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Address your question to sphere - he'll give you a good answer
Generally, for places where you have to plane up to a stopping point. Say a wood drawer side that the face is already attached and you cant swoosh all the way..the nose of the plane would hit the front that is higher than the side ( common on overlay drawers). The bullnose will get up closer before you have to stop.
The other variation is some Bullnose planes have the front removeable, and can then be called a "chisel plane" where there is nothing in front f the iron, they can get right up into corners. Handy for glue squeeze out and chamfering say the edges of stopped dados or grooves. I carry a small BN plane ( 1" widex3 orso inche long" in the truck with me, alond with a lowangle block plane..they both are handy and the BN is REALLY handy to have when just nothing else will do. Not often, but when it is needed..it'll save your bacon.
Need more coffee before I could saymuch more.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Is there an advantage of a bull nose plane over a chisel plane, or vice versa? Ive been thinking of getting one of the two, wondering which one would be best.
Live by the sword, die by the sword....choose your sword wisely.
A bull nose is a little more controlable, due to the short fore sole acting as a depth of cut limiter, IOW, it supports the curl and helps keep it from "running" ahead of the iron and tearing out.
That benefit has one major drawback, it keeps the iron from being able to finish a blind cut. So if using it in that fashion, you either finish with a chisel or a chisel plane.
I'd not buy a dedicated chisel plane, cuz with a scrap of wood ( saw a 5/4 x4) cut at a 45-50 degree miter, you can drill a hole behind the miter cut and clamp a chisel to it..same deal as a fancy $$$$$ chisel plane and you can make the bed angle anything you want.
Some BN planes have a removeable nose to allow it to quickly convert, those are handy to have.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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>>Some BN planes have a removeable nose to allow it to quickly convert, those are handy to have.<<I'll second that. I've got the stanley with the removable nose. I use it on a fairly regular basis for cleaning up the the inside corners of less-than perfect table-saw made rabbets.When you need the nose off, it does the trick nicely. If'n I'lda had it a few year sooner I coulda avoided a friday night trip to the ER to have a drunk on-call doc stitch up a sliced tendon on my left hand. Darn that left hand makes a fine backstop....Steve
Edited 11/23/2008 3:46 pm by mmoogie
I have a bullnose plane in with my miscelaneous tools. I've used it maybe a dozen times in the 20 years I've owned it, but those few times it was exactly what I needed.
Mine doesn't conver to a chissel plane, but it's no big deal to finish up with a chissel.
See my work at TedsCarpentry.com
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Please update your profile! Since many issues are dependant on the region in which you work, we look at your profile to see where you are writing from. So at the very least, tell us were you're writing from!
I've got a great old Record 3-1-1 (as in 3-in-1) which came with two removable noses:One is a regular bullnose, which gets the blade to within 3/8" or so of the plane's end.The other is about 2" to 2 1/2" long, and makes the plane into a wonderful shoulder plane.One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet in this thread is that bullnose planes are a sub-group of rabbet planes in general.That is, the blade extends the full width of the body. This means you can trim rabbets, fine-tune tongue-and-groove joints, and shave the cheeks and shoulders (hence the name shoulder plane) of tenons.These are great tools to have in your kit, and you can often find a carpenter’s version of these tools at a flea market -- the Stanley #78, and the Record knock-off, #778, are both good tools, if a bit rough. They both have a main, adjustable (lever on the Stanley, screw-feed on the Record) location for the blade, and also a forward, bullnose location that you can move the cap and iron to, but not the feed adjuster. Very versatile planes. Originally, they came with an adjustable fence to control the width of the rabbet, a depth stop, and a cross-grain cutting spur, in case you were rabbeting, say, the head of a side doorjamb from scratch, with no initial cross-grain saw-cut.You’d clamp a straightedge to your rabbet line, set the spur to cut the grain (just as you’d score a door with a knife before cutting it off), and plane away, holding the tool tight to your guide.You rarely find an old tool with all of these accessories, but that’s OK. we don’t use them that way these days, anyway, we tend to use them to fine-tune an existing joint, or one that we’ve just roughed out with a power tool.The #78 was a common hardware-store item well into the 70s, so there are plenty of them out there still, fairly cheap.AitchKay
Didja know the #78 was sold as a "weather stripping" plane? Thats why it has the fence and depth stop. Handy for the one pc. jamb work where the stop is intergal. That rabbet could be made without a tablesaw.
I used to have the original box and paperwork for mine, but it fried in the shop fire. The plane didn't just the packaging.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Cool. Not the fire, that is -- BTW, was that fire recent? Did you post about it? How was it climbing back up out of the ashes afterwords?AitchKay
No, it was Apr.95. I was on the last leg of moving 7 trips from PA to NC, and rented an old shack for my shop. I had most of the stuff in storage and/or still on my truck, when the L.Lord ( idiot) went on coke and michelob binge instead of his Bi-polar meds. He was burning a grassy area nearby and set the damm shack ablaze, then ina stupor sat there and watched it burn, instead of actually calling the FD or do anything.
