoolmart.co.uk/onlineshop/prod_7237936-Coopers-jointing-plane-
Briggs.html


"Made by Briggs in Burton-on-Trent, a town made famous by it's
breweries. 

It is 5' 8" long and has a cutting width of 3". The iron is by Fearns of
Sheffield."  The stand is also cast iron. 

In my coopering files there's a photo of another, French as I recall. 
Wood cooper's jointers are often as long as 6 feet, sometimes longer
still.  Mine's a baby at 4 1/2 feet, a D.R. Barton, with a blade set at
25 degrees.  A joy to use. 

Mike in Woodland
276078 Chris Wolf <hframe79001@g...> 2022‑08‑06 Re: The man in the pub.
If you visit the cooper's shop at Colonial Williamsburg, you can see a
cooper's jointer in action. Of course, the jointer is stationary, so I
suppose it's the stave that's "in action". My memory tells me the jointer
is three to four feet long, but memory is tricky.
276088 Michael Blair <branson2@s...> 2022‑08‑07 Re: The man in the pub.
The long jointer at Williamsburg is about 5 or 5 1/2 feet long as you
can see at
https://sites.udel.edu/materialmatters/2017/05/22/barrels-and-buckets-the-
cooperage-at-colonial-williamsburg/


The long jointers (2) at Sutter's Fort State Historic Park are both
approximately 6 feet long, which seems to be the most common size. 
Sadly, demonstrations have been recently abandoned by State Parks, so
they can no longer be seen "in action."  I have demonstrated the one in
the cooper's shop, and there is one in the carpenter's shop.  Currently
they are standing on end and leaning against the walls.  I still
demonstrate coopering (as well as carpentry) at James Marshall Gold
Discovery Site State Historic Park, and occasionally at Fort Ross.  At
Ross I use period appropriate Russian tools.  Russian coopers were
"craftsmen of necessity" using fewer tools than Anglo/American, Spanish,
German and French coopers. 

Yes, it is the stave that is in action. 

Mike in Woodland

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