Question on scrub plane

[rich pierce]

I do love using planes, drawknives and spokeshaves whether building guns, making bows, or hafting tools.  Seeing the recent posts on scrub planes, etc, I am thinking I want one of those.  Particularly as I sometimes slab a log with a chainsaw etc and it's pretty rough, and later I want to use the thick planks for a shaving horse, or whatever.  OK, that's the background.

What's different about a scrub plane except for the blade?   If I have a good old jack plane with a wide throat, can I just round a blade and use it as a scrub plane or is there something different I am missing?  If I can pick up an old jack plane at a junk shop or flea market for $15 and make it a scrub plane, that would work for me, dumpster-diver that I am.

[Benedict]

I thought about doing that myself but never got around to it.  I do think that one difference is that the throat is bigger in a scrub  plane to accomodate the bigger chips.  But I still don't see why you could not make a smooth plane work like a scrub plane.  Let us know how it comes out.

Bruce

[keweenaw]

I've not looked at a lot of scrub planes but in addition to the throat being wider, which wouldn't be a hard change to make, the blades I've seen were considerably thicker.

Tom

[Benedict]

Yes, I forgot about the thicker blade.  That would make a big difference when you are hogging out a lot of wood.  I guess I will have to put a "real" scrub plane on my Xmas list.

Bruce

[Paddlefoot]

I couldn't give you an exact number but I think scrub planes are usually a bit shorter in length and the soles are not as precisely flat because they are used for hogging away lots of rough wood quickly. Seems like I remember seeing some that had curved sides too rather than the rectangular shape you normally think of.

[Tony Clark]

Hi Rich, Just like the others have pointed out, the throat is large to pass large shavings, the iron is curved across its width, and they mostly only will have one thick iron without a cap. With the heavy curved iron its almost like your gouging the wood away. I remember one time I was taking one of Wallace Guslers stocking classes and putting a jack plane to pretty good use in rough shaping a stock. Mark Silver happened to be cruising through and saw what I was doing, then he introduced me to Mr. scrub plane..., Jack plane will work, Its just much slower! For the work you were talking about needed to produce a shaving horse...you can put an axe to pretty good use for that kind of thing. You want a hewing axe though. Did you ever see one of these great old square log hand hewn buildings. Those old timers could do all that with just and axe. Regards, TC

[rich pierce]

Thanks for the input guys.  I have a nice hewing axe and use it a lot even in bowmaking.  I get excited about things and a scrub plane is it for me right now as the next tool I "need".  I am bidding on a couple now- do me a favor and don't out-bid me.  I don't want to go get one for $195 or whatever new.  That's practically the cost of a lock plus a buttplate and a guard.

[AeroE]

I went to an auction a few years back that had many hewing axes for sale and I regret not buying a left and right hand axe.

The same sale had a hay trailer covered with planes, including several Stanley kits of molding planes.  There were over 300 and they were sold one at a time!

[Kermit]

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan5.htm

Take a look here. You'll have to scroll down to find the part on the Stanley scrub plane. I've got one of these girls, and it gets called into action when I have a rough slab to get into shape for smoothing. Often the slabs I work with are 10-12' long and up to 4" thick and can be 4' wide. There can be a lot of winding in one of these, and considerable curve lengthwise. A lot to remove to get one side flat enough to begin working the other side down to bet a piece with two parallel surfaces and consistent thickness.

There are new scrub planes out there, but why bother? I picked mine up from a guy who mostly sells to collectors--shudder--but this one was "ruined" by the owner having put his initials into it. Collectors don't like that sort of thing, but for a working tool, it matters not.

I suppose you could grind the iron on a #4 or similar to a considerable curve, but a #4 has a 2" iron. That's a BIG bite to take out of a plank. You'll work yourself to death purty quick. I think the scrub is a 1" iron--skinnier, anyway.

A scrub plane is pretty amazing. It looks impossibly small and meek, but it will really do the job. It's not a plane that many folks have a use for these days, however. But if you do think you need one, watch for a bargain. There are many out there with bad finishes and fairly dinged up, but they can be put back to work fairly easily. BTW, I bought mine for $30, cleaned and sharpened it, and just out of pure vanity, removed the knob and tote and sanded them down and refinished them with spar varnish. You can do the same.

Just try real hard not to look too long at the Lie-Nielsen catalog. The ol' Stanleys still have a lot of work left in 'em.