Need some plane ID help

Status
Not open for further replies.

CDPeters

Master of None
Chris
Hey guys,

I had a visit from my Uncle Dave this past weekend, and he dropped off some more old tools for my growing collection. Among them was the plane shown below. I hadn't seen anything like this before and searched and searched on Google trying to figure out what it is, and finally discovered that it's called a pattern maker's plane, but that's about all I've been able to determine.

As many of you may recall me mentioning before, my grandfather was a master pattern maker who worked for Bagley & Sewell in the late 30s and early 40s. Bagley & Sewell was one of the preeminent manufacturers of paper making machinery located in Watertown, NY. Over the past several years, I've had some of his tools come into my possession, handed down from gramp to my 2 uncles to me. While this particular plane did not belong to grampy, but I found it interesting that this turns out to be a pattern maker's plane.

Anyway - here it is, and I would be interested to know if anyone has any insights. I could not find any badges or marks that might indicate a manufacturer.

PM_Plane_02.jpg
The whole set. Each sole and corresponding iron is stamped with a number, 1 through 5

PM_Plane_03.jpg

PM_Plane_04.jpg

PM_Plane_05.jpg

It's hard to see, but the initials "RS" are scratched into the right side.

PM_Plane_11.jpg

This is the back side of the cap iron. It almost looks to me like this might be a modification by the craftsman that owned it. The numbers stamped on the back are truncated which leads me to believe maybe it was made from a piece of material from the scrap bin. Maybe the original used a regular wedge in place of this cap iron?? It's interesting to note that I've found that pattern makers seemed to make alot of their own special purpose tools. I have a number of items from my grandfathers tool chest like twist drill bits ground into a taper reamer and also into brad point bits with a very fine needle point.

PM_Plane_13.jpg

Anyway - if anyone has any insights on this plane, or on pattern making in general, I'd be very appreciative for your thoughts.

Thanks!
Chris
 

Attachments

  • PM_Plane_01.jpg
    PM_Plane_01.jpg
    280.2 KB · Views: 182

CDPeters

Master of None
Chris
Thanks Hank. I probably should have known to consult Mr. Hack!

Wondering if anyone might have an inkling of the manufacturer from the form of the body... (Mike ???)
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
I looked around the web a bit during lunch. Saw several different models including Stanley and an all wood body, forget the name.

None that look like yours. May look around with some different search terms tonight.
 

Mark Gottesman

New User
Mark
You might want to consider that the tool was either made in house or possibly the product of a training program for patternmakers. That would explain the lack of markings.
 

CDPeters

Master of None
Chris
Good point Mark. I suppose since pattern makers were usually closely associated with a foundry shop, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that they made a wood pattern for the plane body, then had the foundry shop cast it for them!
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
I haven't found anything specific about your planes but here's a 1920s treatise about "patternmaking" and how it ties into foundry work (it's also available as an e-book).

https://books.google.com/books?id=I7ZAAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Well, we can't have 5 separate planes for each task at hand so we'll make 5 interchangeable soles/blades with different radii for each task. Interesting.

https://books.google.com/books?id=u... plane with a curved or radiused sole&f=false
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top