I was lucky, the big ticket stuff wasn't in there, but a LOT of handtools and clamps and SCADS of guitar lumber and jigs..went up. I was able to salvage the Jorgensen Ibeam clamps and replace the clutches..thats about all..every thing was super heated and the annealing / rust was too much.
I still wanna kill him when I get the chance. If I'm ever diagnosed with a week to live...he better be watching his back.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Everyone should have a #78; cheap and easy to find. I have two.
As far as bullnose, chisel and shoulder planes in general....for a while there, your choice was Stanley, or a couple of expensive Lie-Nielsens. Now, take a look at the Lee Valley range...good and useful. Cliftons are really good too, but harder to get ....I had a friend coming back from britain and he picked mine up for me ( a 5/8 shoulder plane). I bought a Stanley shoulder plane when I was stuck...#98 maybe? converts to a chisel plane. Body and sole were very out of square, which is common; everyone I've had my hands on was pretty bad. Fixable, but you shouldn't have to do that.
Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Now you've got me going with my book, Adrian! No, it couldn't have been a #98 -- the book says the 98 was a right-handed side-rabbet plane. That is, held in your right hand, it could pare down the right edge of a doorstop as you faced it, referencing of of the face of the doorstop, and working towards the top. Invaluable for tweaking rabbeted jambs!The #99 was the mirror image of this plane -- with the two of them, you could do it all.In 1978, I was lucky enough to find an old #79 reversible side rabbet plane, brand-new-in-the-box, although discontinued 5 years earlier in 1973. This tool has two cutters, so it is essentially a combination of both the #98 and the #99.The #79 is invaluable for restoration/remodeling door work, of course, but also for tweaking the odd dado that's just a hair too tight.Stanley was amazing! They made over 100 different hand planes! How about a stand-up floor plane, with two rosewood handles on the end of a four-foot extension shaft! (Floor sanders? Never heard of 'em!)Yow!Glad I dragged out this amazing old book again!AitchKay
I'd give my left one for a stand up floor plane. Man, I was about to make one, got a pic?Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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They kill Prophets, for Profits.
I'll try to figure out how to scan this book. I don't have the technology myself.AitchKay
I just googled "Stanley number 74 floor plane," and found a cool site w/ pics.The #78, #78W, and my @79 side rabbet were just a short scroll down the page.I'll have to spend some more time there, but I'd better get to work now.AitchKay
Found it. Holy shavings Batman, 1150.00$ !!!!
I think I'll b making my own.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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But it's such a bargain! Why, you could buy two of those Floor Planes for the price of one #9 Cabinetmaker's Block Plane ($2,450).But, hey, did you get a chance to check out his site more?That guy's one way-gone cat, a really sick pup! (So he'd fit right in here.)But does he know his tools, or what?http://www.supertool.com/index.htm ---- Click on Patrick’s B & GAitchKay
Yeah, I was cruisin around the site, definitly a crazy guy. I was looking at my #130, mine has the rosewood button..cool.
I have always wanted a handplaned floor, and had planned on doing my ceder on the bench after a quick run thru the planer for overall thickness. But I have SYP upstairs original to the house, circa 1840 ish, I'd prefer not be on my hands and knees..but I do large table tops that way..so, I'm kinda used to it.
I figure I can make a modified #3 or #4 , what I didn't know was if the handle was attached to a pivoting yoke. Hell, I can make a wood body from scratch in an hour , I may just do that, and crown it like a scrub plane for more dramatic effect.
Now ya got me thinking, it's all your fault! LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Ever see those old woodblock prints of the apprentice hauling on the rope while the carpenter guided the 4†wide crown-molding plane? Hmmm... I see this floor-planing job as a two-man operation.And, yeah, I like the idea of a crowned blade. Maybe not as crowned as a scrub plane, but more than a smooth plane, which just has the corners of the blade dubbed.A floor done like that sure would look cool!AitchKay
They used horses when I was at Col.Wiliamsburg, never got to ride the plane, but I remember seeing the curler going up and over the rider's shoulder. If you take a 5" crown profile and s-t-r-t-c-h it out, it's almost 10" of cutting width, imagine trying to push that.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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I forgot about the #130 -- one of the few (maybe the only) bullnose planes that isn't a rabbet plane.AitchKay
I think I paid 10 bucks for it, about a year ago..I know it was right before xmas..no wait, TWO yrs ago.
