Drawer Bottom Plane, Greenfield Tool Co. #269

 Greenfield Tool Co., Drawer Bottom Plane, Catalog #269


Greenfield Tool Co. Drawer Bottom Plane
Greenfield Tool Co. Drawer Bottom Plane

Greenfield Tool Co. Drawer Bottom Plane

Greenfield Tool Co. Drawer Bottom Plane
Ever see one of these beasts in the wild? This is a Greenfield Tool Co. Drawer Bottom Plane, catalog no. 269. Essentially a purpose made groove plane for one purpose: to form the drawer side groove for the fielded bottom. That's all it does. Cutting a 1/4" groove, having a movable sole to allow for drawer bottom placement, this rare plane form is as specialized as it gets.

A thick boxwood skate, a matching 1/4" blade (not shown in these photos but it's there) and the moving fence are all there is to this plane. Could you use a plow plane? Of course you could. This plane was found with a box of small profile moulding planes of the sort likely used by a cabinet maker along with one beat up panel raising plane. At the time I didn't have enough cash on hand, so this was the only plane purchased.

I've never seen another. On occasion I see British made small tongue and groove sets having one groove plane that resembles the Drawer Bottom Plane. Often the groove plane is sold as an orphan labeled as a Drawer Bottom Plane. While fully usable as such, it is not.

Now you know what a real Drawer Bottom Plane looks like. Go forth and fine one.