Unusual plane

[RichardHants]

Can anyone tell me more about this unusual tool?

The brass unit has two keyhole slots which engage with the screws on the wooden part. There are lots of different wooden parts with different profiles. There are no blades, but I presume there would once have been a blade for each profile.

There is no manufacturer's name on it, and I do wonder if it was hand made, though the brass part does seem a little too sophisticated to have been made by hand.

Does this kind of tool have a name?

Any information would be appreciated.

 

[Adam W.]

It's a patternmakers plane.

 

[Droogs]

Yep, Patternmakers plane. the keyed base allows the use of many different custom profile bases that may be unique to a particular job and never used again and is fare cheaper than creating a complete plane for the purpose.

 

[toolsntat]

How very interesting, as said above a pattern makers radius plane. Very often copied by the worker himself, cast in brass from a workmates example.
So, why so interesting to me?
The shape of this body is less frequently found and I know of less than 6 examples! (You watch em pop out the woodwork now)
I have what I think could be an original, or one of the originals,from which the others have been generated. No way to prove this but mine is the only one in cast iron with the most wonderful detailing.
At this point we need pictures.....
Watch this space.
Cheers Andy

 

[toolsntat]

Here you go.....
At least one of the copies had the same bridge and strike button detailing.
Cheers Andy
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/pattern-makers-radius-plane-professionally-made.76276/

 

[RichardHants]

Thank you for those replies, that's very helpful. There were other planes in the same box, would they also have been used by pattern makers? See pic below. Some have a figure stamped on them which seems to be the radius of the curve. But what does 1" x 12 mean? 1" is the radius, but what is the 12?

 

[Adam W.]

Yes, they are also patternmakers tools.

 

[TheTiddles]

Should the original not be about 1.5% larger than the brass copies if that’s what’s happened

 

[gcusick]

Thank you for those replies, that's very helpful. There were other planes in the same box, would they also have been used by pattern makers? See pic below. Some have a figure stamped on them which seems to be the radius of the curve. But what does 1" x 12 mean? 1" is the radius, but what is the 12?View attachment 115636View attachment 115637View attachment 115638

Two radii - one specifying the curve across the sole (1”), the other along the sole (12”)

 

[RichardHants]

Thank you Geoff. I hadn't thought of that.

Now, final question. There was one other mystery object in the box, see pic below. Someone has obviously gone to a lot of trouble to make it, but what is it for?

 

[Argus]

That last item looks like the head of a marking gauge.

The marker with the marking pin is missing. the whole thing is held together by a wedge that fits in that slot..... also missing.

 

[RichardHants]

Yes, I can see now, that's what it looks like.

Thanks to everyone for all the useful info.

 

[Argus]

Getting back to the OP, (RichardHants) question, and to fulfill Andy's prediction about stuff coming out of the woodwork............ here's something that has lurked in my workshop for over 30 years.

Here's a Pattern-Makers' plane that I picked up in an 'Antique Bric-a-Brac' (i.e. Junk Shop that specialized in used China) many years ago, when in those days, such proprietors didn't know what it was for..... it was all pre-internet, but they seen to be better informed nowadays.

To tell the truth, neither did I know exactly what it was at the time, A bit of searching in R A Salaman's Dictionary of Tools, only reveals that a 'wooden pattern-maker's Jack Plane came with six interchangeable bases' buried in the entry on Pattern-Makers Panes that mainly concentrates on the commercially made Core-Box plane.

However, I was carving sections of Linen-Fold panels at the time and much of the work is involved in blocking and outlining the wavy profiles of the folded cloth. I recognized something that would help and that is what I used it for. Previously, I was using a combination of Hollows and Rounds, but they were not perfect for that particular job. I found that for the internal and smaller profiles that I was doing, the smaller rounds were fine, but the hollows that produce the rounded-over effects were a little too small in radius. to tell the truth, all sorts of planes get pressed into service in linen-folds..... H&Rs, this type of pattern plane if you have one, Snipe-Bill planes and Side Rebate planes......... anything that will get into the nooks and crannies.

This plane solved the problem of rounding the external sections entirely, because it has radius bases up to 3 inches.

It had two previous owners before me and is in fact, a marriage and an adaptation.
The original set of six bases at the top, range from 3/4 inch up to about 2 inches plus one below the body of the plane is labelled in pencil on the back as 'flat' and has been adapted, with its blade (NOT by me!) to make a hollow base. The second set, in the lower row, has alternative and vacant screw-holes, seeming to come from another set and it has been adapted for use with this head-stock.

The plane's stock is beautifully made. Everything fits and as is customary, it was cast in Bronze, with a very comfortable handle and front knob.

When was it made?
Who knows.
It is certainly pre-war.
But which war? ...........First World War? probably...............Boer War?.... possibly.