Record Planes for Cutting Grooves

Someone in one of my groups was recently asking for a recommendation on how best to proceed with cutting the grooves for a box or drawer bottom–he had a power router but not the right bit and it was £40 from Axminster, or he saw the Quangsheng No 43 for £160 and I asked if he had considered a vintage tool like the Record No 043 that the Quangsheng was modeled after. Then he asked about the difference between the 043 and 044 and the cutters for the various grooving planes and I started to take a closer look. Here’s what I found…

Record 043

Christopher Schwarz once called it “cuter than socks on a squirrel” and he’s not wrong! The little Record 043 plough plane, or plow plane, is just 5 1/2” long and comes with 3 cutters for 1/8”, 3/16”, and 1/4” grooves. It features a double-arm bridged fence and adjustable depth gauge (the first version had a single arm for the fence and became the No 040). A hardwood fence can be added. The groove can be cut 1/2” deep and up to 4” from the edge of the workpiece. The cutters do not feature any notches and are adjusted manually. It can be reversed for left-handed use.

It’s interesting to me that there is no Stanley equivalent of this little plough plane.

Record 044

A slightly more robust ploughing plane, the No 044 also features a double arm adjustable bridged fence and adjustable depth gauge, but comes with two pairs of fence arms (long and short) and will cut grooves 5/8” deep up to 5” from the edge of a board. The plane is 8 1/2” long and has an actual handle. It comes with 8 cutters, the same 3 sizes as the 043 plus 5/16”, 3/8”, 7/16”, 1/2” and 9/16”. Perhaps the biggest added feature over the 043 is the screw adjustment which is fitted to the cutter to allow easy advancement into the workpiece. The cutters must be notched with horizontal grooves on the back of the blades to work with this type of 044. You mean there’s different types you ask? Why, yes! There’s the 044c…

Record 044C

The 10 inch long 1970’s version reminds me of a shark but with a big tail that is the open cellulose acetate handle. It’s been around for 50 years so I guess that makes it vintage. Those buying a 044 or 044c or some cutters to go with one or the other should be aware that the cutters are different for the newer version, having a single notch on the side near the top. It also came with 10 of them.

Record 045c

Identical to the 044 but came with a single cutter.

Record 050

Of course, you can go big or go home and choose a nice Record No 050 combination plane to plough grooves, dadoes, beads and center beads, do some rabbeting and filletstering, and tongue and grooving. And it introduces the spurs for cross-grain work.

The 050 came in a wood box with a main body or mainstock, fence, sliding section, 10 ploughing cutters, 7 beading cutters, a 1/4” tonguing cutter, arm rods, depth gauge, beading stop, and a few miscellaneous parts for special set ups. This plane features an adjustment screw for advancement of the cutter. The cutters have a single-notch design like the ones discussed earlier for the 044C.

While capable of performing the functions of an estimated thirty-nine dedicated-use planes, we will take a quick look at the ploughing ability of this combo plane.

It can plough grooves 1/2” deep up to 5” from the edge. The included plough (and dado) cutters are 1/8”-1/2” in sixteenths increments, plus 5/8” and 7/8”. Wider grooves can be cut by first cutting a groove in the side farthest from the face edge of the workpiece, then cutting another one slightly overlapping the first to form the near edge of the groove the required distance from the face edge. Coincidentally this method can be used for wide rabbets, as well.

Record 050A

As above, but a few pieces were not included. It uses the same cutters (the same notch feature), but came without the 1/8” and 3/16” plough cutters.

Record 050C

Made from 1970 to 1982, we’re back to the big-tailed shark design with the blue cellulose handle. This came with 18 cutters: 12 plough cutters, 4 of which are in metric sizes, and 5 beading cutters and one tonguing cutter.

The cutters do have a single-notch design similar to the 044C and 050 planes, but I am not certain they are fully interchangeable.

Any of these planes are great options for grooves and rabbets. It would be tempting to have a 043 permanently set up and dedicated for quick and easy drawer bottom grooves.

Or… go full-monty with the Record No 405 multi-plane like I did recently… Maybe I’ll save that for another weekend.

I’ve been seeing many nice examples being sold at auction here over the past few weeks. If you want to give hand-tooled grooves a go then be sure to keep your eyes peeled for these useful planes in our weekend auctions.

I would also recommend finding a copy of Planecraft Hand Planing by Modern Methods published by C. & J. Hampton Ltd. It contains everything about the 043, 044, 050, 405 and how to use them, as well as info on all of the Record handplanes and spokeshaves, vices, finishing, etcetera and it’s an enjoyable read.

Many of the images below are liberally borrowed.