tobytools":1xboxj31 said:
Thanks for the reply jim.
. how would I make a side fence and with what? Also where could I get the set of blades from I can't seen to find any any where. Its not worth as much as I hoped, I'll probley keep it and have a go at cabinet making. It says on the net that's it a rare item can you tell me why is no worth much? Also what's the date of this kind of item. Many thanks jim and sorry for so many questions, I love old tools and there history.
I'll have a go.
The difficulty is that I have no idea of your skill level in metalworking or woodworking.
how would I make a side fence and with what?
If you want to make a replacement fence exactly like the original, you need a pattern (ie a wooden model of the finished thing) some foundry sand and a way of heating up iron until it melts. You press the pattern into the sand to make a shape in reverse, pour in the molten iron and wait for it to cool.
There is a bit more to it than that, and I don't expect you will seriously want to start a hobby foundry, though some people do.
If you want to make a replacement fence that will work, you could (as has already been said) find a bit of steel angle, drill holes as needed, cut it to size and file it to shape. You'd need a vice, hacksaw, drill and files. It would be a perfectly feasible project in a school metalwork shop.
If you don't want to do metalwork, you could make a fence from wood. Any scrap of fairly hard wood - whatever you have - cut to something like the same shape as the original and with a slotted hole. You would probably want to keep the wood thicker along the length (for strength) and use a longer screw. I'd have the grain running the long way of the piece and make it from a single bit of wood if I did one. The screw might be a standard Whitworth thread; if it's a non-standard special you will either need a way of cutting it (adjustable die or serious lathe) or else you will have to drill out and re-tap for an available size.
Also where could I get the set of blades from
You'd need to make them, as Jim has explained. There's not very much demand for spare parts for century old tools which never sold very well in the first place!
can you tell me why is no worth much?
It's not worth much to a commercial furniture maker because commercial furniture is made by machinery, or at least by machine tools, not hand tools. And your example needs hours of skilled work before it is any use!
As Jim has said, someone who wants a collection of Preston tools will want a complete one in good condition and would not buy yours.
Someone who wants to use a scratchstock will most likely make their own - they have always been a user-made tool, despite efforts by ingenious tool patenters such as Preston and Stanley to market them commercially. (If someone wants a commercially made one now, they can buy a Veritas tool of different design but equivalent function to do the same thing; as Bugbear has pointed out, a copy of this model was offered, but the seller went out of business.)
Also what's the date of this kind of item.
The late Mark Rees researched the Preston patents; patent 8291 was issued in 1886 and was for the lever cap used on the model 1393 series of tools.
As TobyC and Bugbear have shown you, it was listed in the 1909 catalogue. The first world war would have helped end a lot of the variety of manufacturing at the time. Preston continued trading until the 1930s when the metal plane side of the business was sold to C&J Hampton of Sheffield who continued to make some of the designs of planes under the Record brand, but not the very wide range of odd, specialist patented tools that mark out Preston as one of the more interesting makers.
So I'd say "about a century old" and not try to be any more precise.
Do post some pictures of your example (perhaps in a new thread to avoid confusion) and show us what you do with it.
