Plane anatomy

[DanielMatt]

Curious if anyone knows why the "frog" is named as such on a hand plane?

[Tom Watson]

My money is on the fact that "fragere' is a latin verb meaning "to break".

Regards,

Tom

Thos.J.Watson - Cabinetmaker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet

[cselby]

It's from the French who invented the plane. The original word was grenuille. The English, after one of their raids into France, stole the plane for themselves. When the grenuille broke of in the demonstrator's hand causing a nasty gash he swore 'Damn Frogs' meaning the French. Everyone in earshot heard 'frog' thinking the broken part and the name stuck ever since.

Just another history lesson.

P

[DanielMatt]

Awesome :) Thanks, I thought it had something to do with the French. Honestly, sounds kind of like legend, but reasonable enough to believe :p

Thanks a lot :thumbup:

[Curran Copeland]

My shop teacher said it was because it loked like a frog

[Jeff Gorman]

"DanielMatt" wrote

The story is that the term was invented by a worker at Stanleys who said 'The plane has a frog in its throat'.

[Mekon]

I dunno if it has any relation but the scabbard we held our bayonets in for our SLRs (OZ army Vietnam era) was also called a frog. Strange the stuff you remember. Can't forget the stuff you want to forget though. I'm not claiming to have been there, I wasn't. I missed it by a single draft.

Mekon

[Charlie Self]

Sure. Except that I seem to recall reading in several places that planes go back a bit further than either the French or the English. One source had India, IIRC, while another had Greece.

[Swingman]

IOW, a suspect "history lesson", at best. :)

A "grenouille" in French _is_ a "frog" (and, in particular, connotes a "green" one, where I grew up in South Louisiana).

[Fred the Red Shirt]

If you look at one in profile it resembles the amphibian with which it shares a name. A ceramic or metal holder that supports and positions a flower stem in the bottom of a vase is also called a frog, perhaps for similar reasons.

[cselby]

Swingman got it. How come you didn't?

P

[Old Guy]

There is also a frog that holds a sheathed sword at the wearers side, on a belt. Don't see how that applies, but it's a possiblity.

guy