The challenge

The spot of DIY trailed at the end of reference 1 turned into a match between heritage carpentry of maybe 50 years ago and today's DIY.

Specifically a Record bench plane No.6, all of 18 inches top to toe, versus the Bosch, probably the PHO 1500. This last not being something that I had ever seen, never mind handled.

Lots of Record heritage to be found at references 4 and 5. While I remember names like block plane, smoothing plane, jack plane, jointer and bench plane, but I failed to run them down. What I call the jack plane was my jack-of-all-trades, but I have no idea if that is where its name came from.

I fielded the full kit, not much used these days, as snapped above. However, it was all used at some point during the day - with the wedges being important during the closing stages.

While in the other corner we had a Bosch plane (corded) and a Bosch screwdriver (battery). Both of which were nifty bits of kit, rather more sophisticated than I had been expecting. Brought lots of stuff within reach of the average householder - which is just as well these days, given the difficulty of getting workmen in to do these small jobs. Handymen don't cut it and few proper tradesmen can be bothered with odds and ends.

First off, the swollen door was marked up so that we knew how much needed to be taken off. Maybe a quarter of an inch off the top, running down to an eighth at the bottom. Give or take.

Next it was slotted into the harness (snapped at reference 1) and detached from the rest of the bifold. Noting in passing that these particular bifold hinges were not cut into the timber, that is to say they were face mounted rather than flush mounted, so you had to rely entirely on the screws for vertical hold. And fewer visual clues for rehanging, should that be needed, as it was here. Luckily, I thought to draw around the centre hinge.

Heritage hinges, such as those to be found on the often heavy doors in Hampton Court and Kensington Palaces are something of a mixture, with some being face mounted and some being flush mounted - this last not being so easy when the hinge was also a florid bit of decoration.

Then it was the turn of the Record, a fine bit of engineering, from the days when we still made lots of stuff, still bashed lots of metal.

In bits. Luckily, I had left it reasonably sharp, but I did sharpen it during the proceedings, just for form. I also reminisced about the old days, when older carpenters used to have heated discussions in public houses about the relative merit of Record planes and the then new Stanley planes, which last, as far as I could see were pretty much copies of the Records. I should add that, by that time, the old ways were rapidly dying. Apprenticeships were on the way out; power tools and sub-contractors for everything were on the way in.

There was a time when I could do a quicker and better job with such a plane than the Bosch could do now. Much more satisfying too, with all those long, curling shavings peeling off the clean timber. But I have to admit that those days are long gone and I was impressed with what the Bosch could do. Even if it did not do away with the need to have a care to plane level - but the carpenters' square saw that problem off.

It took a number of fittings before we were satisfied - although I dare say with a bit more practise one would get that down a bit. 

Finished off with a bit of Dulux undercoat, left over from something or other. Given that the door was essentially inside, that would do until the weather was dry enough for gloss.

A reasonably clean finish left by the Bosch. Note the face mounting of the bottom hinge. I might also say that, remarks about handymen above notwithstanding, I had managed to find a local carpenter to make the bifold doors, using the ones that came with the house, but which had rotted, as a template. I dare say I might just about have managed, perhaps with just a little help, but other duties called.

BH is very pleased with the speed with which she can now, for example, get to and from the freezer, particularly when it is dark, wet or cold.

Later on, I was rewarded with a fancy pork pie from Waitrose, branded 'Dickens & Morris', said to be something to do with Melton Mowbray. Not bad at all. And the filling was not as fine ground and homogenous as it sometimes is: it might even have contained some real meat!

My assistant had had to return to other duties and so had to make do with a rather different sort of heritage item, a nice copy of 'Swallows and Amazons' from Oxfam, a very popular children's book when I was young, not that I ever took to it, despite much messing around in nearby streams and ditches. I was more Rosemary Sutcliff then C.S. Forester. See references 2 and 3.

PS 1: the old and new planes cost about the same, with the old counting as a heritage item. You used to get quite a lot of them in car boot sales, so there must be plenty of collectors out there. But how many users? For the avoidance of doubt, the snap at the top of this post is not my plane.

PS 2: I might add that my carpenter's vice, which has seen a lot of use over the years, is also from Record. Not to mention my rack of sash cramps.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/01/letby.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-second-outing.html.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallows_and_Amazons.

Reference 4: https://www.recordhandplanes.com/dating.html.

Reference 5: https://smallworkshop.co.uk/2016/01/09/record-bench-planes-a-brief-history/.