C_B_2015_05_

88 CLASSIC BOAT MAY 2015

Boatbuilder’s Notes

CRAFTSMANSHIP

Compass plane

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS

ROBIN GATES

Over the course of their career, from

seven years of apprenticeship to

becoming a master of the trade, a

shipwright would assemble a wide

variety of planes, particularly if doing

much joinery. One of the more unusual

planes – and a difficult one to tame

• was the compass plane, which
  would be used to shape a hollow in
  timber too wide to be tackled with
  the round-faced spokeshave.
  While essentially similar to the
  smoothing plane, with its heavy
  double iron secured in the wooden
  stock by a tightly-fitting wedge, the
  compass plane differs in that its sole is
  radiused and – echoing the rocker in a
  racing dinghy’s keel – the radius
  increases from toe to heel. This
  mid-Victorian example from the
  London maker Joseph Buck is also
  fitted with a stop, an auxiliary steel
  toe raised or lowered by turning the
  brass thumb screw so as to fine-tune
  the effective cutting radius.
  The initial difficulty in using this
  plane arises from there being very

Traditional Tool

little contact between its sole and the

timber until the concave curve is well

established. If not handled confidently

it will see-saw on its cutting edge and

skitter across the wood leaving a

succession of ugly scars, and if used

against the grain it will dig in like a

mattock. The plane runs more

smoothly if skewed a little, and this

example is assisted further by having a

narrow mouth, which reduces

tear-out, and a subtly cambered iron

which, if set to take a fine shaving, is

not exposed at the corners and so

avoids scoring ‘tram lines’ on the

work. The only drawback to the

narrow mouth is that it clogs and

requires frequent clearing. Because

contact with the timber is

concentrated over a small area, the

sole of a well-used plane wears rapidly

in front of the iron. A graving piece

has been mortised skilfully into the

sole of this plane to restore the

original profile but even this bears the

striations of a hard-working life.

One further detail to note is the

shapely chamfer or ‘turnout’ provided

for the thumb on either side of the

escapement. The turnout comes into

play when setting the iron, requiring

that the plane be held with fingers

under the sole and thumb hooked

inside the escapement.

Clockwise from

above: the

compass plane

cuts a smooth

concave; an

adjustable foot

varies its effective

cutting radius; the

chamfered

‘turnout’

accommodates the

thumb when

setting the iron

ROBIN GATES

ROBIN GATES

CB323 Boatmans Notes.indd 88 23/03/2015 17:39