Let’s face it, I love my planes. They do so many jobs from rough stock prep with the scrub or Jack plane to fine surface smoothing with the No. 3 or No. 4 smoothing planes. The plucky little block plane can take off end grain with gusto.
I wrote a blog post about my planes here where I go into detail about types of planes I own and new vs. old planes.
This entry is to remind everyone that there are some really good resources and references out there about vintage planes. One such resource is Archive.org. You can specify a topic like “Hand Planes” and you will get lots of results. There have been a lot of old and new texts added recently, so if you’ve not visited this site in a while, it may be time to go back and check it out.
When searching, you may want to narrow your search: just put subject:"hand planes" in the “Search” field and check the “Search text contents” radio button, and you’ll get a large number of texts listed. When you get there on the “Sort By” bar, hover over the “Date Archived” and click “Date Added” to get the latest texts first.
There are generally two types of texts, Books to Borrow and Community Texts. You can borrow books from the “Books to Borrow” section if you create an account. You can freely download most books that are in the Community Texts section without an account. Just click on the text you’re interested in and it will be displayed on its own page. I like to right-click and choose “Open Link in New Tab”.
After the page loads, Archive.org shows a preview and reading section at the top and text information and download links in the bottom section. I like the PDF format for portability, so I usually click the “PDF” or the “PDF WITH TEXT” links to get a text-searchable PDF.
These search techniques apply to any subject on Archive.org. This site can be really fun to explore. So go find some cool references, and if you find a particular gem, leave a comment so other folks can see it too.
You can also order a new copy of the Stanley Tools Catalogue No 34 (cover at the top of this article) from Lost Art Press.
These are fun to pursue on days when you just can’t get into your shop. I have found the old Stanley, Record, Millers Falls, etc., catalogs invaluable for helping me identify and sometimes repair old planes.
Until next time, keep making shavings and sawdust.
Peace,
Aaron
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