bing adjoining parts together with sand as an abrasive. Roman planes—the
earliest known examples of this valuable woodworking tool—have been
found up to 44 cm in length. This is rather shorter than the modern
joiner’s try plane, but considerably longer ones are evident from the later
Middle Ages (Fig. 13).
The preferred method of producing an accurate edge joint with a
long plane is to lay out all the pieces side by side in the order in which
they are to be assembled, identifying the top, or face, side with a mark
across all the pieces (Fig. 14) and then “folding” each adjoining pair in
turn,putting them back to back into a vice or other holding device.
Shooting with the long plane along the two edges thus held closely
together will produce two surfaces that are straight along their length.
Any inaccuracy in their width caused by the plane’s having been tilted to
one side or the other will automatically be compensated for when the
two pieces are “unfolded” back into a single surface.
Aclosely matching fit betw een each pair of boards having thus
been achieved, the joint must be fixed. In the case of panels for painting,T M P: H R W T T 183abcbccFigure 12a–c
Thr ee ways of sawing a tree into boards:
(a) the simplest method, producing only
two truly radial boards; (b) another method
yields all radial boards, but the pattern is
difficult to saw, and it leaves a lot of waste;
and (c) a simple method that yields eight
virtually radial boards.
Figure 13
Illustration from Agostino Gallo’s Tredici
Giornate(published in Venice in 1566 by
Bevilacqua), showing three types of plane that
perform the three basic functions of the
woodworking plane, regardless of the great
variety of external appearances and names
favored in different countries at different
times. These functions are (1) getting rid of
waste as fast as possible in order to produce a
workpiece of roughly the desired dimensions.
The plane in the center fills this role and
would today be called a jack or roughing
plane; (2) producing geometrically accurate
faces on workpieces, usually so that they will
form a perfect fit with other pieces, as in the
case of the multisection panels under discus-
sion. The length and truth of the plane’s sole
(underside) are the essential features, as a
straight plane pushed over an uneven face will
go on cutting offhigh points until the surface
is as true as the plane itself. Such planes, of
which that at the bottom is an example, are
called try planes because they true (or “try”)
the workpiece; and (3) smoothing the visible
surface of a finished artifact so that it is agree-
able to touch and sight. For this purpose the
plane’s cutter must be finely set in a narrow
mouth in the plane’s sole, and smoothing
planes should be short, as geometric accuracy
is no longer important, and the plane can be
allowed to ride the ups and downs of major
undulations without having to level them.
The top two planes fit this requirement.