Kerfing Plane I

When I first learned about Tom Fidgen’s kerfing plane I stored it away in the memory bank, realizing immediately that it was just the tool to make resawing an easier undertaking.

Since I do a fair bit of hand-resawing with my vintage carpenter’s saws and my pair of c.1800 4-foot frame saws and their little brother I made a few years ago it was a natural fit for my work bench activities.

It took me a couple years to actually get down to making some kerfing planes for myself.  My starting point was this derelict partial plow plane that was probably in a box of tools I picked up somewhere along the line.  I had added some new arms for the fence as I thought about making the plow plane usable, but since I didn’t really need another plow plane I eventually just let the carcass languish in my spare tool bin.

When looking at Tom’s kerfing plane I thought this plow plane body just might be the starting material for a try at cobbling one together myself, just to see if it really was a useful as Tom said it was and I hoped it might be.  If so, I would concentrate on making some good ones to integrate into my work in The Barn.

Stay tuned as I take you down the path of creating a new, useful addition to my tool set from something probably destined for the wood stove.  And, where I went from there.  Thanks to Tom’s insights, creativity, and evangelistic fervor he has transformed part of my work.