Tom86
Member
Registered: 10/20/11
Posts: 154
Loc: College Station, TX
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Recently, I decided to rehab my fleet of pre-lateral transitional planes to be users. They are a #31 jointer, #26 jack, #35 handled smoother, and #22 unhandled smoother. All got new beech bodies, and two of them got new paint. One, not pictured needs a new levercap and handle. I'm not convinced the lateral lever is necessary, I have no trouble pushing the blade side to side with my thumb. The knobs and handles got a coat of blo and shellac finish and thee bodies blo. If it is possible, I would like to update them all with blades and chipbreakers from Veritas, I just haven't gotten around to asking them if the chipbreakers can be easily drilled for new adjustment slots.
Up next making Liberty Bell transitional planes work well.
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Jeff Burks
Member
Registered: 12/10/10
Posts: 527
Loc: Danbury CT
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Many woodworkers prefer to make lateral adjustments with a hammer. If you are able to move the iron sideways with just your thumb, then you may have the lever cap set too loose, and the iron might shift during use.
I noticed that grain orientation for your replacement stocks is not done in the traditional manner for wood planes. Did you not have access to radial cut material, or do you not anticipate problems from wood movement?
Leonard Bailey's design was intended to allow his plane stocks to be easily repaired in the event that the sole became worn to the point where the mouth opening was unacceptable. The remedy suggested by Bailey is to glue a shim into the throat of the plane stock and move the cast iron portion forward on the screw slots. I understand that some wood stocks are too far gone from neglect to be repaired in this fashion. I just wanted to mention it for the readers who were not aware of Bailey's intentions.
67,398 Aug. 6, 1867
RE6,498 June 22, 1875. (Reissue for Stanley Rule & Level)
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Tom86
Member
Registered: 10/20/11
Posts: 154
Loc: College Station, TX
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What you see is all I can get. I had to order the stuff from up north. If there are problems, I'll go to white oak, or maybe walnut, both of which are readily available here. I don't forsee any problems, but if there are any, it's really not that hard to make more. The first one was tricky the rest went pretty smoothly after that. I don't think the cap is too loose, judging by the effort it takes to move the blades. Not easy to move, but not impossible either.
Edited by Tom86 (06/13/12 06:27 PM)
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Christian Castillo
Member
Registered: 04/06/10
Posts: 630
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Wow, that is one gorgeous restoration, I've never even batted an eye at a transitional plane, and I've seen many, and now I want to buy some. Where did you source the beech stock? I'm interested in finding some properly sized stock for plane making.
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MauleSkinner
Member
Registered: 12/31/06
Posts: 1861
Loc: Wichita, KS
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Sweet! 
Jeff Burks said:
Leonard Bailey's design was intended to allow his plane stocks to be easily repaired in the event that the sole became worn to the point where the mouth opening was unacceptable. The remedy suggested by Bailey is to glue a shim into the throat of the plane stock and move the cast iron portion forward on the screw slots. I understand that some wood stocks are too far gone from neglect to be repaired in this fashion. I just wanted to mention it for the readers who were not aware of Bailey's intentions.
67,398 Aug. 6, 1867
RE6,498 June 22, 1875. (Reissue for Stanley Rule & Level)
Interesting info, and good to know. Thanks for mentioning that, Jeff!
David
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Dave Arbuckle was kind enough to create a Sketchup model of my WorkMate benchtop: http://www.arbolloco.com/sketchup/MauleSkinnerBenchtop.skp
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mvflaim
Member
Registered: 07/31/08
Posts: 242
Loc: Cincinnati
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I love the look of those planes. Well Done Sir! 
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www.mvflaim.wordpress.com
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Tom86
Member
Registered: 10/20/11
Posts: 154
Loc: College Station, TX
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Christian Castillo said:
Wow, that is one gorgeous restoration, I've never even batted an eye at a transitional plane, and I've seen many, and now I want to buy some. Where did you source the beech stock? I'm interested in finding some properly sized stock for plane making.
Thanks. I really like the transitional planes. I special ordered the beech from the local commercial lumber yard. But, after that ordeal, I think I would have been better off getting it on ebay.
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Tom86
Member
Registered: 10/20/11
Posts: 154
Loc: College Station, TX
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Jeff Burks said:
I noticed that grain orientation for your replacement stocks is not done in the traditional manner for wood planes. Did you not have access to radial cut material, or do you not anticipate problems from wood movement?
Actually, what I got is radially sawn. It all came out of a 8 inch wide 8/4 board. flat sawn would have been better in this instance.
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Jeff Burks
Member
Registered: 12/10/10
Posts: 527
Loc: Danbury CT
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The toe of a wooden plane should resemble this picture.
The growth rings are running horizontal.
The bark side is facing the sole.
The sides of this plane made from Beech would exhibit ray fleck.
Planes were made this way to locate the mortise through the line of least seasonal wood movement. While a transitional plane does not use a tightly fitted wedge, any movement in the mortise area will effect the bedding of the iron and might cause chatter. The easiest way to get material that exhibits these features is to pick the center slab from a flatsawn tree. If the slab is thick enough, when you rip it down the pith, the two resulting boards will be suitable for plane billets. The downside of quartering a tree as the first sawing operation is that it severely limits the thickness of the suitable material.
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Window Guy
Honored Veteran
Registered: 06/03/01
Posts: 10242
Loc: St. Cloud,Fl., USA
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You have a nice looking fleet of Transitional's, I have a couple and like them as well. You did a nice job on those and will be interested on how they fair after Jeff 's information.
Thanks for sharing !
Steve
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