I just saw this on Ebay, its an old electric Mall Plane by Mall Tool Company. Does anybody have info on the company, these planers, or their use in the surfboard industry? How did/does this planer compare to the Skil 100 or Rockwell Porter Cable 653 Versa Plane?
I’m merely asking out of curiosity so any info is appreciated. Thanks!
Those tools came up in the ‘‘history of electric planer use’’ thread a few months ago. Chain drive and loud as hell, if memory serves… Apparently once the early planer users got hold of the 100, the Maul (sp?) was history. It still would be a cool collector’s item, if the price was right.
Now a skil 96 … THATS a classic tool.
GL, you remember my Skil 96?? I still have what’s left of that thing, although I haven’t used it in something like 23 years. I was trying to be ahead of the curve on modifying a lighter tool, since mine pre-dated the Clark Hitachi. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I thought that was such a wimpy tool … but you were right in the long run, Yea ahead of Clark by years. I was using a Porter Cable at the time. A real mans tool.
I got a lot of grief for using that ‘‘wimpy’’ tool, from all you manly planer types, UNTIL Clark brought out the Hitachi. But the blanks kind of came to the planers too, the more close-tolerance blanks didn’t require the big foam-eaters of yore.
That’s why I was using the porter cable. We were taking 1/2 inch + foam off every blank. The PC would take 3/8 at a time in a very manly 10 amp fashion. With the numbers I was doing at the time it made a big difference.
I was just about to ask you guys how thick the blanks were during the Porter Cable days. Thanks for the info GL! Do you guys have any stories that stand out about particularly bad or extra thick foam or warped stringers??
MD, I just found your old thread “History of Using Electric Planers” - great read!
Of course we have stories! One of my favorite GL-isms fits good here. This was at least 20 yrs ago, Greg and I were talking with another shaper or two about a run of twisted blanks we’d been getting . GL, ever the optimist, quipped “no problem, that just means the V is already in on one side!”.