 |
| The back of the plane iron must be flat. |
 |
| Polish the edge to mirror gloss. |
 |
| Hone microbevel on the cutting edge. |
 |
| The micobevel should be even across the cutting edge. |
In about 1960, my father was manager of a large hardware store in
Omaha, Nebraska, and special ordered
Swedish Danish planes for my uncle Ron. Many
years later, my uncle Ron presented one of them to me. And so, I fiddled
with it, sharpened it, but never got much time invested in its use. Having many other things to do, I put it aside.
Yesterday, I got it out to show my
apprentice, and I became more curious about it. I used my set of Japanese water stones to get it ready for use. So this afternoon, I had a cross-cultural recreational experience, using objects from three continents.
First I polished the back side. Despite what you may see on the Fine Woodworking website, the object isn't to turn the backside into a mirror in which you can see your face. But in order to get a good edge, both the front and back must be polished, at the very least at the cutting edge. In the series of steps shown in the photos the object is that both the back and secondary bevels shine.
The drawing of a similar plane below is from
The Teacher's Hand-Book of Educational Slöjd by Otto Salomon. The brand on mine is IPBO, stamped on top, and the plane iron was made by E. A. Bergs Fabriks AB in Eskilstuna, Sweden.
Tomorrow, I'll put it to use.
Make, fix and create...
 |
| Iron in and ready for use. |
 |
| Body by IPBO and iron by Erik Anton Berg, Estiluna, Sweden |
It's a beautiful old plane.
ReplyDeleteHello Doug.
ReplyDeleteThe JPBO plane wasn't made in Sweden.
It is a Danish brand.
The meaning is: Johan P. Bendixen Odense (Odense is the city).
The blade is correctly made in Sweden, but the plane itself is Danish.
Brgds
Jonas (Denmark)
Jonas, thanks. Are they still made there?
ReplyDeleteDoug,
ReplyDeleteas far as I have been able to trace (rather quickly, so it is not an absolute thorough search), the company went bankrupt in 1992. But I don't think that they produced planes that late.
My guess is, that they ceased production in the late 70'ies.
There was also one other Danish brand: DANA, but I dont know, if they manufactured the planes themselvees, or branded someone elses planes.
There are still loads of JPBO's to be found in Denmark, especially since they were used in the schools for sloyd education as well.
Brgds
Jonas
Jonas,
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame about the bankruptcy. I appreciate learning more about my plane.
Mario,
It is a beautiful old plane. It is almost new since my uncle didn't know how to sharpen it, and I put it away and forgot about it for a time.
Thanks,
Doug