Millers Falls - Buck Rogers Handplanes - A Small Review

There has been a necessary pause in the chest of drawers, but I have been asked about the Millers Falls planes that appear in the build, so I will do a small review of them.

These are the Millers Falls 714 and 709 bench planes.

Like most Millers Falls Planes, the "14" and "09" refer to the planes' nominal length in inches - 14 inches and 9 inches respectively. So these are a jack plane - 714, and a smoothing plane - 709.

These are a part of a small range of similarly styled handtools that included a drill, hacksaw, small push drill, chisels, brace and a few others. They were made and sold during the 1950's when the design was considered futuristic, and the nickname comes from a science fiction character of the period.

There were only ever the two planes in the series, with some small variations between "types".

The earlier planes had a smooth rounded toe like the 714 shown, while the later type showed minor changes and had a painted and moulded toe - such as the 709 here.  Evidently they were not big sellers in their day and production only lasted about ten years or so

There is a solid heft to both planes that gives confidence to the cut, but they are well balanced and don't feel heavy.

My 714 has been well used, and it shows in body scratches and gouges as well as a shortened blade from sharpening.

A Closer Look at Specifications

The handles are more angular and upright than the more sinuous curves of some wooden handled planes, yet they are practical in use, if not as comfortable in the hand.

The rear handle (tote) is fully integrated with the frog, such that adjusting the position of the frog forward or back, moves the handle too. This is something like the handle/frog unit on current Veritas bevel down bench planes. There is no frog adjuster screw, but pushing the handle is simply done to move the frog if necessary.

In practice, this is a non issue as the quality of shavings and the smoothness of cut are more determined by blade and chip breaker alignment than anything else.

The mouth is clean with a gently scalloped curve flowing towards the front knob. It is aesthetically pleasing as well as allowing quick escapement of shavings without any jamming.

A great deal of attention has been given to the design of the blade, cap-iron/chipbreaker and lever cap.

They are homogeneous in their gentle curves and live happily together as a single design unit. I find them to be a thing of quiet beauty in their own right.  None of this impacts on their utility and functionality, and they perform very nicely indeed.

Millers Falls continued with their hinged lever cap design for this plane, similar to their other bench planes. It is articulated, so that the blade and cap-iron unit below the lever cap screw, is supported over is whole area.  It is a very stable and practical solution to eliminating/controlling blade chatter. It would also be a more expensive manufacturing option than the simple lever caps of Stanley and others - and a sign of a premium tool.

While comparing with a Stanley plane, it is obvious that the Millers Falls blade has a shorter usable cutter life, this being one of the constraints of the integrated design brief.  On top of that, replacement blades are going to be a a pain in proverbial to find, and may have to be bespoke.

The standard Millers Falls Blade is obviously thicker than the equivalent Stanley.

The steel is excellent, and it takes and holds a keen edge. No complaints at all there.

Two things stand out in the design of the frog. One is the obvious size of the depth adjuster wheel - a full 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Stanleys started with depth adjusters of one inch, and finished with 1-1/4 inches  See the comparison in the photo below where the Falcon F5 has the same sized adjuster as the original Stanley.

The mechanical advantage conferred by this 1-1/2 inch diameter wheel makes adjusting the blade depth a one finger operation, and as easy as pie.

Secondly, the shape of the depth adjuster lever shows an elliptical curve on the top and the bottom to prevent binding in the blade slot, and to make adjusting the blade smoother. This is a much mentioned feature of the Woodriver bench planes currently being sold. Clearly, it is a design feature that is at least seventy years old.

In terms of size, the 714 is the same length as a standard jack plane.

Here it is next to a Falcon F5, but a Stanley is the same length.

The 709 on the other hand is not the same length as a number 4. The Stanley No 4 smoother is shorter even though it has the same width blade.

In fact it is the same length as a 4-1/2 even though it does not have the mass of such.

Here it shown against the 4-1/2 and the number 4 for comparison.

In terms of mass, the 714 and the standard number 5 bench plane are near identical - tipping the scales at around 4-1/2 pounds each.

The smoothers are vastly different:

The 709 is near 4 pounds.

The Stanley number 4 is a mere 3lbs 6oz - making the Millers Falls smoothing plane over 18% heavier.

While this is not the same mass as a 4-1/2, it makes a big difference when using the same sized blade of 2 inches.  The 709 is just sooooo easy to push.

A good test of any smoothing plane body/blade combination is how it handles grain. Here the 709 has planed flat a butterfly crack-checker on the inside of a drawer carcass.  It had to plane with and across the grain simultaneously. Not too shabby at all.

Below, it handles long smoothing tasks like the side of this carcass with full even shavings, leaving a finish that needs little to no more work.

Just to wrap this up - the planes are striking in their design, and more than competent in their functionality.  They have some outstanding features that make them easy to use and a pleasure in the hand.

If you come across one - you might like to acquire it and enjoy the experience - as I have.

Back to the chest of drawers in the near future.....................

..................and happy shavings to all.