Our Rhineland herring box spelk planes produce at least 3-4 inches wide spelks. Those have got at least three handles to allow for at least two strong Rhinelandish herring box spelk makers.
I learn from google that super surfacers are a certain variety of electric planes. Correct? Bet you're right that they didn't have these! But they have had planes for at least 1500 years. Saws and planes may seem low tech, but the opposite is the case. A well-tuned plane produces a surface which no super surfacer would ever dare to dream of. There is no doubt that "they" were able to keep their planes in good working order, so this must be what they've used. I believe that the rib blanks were sawed. Figured wood cannot be split, of course, and I doubt that splitting is an economic method even for more plain wood. Any comments from REAL experts? g P.S. Peter W., I have mislaid your email address. Help me out? On 07.11.2004, at 21:42, Garry Bryan wrote: > Gernot. > > Actually, that's where I first saw mention of a Spelk plane. > > I don't think that you'd use a spelk plane for shingles, since the > width of > the wood passing through the plane was generally an inch or so. > > The ribs from the 16th century had to either be sawn or split. As far > as I > know, there were no super surfacers available then. > > What did they use? > > Garry To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
