Sandusky Tool Co. Rabbet Plane

Sandusky Tool Co. was in business from 1869 to the mid- or late-1920's.  I used to think it was named for a person, but it was named for the city in which it was located, Sandusky, OH (about 50 miles west of Cleveland).  This rabbet plane started life as a 3/4" wide plane.  It was a little shy of that when I got it, but it's thinner now after I had to plane one side a bit to get it back in shape.

Sandusky 3/4" Rabbet

The logo on the toe.  Looks like it also has a "146".

On the heel: I think this originally read "3/4"

Thanks to the Internet Archive, I could find a 1925 Sandusky catalog, and there was a #146 skew rabbet plane shown.  The 3/4" size sold for a whopping $1.40, though that was probably a lot in 1925 dollars.

The plane needed some truing up.  The sole was not flat - it was a bit high just behind the mouth.  And the right side was twisted such that behind the mouth, the plane body stuck out about 2 mm more than it did ahead of the mouth.

High spot on the sole behind the mouth

You can see by eye how much higher the body was
by my finger than it was ahead of the mouth.

I planed the sole and right side flat and square to each other.  I did these things with the iron installed, but safely out of the way of my bench plane iron.  With the iron and wedge installed and tightened, a check of flatness on the sole gave a different result than when the iron was out of the plane.  I didn't bother truing up the left side of the plane.  That doesn't make any difference in how I'll ever use it.

Sole and right side square to each other

For the iron, I ground a new bevel and ground a little of the right side so it would sit in the plane right.  When set up as I've read it should be, the right side of the iron should sit proud of the plane body by a few thousandths of an inch.  I went though a few iterations of grinding and fitting in the plane until I was happy with how it looked.

I also noticed during these fitting steps that the iron's bed (back wall of the mortise) had a step that didn't allow the tang to move right of center.  So I fixed that with a chisel.  Fortunately that didn't affect the fit of the wedge, though I might still mess with that a bit.

After sharpening and honing the iron, I made test cuts in pine and oak.  Both came out good, though it's always a challenge to get an unfenced rabbet plane started.  I prefer to cut the rabbet a little shy of the width line, then clean up with sideways cuts to the line.

Cutting a 1/2" x 1/2" rabbet in pine

Cleaning up the side wall, pulling the plane back toward the camera

I think this will be a nice plane.  It's practically perfectly quartersawn and the grain patterns on the sides are beautiful.

Update: I've used the plane a few times now and it's a real winner!  It outperforms a homemade 3/4" straight-across-iron rabbet plane that I made long ago.  The skewed iron really makes a nice difference.

A Few More New-To-Me Tools

Last post I wrote about buying several tools from the widow of a woodworker who, after several months of grieving, was ready to let go of her husband's tools.  On a separate occasion, I got a few more things from her and this post shows them.

A few more new-to-me items

I already have a pair of mag goggles (though I can't seem to find them right now), but these had an extra lens that pivots in front of the right eye for extra magnification.  This pair does not have a light like my other pair, but it'll be nice to have the extra lens for looking at finer things.  It's already helped me get a better view of cutting edges.

I also already have a set of brad point bits, though my set only has 7 bits - 1/8" to 1/2" by 16ths.  This new set goes from 1/8" to 1/2" in 64ths, and already it has come in handy when I had to drill a 15/32" hole.  The set looks to be in great shape.  They had been used, but probably not too much.

A nice complete set of brad point bits

I had been looking for a circular (or "compass"? - not sure of the correct term) plane for the last year or two.  When I saw this one in the man's collection, I really hoped I could get it.

Stanley #20

View from above the front portion

It's a bit grungy and has some issues, but I'll clean it up and get it working.  Can't wait to try it out.

Finally, I picked up a book that looked interesting.  It's "Shoji and Kumiko Design, Book 1: The Basics", by Desmond King.  I had experimented with Kumiko a few years ago and enjoyed it.  And I recall seeing King's name when I was researching Kumiko at that time.  This book will give me some more information to continue with the techniques.

Desmond King's Book 1 on Shoji and Kumiko

That's all for now.  I've got some tools to clean up, materials to read, and some woodworking to get to.

A Few New-To-Me Tools

A friend was asked to help a lady sell off her deceased husband's tools.  Apparently the man was into woodworking and so much more and had the tools to show for it.  He had been a machine woodworker, but he used and collected hand tools as well.

My friend asked if I might want some of the tools, so I went with him one day.  Holy mackerel!  There was so much stuff.  Over 100 chisels, over 100 planes, many saws and hundreds of bits and bobs of every sort.  It has taken him weeks to gather and sort all the stuff.  This is a bigger job that he imagined.

A sampling of the chisels (and some other nice things)

Planes organized - and he found more planes after this!

In the picture of the chisels above, if you look closely you can see a Lie-Nielsen shooting plane and at least one other L-N plane.  Most of his things weren't old and collectible, but very useable.

I've grabbed a few things, and besides one item, I've paid a fair price for them - there were no bargain basement prices here.  The proceeds will go to the widow, so I feel good about that.

Here's the first group of things I got.  I'll show a few pics here, and hopefully later I'll post about cleaning/fixing them up and write in much more detail about each item.

Grinder, 5 planes, and an auger bit box

Unfortunately the auger bit box did not have a set of bits in it.  The box had been altered for some other purpose so only the bottom tier had the fitted semicircular grooves that keep bits safe.

Russell Jennings auger bit box

I'm guessing the handle was added at some point - I've not seen a handle on these before.  And one screw for the handle went through to the inside of the lid.  If there were bits inside, I'd be worried that holding it by the handle would result in disaster if a tier clasp came undone.

Next up was a 3/4" rabbet plane, looking in very good condition.  It's a Sandusky and appears to have the number "716" stamped on the toe.

Sandusky Tool Co. rabbet plane

Then there was a pair of hollow and round planes by R. W. Hendrickson at 65 1/2 Bowery (presumably a New York City address).  Both had the number "10" stamped on the heel.

H&R pair

R. W. Hendrickson 3/4" hollow and round

The round plane iron is right on 3/4" wide, but the hollow iron is a little more than 1/32" oversized.

The shorter of the two bench planes is a 16" jack by the New York Tool Co.  It's got a "12" stamped on the toe.  The body is in very good shape.  The Auburn Tool Co. iron and cap-iron look good, but I'm sure I'll have to do some work to get them working right.

16" long jack plane from New York Tool Co.

The last plane is this 22" fore plane from an unknown maker.  I could not find any identifying marks on the toe.  There are several owner marks "AC" stamped on the plane, and "A BYRON COOPER" behind the tote.  On the heel is stamped "2 1/2", and that's the iron's width.  There is another A BYRON COOPER stamped on the heel, so I'm guessing that's the owner's full name for the "AC" mark.

22" fore plane

The heel stamps

I can barely make out a "SORBY" mark on the iron.  Can't wait to get this one into working order.  The plane is from a dense wood - it seems quite heavy for its size.

Last on the list for this post is a hand crank grinder by The Carborundum Co. of Niagara Falls.  Not sure what to make of the different numbers on the decal: NIAGARA NO. 2, and MODEL NO. 70.  Is it a #2 or a #70?  Regardless, this grinder works so smoothly that I couldn't resist.  I paid a lot for this one - hopefully the quality will have been worth it.

The grinder needs a bit of clean-up, but already works great

The logo

That's is for now.  I have a few more tools that I picked up, but I'll post about them separately.