The plow I have is an English screw stave with an almost complete matched set of irons. The fence is attached to the staves with large iron screws and they are just loose enough to pivot.

I use the pivot to slightly askew the blade to crab (or cast) into the fence. With narrow irons, the skate prevents much if any skew, but on larger irons a bit more skew is possible.

Your groove looks much better then I ever make, but then mine never really show. They are filled with a tenon or panel. While yours are finely grooved, mine are just plowed.

Stephen

The pita is that one needs to have several for the various widths of cutters and offsets (if more than one iron is used regularly the number grows considerably). Even so, they are quick to make.

Setting off an already grooved piece is also fairly easy–I’ve done that when I have had to remake a matching piece due to ruining a mate on a box.

As for non-parallel fences? Never tried it on purpose. The times I have not had them parallel there has always been more resistence in the cut than there whould be. And extra fuzziness on the show surface and or slight chip-out. Most times it hasn’t been an issue worth messing with the fence. But a few times I have had to correct the fence alignment.

It’s a bridle plow made by D.L. Barrett & Sons in Canada. Good people. It’s a copy of a Mathison bridle plow. The chief advantage over my old screw-arm plow is that it’s easier to keep the fence parallel to the skate.

And yes, your terms for the staves are more historically correct than mine. Thanks for noting that. I’d always rather use the right words.

Your note about the fence is a really interesting one. My old plows also have a fence that seems to pivot more easily than I think it should. I’ve always chalked it up to wear on the screws or staves.

I’ve wondered at times if pivoting the fence slightly would pull the fence toward the work – like a skewed dado plane or skew rabbet. When I’ve tried this the result has been that the tool gets bogged down because the iron is a bit of a parallelogram in relation to the work.

Have you found skewing the fence to be an advantage?

Chris

What type of plow plane are you using? The fence adjustment is interesting. Also the term ‘stem’ or ‘post’ is that for the ‘staves’ or ‘arms’ or ‘beams’ that hold the fence?

Why do you suppose the fence on old plows pivots slightly? Ease of adjustment or is there any time that the fence is set askew?

Your description was much clearer than Moxon’s.

Stephen