Union No. 41 Tongue and Groove Plane

While out running some errands this weekend, I stopped at a local flea market.  I’m not sure why I did, as this particular market has never had anything that I wanted before, but I thought I’d pop in for a quick look.  There were a few old tools, but most was junk. Some old wooden bodied bench planes that had dried out and checked so badly that they were unusable and some Stanley type metal planes that were the newer poorly made kind (folded lateral adjustment lever, etc.).

Sitting amongst all of this, was a tongue and grooving plane.  I recognized the type of plane, as I had seen Deneb Puchalski from the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks demonstrate how to use one of their tongue and groove planes during a presentation at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival a couple of years ago.

The guy selling it, had a price tag of $90 on it but said that he would take half of that.  We agreed upon $40 and I left the flea market with a shiny and new (OK… dirty and old) plane.

A Union No. 41 Tongue and Groove Plane

The plane I bought is a Union No. 41 Match Plane.  Sometimes you see these referred to as match planes and other times as tongue and groove planes .  I started doing a little research online, and according to Patrick Leach’s awesome Blood and Gore Stanley Reference Guide, Union was bought out by Stanley in about 1920 and all planes made after then were re-branded as Stanley.  The Union N0. 41 is the same plane as a Stanley No. 48.

Here’s the plane as I found it.

One of the big obstacles when finding something like this at a flea market or garage sale is knowing what to pay or what it is worth.  When it comes to the regular Stanley bench planes, I have a pretty good idea, since I have been buying and rehabbing them for some time now.  I had no idea what this tongue and groove plane was worth.  But, I figured that at $40, even if I was paying too much, it wasn’t going to be by a lot.   I have since checked eBay and there are a few listed.  One is in considerably rougher shape, is missing it’s cutters, and is listed at $45.  I guess I didn’t do too bad, but not as well as I did when I bought a Stanley 113 compass plane for $15 at a swap market.

It’s not in too bad a condition for being nearly a hundred years old.

The nickel plating is missing in some areas, but after a thorough cleaning, I think it will look quite nice.  The plane has both its cutters and they appear to be in good shape and have plenty of life left in them.

Both cutters are present and in decent shape.

This style of plane has a base that swivels to cut either the tongue or the groove.  To hold the base in place there is a spring mounted post or pin that goes into a detent at either end of the base.  Changing from cutting the tongue or the groove is as simple as pulling up the pin, rotating the base, and reseating the pin.

The swivel mechanism works as it should.

One discrepancy I did notice, was that the two cutters are not the same width.  I read a forum post that said that the plane was originally sold with a third cutter that was a little wider than the others and would allow the plane to cut wider stock.  The groove would not be centered, but since it is hidden within the joint, who would know?  Once I get the plane all cleaned up, I’ll have to experiment with it and make sure that the cutters are installed in the correct sides.

One cutter looks a little wider than the other.

I’ll post some more pictures of this plane once it is all cleaned up and put back in good working order.

I haven’t touched my workbench project for a couple of weeks now.  What with trying to watch every World Cup match, keeping up with the yard work, and going to work, there hasn’t been any spare time.   And now… I have a plane restoration to throw into the mix.  We’ll see what happens.

More soon…  Maybe in the round of 16.