Thoughts on router planes

[borderdogs]

Hi Guys,
I was wondering about the use of router planes for barrel in-letting. I watched Mark Silver's video about the use of planes in shaping a stock and found it very interesting and something I might like to try at some point. I have a  vintage plow-plane and router plane and I was wondering if I could use either in doing a barrel inlet. So I figure I would ask the forum if anyone had used them to do any of the tasks involved with the inlet of a barrel?
Thanks,
Rob

[P.W.Berkuta]

I have two router planes one is an old small Stanley 271 and the other is a smaller Lee Veritas Miniature Router Plane which I use both for lock inletting mostly and they do fine.

[satwel]

I have a small antique router plane that's handy for inletting patch box mortises. I haven't tried it on a barrel channel. I think it's too small to be practical.

[45-110]

They can be handy for some barrel inlet work. If you attach a fence to it, it stays centered in channel. The old Stanley's are wide enough for mounting.
kw

[rich pierce]

I’m clueless as to how to set up a fence on one of these. They might work on a straight barrel to establish the bottom flat. On a swamped barrel it would be complicated. And I don’t think these tools are good at hogging.

[borderdogs]

The one I have is an old Stanley too and I have a 1/4" and 3/8" cutters for it. The thought I had was it could be used in the middle or bottom flat of an octagonal barrel. Especially as a start to the inlet or a clean up at the bottom. I wasn't thinking to use it as a hogging out tool but I think I would rather use it or a series of gouges, chisels, and crank arm chisels than a shaper or a router. I appreciate the confirmation of their use in this capacity.
Thanks,
Rob

[Eric Kettenburg]

I have an old Stanley, not sure of the model.  It's the kind with a handle on either side, and the 'blade' is a hexagonal shaft with an edged foot that is adjustable up or down with a set screw.  Also you can attach a short fence to it.  I used it for many years to rough out barrel channels by using the 'Herschel' method i.e. cutting the upper portion of the blank initially to match the profile of the taper flare, and cutting the sides to match the profile of the taper/flare, and then chiseling out an initial groove before going at it with the plane.  It worked well for getting "close" but there was a lot of final fitting involved, and you definitely need to use the shortest fence possible.  I had a fence that came with it and I cut it down a little to better follow the side profile as I wasn;t doing straight barrels, where a longer fence would be just fine.  A fence is crucial as the edged foot is tapered and with no fence, one will tend to wobble or angle it side to side as it;s being drawn along, and the edges will dig into the side walls of the channel with no guide which creates a messy inlet.

Now I think it's a lot easier to just throw some $$$ to Dave Keck.

[Curtis]

I have an old Stanley like Eric described.  I have used it on several barrel inlets.  The fence is on the body of the plane.  I set a border and just stay within it....   then clean up with chisels and scrapers, etc.


Curtis

[Dan Fruth]

I use a very simple one for taking lock mortises to depth. It is a piece of 1/2" thick maple that is 3/4 x 1 3/4. A hole drilled through the thickness, and square it up for a 1/4 piece if 01 square stock, hardened and ground to create about 20 degrees face on the end and a wood screw in the side of the thing to act as a depth stop locking screw. I set it with dial calipers, and it works wonderful.

[bluenoser]

This thread has revived some long-forgotten memories not directly related to gun building. 
I made fairly frequent use of a Stanley 71 when I had a cabinetmaking business.  They are very effective at cleaning up or deepening dadoes.  At least locally, the nickname for them is "grandma's tooth".  I am sure others are aware that cutters are available in different widths.  Folks might not be aware that V shaped cutters are also available.  The V shaped cutters work much like a double sided skew chisel and can handle unruly grain quite nicely.  I am thinking they might be the cat's-meow for dealing with curly maple.

[Frozen Run]

People also make their own cutters for them from allen wrenches, you can make any profile you want. Shape on a grinder, heat with a torch and quench.