Way back in November of 1999, my wife and I moved into a brand new house. When the house was being built, the builder asked us if we wanted a deck off the back. I said no, a concrete patio would be sufficient. I went on to tell the builder I was interested in some kind of screened in structure that adjoined the patio. Maybe a gazebo. By the way the lot was graded and in an effort to keep rain water, etc. running away from the house, any sort of structure would have to be built on a sort of steep slope off the end of the patio. Not impossible to do, but also not the easiest outdoor living space project. Then he hit me with the cost. Forget it! When we moved into that house, were counting every last penny. “I’ll build it myself.”
Over the winter, I drew up some plans for purposes of pulling a permit and started saving for materials to build a gazebo. By the late spring of 2000, I was ready to go. And like a lot of my projects, I tend to over complicate them for some reason. Anyway, in my initial plan, I intended to cut a shallow rabbet joint all the way around the top plate of the walls to accommodate a bird’s mouth at the end of each rafter. I don’t know why I thought I needed that, but it was in the plan. I just had to figure out how to cut the joint.
Stanley #10:
The #10 is the carriage maker’s rabbet plane. With its arched sides and full width cutting iron, it was designed to cut rabbet joints on larger pieces of wood and in situations that called for large structural joints on timbers and planks…like building a gazebo. Well, based on my gazebo plan, I needed a large rabbet plane to cut some rabbet joints and somehow convinced my wife that I needed a Stanley #10. I tracked one down on eBay and had it within a week. Looking back, I really lucked out with this plane. I knew little or nothing about it and fortunately got one that was what I still believe is factory original.
Looking at the bottom of the lever cap and the main casting below the rear tote, one can see a foundry mark letter “B.” That foundry mark was a characteristic of Stanley planes manufactured between 1899 and 1905. The lateral adjustment lever on the frog bears a single patent date that reads, “7 24 88,” characteristic of planes manufactured between 1899 and 1902. The trademark on the cutting iron was used by Stanley between 1891 and 1904. Based on the telltales, I would guess that my #10 was made at some point between 1899 and 1905. When I bought the plane, I had zero clue as to the plane’s age nor even if the sum of its parts were original to each other. Like I said, it was pure luck that I ended up with this plane.
Stanley carried the #10 for decades between 1870 and 1957. I guess if one is working on a larger project that requires large rabbet joints, such a plane would be a valuable tool to have on hand. But like any other plane with arched sides, it’s prone to cracking along those arches. Also, because the iron is full width and must fit between the arched sides of the main casting, the useable part of the iron isn’t very long. Make sure there’s still some steel left to grind if you’re planning to buy a #10 to use. Another thing to watch out for is the frog itself. I don’t think the #10 was ever outfitted with a frog advance/retract adjustment screw like is found on most standard bench planes.
So maybe you’re wondering, when the time came to build the gazebo, how did the plane perform in terms of cutting that rabbet joint. Well, once the walls were up and I got started on the roof, I distinctly remember asking myself, do I really need that rabbet joint???…….
Jim C.
