A careful look at this pew will show hand plane marks, most evident
in the back board. These shallow gouges result when a plane is used
to remove the saw marks from the milling process and to plane the
board to even thickness. This woodworker stopped when he had reached
this stage, but in higher quality “primitive” or “plantation” furniture,
the plane used for this process would have been followed by another plane,
a smoothing plane, which would have removed the gouges (by lowering the ridges)
and rendered the board smoother. The wood is torn out in the areas where
the grain changes direction, indicating the blade depth on the plane was
set too deeply, the blade needed sharpening, or the woodworker was in hurry
or wasn't concerned. It all adds “character” to the pew. This is one of
the smaller pews and may have come from the nearby school.
Image ID 011115-3550