I got it and an off brand #4 , which I sent up to ANDYFEW frome here, the 15 Y.O. kid. It hink it was 7 bucks..I LOVE Flea Markets.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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They kill Prophets, for Profits.
I love those old tools! But I’m definitely not a slave to handwork.One of my favorite hand/power combo tricks is when I have to make curved casings, etc.I’ll rough out the curve with a jigsaw, then run over it, front and back, with a 1/8†rabbeting bit in a router, leaving rough rabbets front and back, and a thin, rough ridge in the middle of the edge of the piece.Plane that ridge smooth with my old #113 Compass Plane, run over one of the faces again with the rabbeting bit, then flush-trim the ridge away, using the now-smooth rabbet as a guide.Planing that 1/8†ridge beats planing a full 3/4†to 1†piece any day.But I still get to trot out my cool old tools!AitchKay
Sorry, zoned out ....it's a 93, and they also make a 90 which is a smaller version. I like some Stanley planes, but there are beter tools out there now.
Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Got it! My book says they stopped making your #93 in 1964.But they kept on making the skinnier version, the #92, and the shorter version, the 90, up until 1973.Which is why I was able to buy one of the last #92s new, off-the-shelf, back in the 70s.AitchKay
Something is wrong there.....the 93 we have I bought in the last 5-6 years, new. And Lee Valley still sells new 90's.
Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Hey, Adrian,That’s interesting...I know I got my book back in the 70s, so things can change.Back by popular demand, perhaps?Stanley of England, maybe? Does your plane say made in US?AitchKay
Hey, Adrian,I just googled that plane, and there are several interesting articles on it.The first site listed says, “Manufacture of the no. 93 in the United States was discontinued in 1964, and U.S. manufacture of model nos. 90 and 92 stopped in 1975. The nos. 90, 92, and 93 models (Figure 20) are now manufactured in Stanley's Sheffield, England, facility and are stamped on the cutter "Made in England."Bingo.AitchKay
Hey, Adrian,Did you check out this site yet?http://www.supertool.com/index.htm ---- Click on Patrick’s B & GAitchKay
Hey, Sphere,I’m familiar with your LL’s combo plate -- we used to call it Bat Food, because of one’s tendency to flap one’s arms about excitedly and blindly, far into the night.AitchKay
Hey, SphereI drew a complete blank at your reference to the "weather stripping" plane. I’ve heard of some specialty planes like the “Specialty Rabbet and Fillitster Plane†and the “Weatherstrip Plow Planeâ€, but never this one.So I dug out a couple of books I got from Woodcraft about 30 years ago. One is titled, “The Stanley Plane, A History and Descriptive Inventory.†The other is a reprint of the Stanley catalog from 1909. Both books just set you to drooling within minutes!And I found two candidates for your plane:One is: #378, “Designed for making the rabbet cuts to install metal weatherstripping. Equipped with right and left hand depth gauge, fence with stop collars and a wide depth gauge that can be used on either side of the plane when using cutters wider than 3/4 inch. Standard cutter: 11/16†Optional cutters: 11/16â€, 3/4â€, 7/8â€, and 1â€. The other is: #78W DOOR RABBET PLANE. This plane was designed especially for weather strip installation. Same as #78 except for a detachable steel runner on the bottom which serves as a center gauge for cutting a 3/8†rabbet on either side of the plane without adjustment.All of these planes are so cool! The graphics for the #55 are especially awesome: The #55 appears to be exiting like a locomotive from a tunnel, the tunnel consisting of a myriad of profiles (crown, etc.) that it can cut. The profiles all are generated from some distant vanishing point far behind the 55, fanning out in a circle around the plane. Very cool, very dynamic! I’ll have to figure out how to scan this catalog and get it on BT!AitchKay
I have the Craftsman version of the #55 with the long and short rails, all the cutters and the depth stop dohicky. I don't use it much, but always have it set up with a bead cutter that I ( for some reason) ground off one leg..I dunno , I musta needed to make a certain moulding to match something.
That is a cool plane, and you can make new cutters fairly easily from any old steel stock the right thickness, which makes me wonder why I alterd a stock bead cutter (G).
I make a lot of short run custom matched trim and stuff, and between router table set ups and planes, I can match just about anything, but not run miles of it.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Yeah, they're not designed to run miles of trim. They came along after power shapers and molders, into an era in which a tool that would run a few feet of just about anything would be vastly superior to an old wooden foot locker filled with a library of custom wood molding planes.For any given profile, the old wood plane would win pants down: lighter, with a perfectly shaped sole, no fiddling with the runners to get them aligned just so.But, I don't know, no wood plane will make my heart sing like my Stanley 45 (would that I had a 55, like my old partner Johnny Gould!).AitchKay
Bullnose planes are handy, but the #45, or the Lie-Nielson remake, are the real bomb!!!!