Tool ID

Steliz · 25 Sep 2020

I read a thread on here about an old Marples plane and realised that it had the same markings on one of my woodcarving chisels dating it to between 1862-1875. That inspired me to have a look at my other tools and see if I could find more information about them.
I have a mixed set bought as one lot on Ebay a couple of years ago which contains 2 each of W. Marples, S. J. Addis, H. Taylor, Ashley Iles and one other that I can't identify. Dating the Marples and the Addis tools was easy enough as they have detailed stamp marks on them and there is onfo on the internet (Marks – William Marples and Sons, Ltd. & OldTools Archive) but the Taylor and Iles have no marks.
The unidentified tool has a mark on it but I can't read it. I can see that the word underneath is Sheffield but the main part is unreadable although maybe someone on here might be able to shed some light on it even by recognising the shape of the mark.

AndyT · 25 Sep 2020

Well that's a challenge!

I have come across plane irons where the original mark was deliberately obliterated. I think this was done if the quality was not good enough (not "up to the mark") but am not sure, so don't quote me on it.

However, I do wonder if that's what you have - a deliberately obscured name.

Or else the maker just wanted to knock off and go to the pub.

Sheffield Tony · 25 Sep 2020

The second line is SHEFFIELD ENGLAND, but I guess that's not much help.

Steliz · 26 Sep 2020

OK, thanks. I thought it would be a long shot.
A couple of the letters are discernable, maybe. I think the second one is a U and the hole at the right hand end looks more like a shape than a letter.

Distinterior · 26 Sep 2020

I have a couple of old chisels at home with very similar markings(they were my Grandfathers)....I will take a look at them later and see if I can read what they say..!

AndyT · 27 Sep 2020

Now that I have looked at it on a larger screen, I think I can see the shapes of the letters

W MARPLES & SONS so the last lump at the right would be a shamrock.

It's not shown on the marks page you linked to, but that could just be because Roger Ball has not yet been able to tackle the large topic of carving tools in depth.