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Strange Plane Modification

ken werner

ken werner

Member
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3,377
Location
Central NY State
This is a user's plane modification, that I've not seen before. The plane is a Union No. 7, same size as a Stanley 7. It belonged to my friend's grandfather or great-grandfather, and now belongs to my friend.

3 holes, ahead of the iron, with a little dam in front of them. My guess is that it was for linseed oil, or some other lubricant.

Anybody ever see or hear of this before?
 

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That IS strange.

Your guess of an 'oil pool' is probably right, but it'd sure make finishing a mess - unless you're just rubbing on some more oil.

You gonna try it out to see if/how well it works? :rolleyes:
 
Someone had a "Good idea" that did not catch on?

Or could it be that wood was not the material being cut? Could the plane have been used to cut something else, like say leather, and the lube was needed?:dunno:
 
I'm going to guess this was an experiment that didn't work out. I'm thinking it was to lubricate the sole of the plane, similar to rubbing wax or camellia oil on the sole.

However, I don't think the 3 holes would have spread the lube wide enough, nor controlled the flow rate well, and maybe more importantly, the planning action would have planned off the lube before it got to the back of the plane.

But what do I know.:huh:
 
Maybe it was not for oil at all, maybe it was for a thinner of some kinds. Could be that they had a very resinous wood that was gumming up the sole and the blade, so they put some kind of thinner, or maybe even something as simple as kerosene to help keep the resin from building up on the plane :dunno:

I guess we will never know :rolleyes:
 
Whats the chances that it was not at all for wood use and that the fluid move up through the holes from the workpiece. Like say harvesting something from some surface.
Ken send a pm to Rob Lee of l.v. he is a member here. He is also a member of an old tool organisation in Canada i forget where they meet at the moment. He may be able to shed more light.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
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