A box of 17 moulding planes and more

[stoopiduk]

Evening all,

I'm looking a getting into woodworking and hate doing things the easy way, so picked up a lovely old chest loaded with antique tools, and was immediately interested in their history. I just wanted to say thank you to you all as many of my googlings brought me to this forum as I hunted for details on the makers of the tools and when they may have been produced. I spent a couple of hours today wiping the worst of the dirt off of the moulding planes, and removing the worst of the rust from their blades. I've recorded below all of the markings in case they are of interest to anyone.

I sent a less thorough list to Steve at Tooltique who was kind enough to let me know that the Shepley and Gabriel pieces might be worth putting aside rather than using; unless I hear any loud screams from the audience here I'll be doing my best to get everything else into working order. If there's any interest I'll post some pics once I've hit 3 posts.

There are a few other bits that were in the chest (which is in itself a beautiful piece, with a place to mount a saw on the inside front which I admire) and I'll get to those eventually.

Square brackets are what I presume are the owner's name stamps. Itching to know who J P Wallace was, and how his 7 planes made in Scotland ended up in the East of England. I've removed from the list any planes that were unmarked, as they are a little pointless without pictures!

Moulding Planes
1. 5/8 - Morison Glasgow - [J P Wallace] 1862 - 1868?
2. Morison Glasgow - [J P Wallace] 1862 - 1868?
3. 5/16 - D. Malloch & Son Perth. Marked '3' on top heel end - [J P WALLACE] (1849 - 1913)
4. 3/8 - J P Wallace Dundee. Blade marked W Butcher
5. 6/8. Multiple markings - "MILLER AYR" "J. JACK & W. MURRAY" - [J P WALLACE] -
6. 3/4 ? Matthieson & Son Glasgow - [J P WALLACE] 1914?

9. multiple markings - "Berry Long Lane" "L. Little" italic font
12. 3/8 W Greenslade Bristol - "EXHIBITION Medals London Dublin Paris Melbourne" overstamped DMV + [f j woolmer] 1828 - 1937?
14. Rabbet Plane - Edwards Bay & Hye Swindon - [N Baker] - retailer? 1894, 1896
15. Shepley C - [G W Williams] - 1780-99
16. CRAW?INGS GABRIEL - 1746 - 1809
17. 44 - line detail around top, box detail front and back [J DUKE] (possibly my favourite, a weighty lump of dark wood with a curved blade and foot for a wide concave cut)


BLOCK PLANE - J JOWETT ROYAL ALBION SHEFFIELD - 1860-1900
BLOCK PLANE - THE SPECIAL - steel "buck and ryan warranted cast steel" (Buck and Ryan - London retailer established 1824?)
Jack plane - GRIFFITHS NORWICH - cap/steel - w. man?????? & sons hibernia warranted steel

CHISEL - ESC CYCLOPS (CAMEL PIC) SHEFFIELD? - [N Tolmie]
Wooden adjustable bevel - [N Tolmie]
Marking/Mortice gauge with brass screw adjustment - [N Tolmie]

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Congrats on the haul of old tools. I have just bought a few myself, they are indeed vastly different, and in my view more difficult to master than the later Bailey style of plane. No wonder apprenticeships then were so long back then.

I suspect JP Wallace would have been the original owner of the tools. It is very common to find the owners name stamped on old tools. The majority of Jointers/ cabinet makers/ carpenters were transient journeymen at the period you refer to, with artisans travelling to find the work, or perhaps to work on a specific job particular to their skill base. I would suspect finding out who Mr Wallace was would be difficult to say the least. The name would suggest he is Scots and as the planes themselves were manufactured in Scotland he may have travelled south?? or it may just be his tool box was bought by a local of your area, prior to you buying them.

Anyway good luck with your investigations and cleaning/using the tools.

David

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Apparently insurance cover by trade bodies was dependent on the tools being marked with the owner's name, which is one reason it's very common.

 

[AndyT]

If you really want to find the previous owners, you need to get into family history searching and look for people with the right name and initials. You could probably get a free trial for a month which should be enough time for your searches into the Wallace family, and Tolmie might be an easy one. Alternatively there are quite a lot of sites where people publish their own research - you might get lucky. It does help that trade or profession was generally included on census returns and official certificates.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

The jack plane iron markings are almost certainly "W Marples and Sons", and may well have a sort of clover device as the trademark. William Marples were one of Sheffield's largest edge-tool makers, and used "Shamrock brand" (the clover device) to trademark their premium lines for many decades in the late 19th century up to the mid to late 20th. You'll find that mark cropping up a lot on good quality vintage tools, though as you've no doubt gathered by now, there were many other brands of high quality.

The "ESC Cyclops" brand is an odd one. I think it may be the latter manifestation of Cammell Laird (who started as steelmakers in Sheffield), later amalgamated with Vickers, and later still becoming part of the English Steel Corporation - hence ESC.

https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk ... iron-works

 

[stoopiduk]

Thanks for the responses!

Yes I figured J P Wallace would have been the owner, and hold very little hope of finding out who he was. I expect Wallace is quite a common name in Scotland, and genealogy is not my thing.

Interesting note on insurance, Phil.P, makes sense why so many of these stools are marked (Some with 8 or so stamps of the same name all over the body!).

CheshireChappie, the mark is as you described. Despite some beetle holes, I'm hoping that jack plane will be back in service soon, the Iron needs a little attention but there's plenty of meat on it. My nan has offered me another jack plane which belonged to her father, which feels quite special. I came to a similar conclusion about ESC Cyclops after a quick read on Grace's Guide and elsewhere. The stamp of a camel next to the name can't be a coincidence!

Happy new year all and thanks for your thoughts

Gary