Router plane identification

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

busob

Established Member
Joined
26 Jul 2016
Messages
20
Reaction score
2
Location
Barnstaple
I've recently bought lot of planes with this one.
Quick google search didn't found anything useful.
Does anyone have an idea what make this plane is?
2022-04-03 15.16.25.jpg2022-04-03 15.16.31.jpg2022-04-03 15.16.37.jpg2022-04-03 15.18.25.jpg
 
The basic design concept is based on the Edward Preston pattern of routers..

In the absense of anything other than a user's name-stamp, it was probably made for his own use by a pattern-maker.
They come up from time to time on Ebay.
 
Yes, I reckon Mr J. Bell might've had something to do with its manufacture. The turning of the knobs is quite elegant - looks like a 'keeper' to me!

Funny, I never got on with hand-routers until about a dozen years ago, when suddenly the planets aligned or summat & they decided to work very nicely indeed for me (I suspect it had a lot to do with sharpening the blades properly ;) ). Whatever, my little home-made job has since become an indispensable tool. Not as elegant as yours, but it does the job quite satisfactorily:
5 Done.jpg

:)
Cheers,
 
Funny...... if he had the casting made, probably from his own pattern, he could have had his name in there somewhere.

Then we'd be looking for a firm called "Bell" that no-one had heard of!
 
Mr. Bell may not have made it, Argus, that was just a plausible suggestion. Whoever made it knew his way round both metalwork & woodwork, I reckon, both appear to be of a very high standard, so a patternmaker would be my first suspect. It may have been a mate of J. Bell who made it for him, without a lot of searching & a lot of luck, I suspect we'll never know. A lot of very well-made one-off tools have been shown in books & forums over the years & in most cases there is no maker's name to be found on them so unless there is a history of possession, they remain anonymous. I reckon whoever made it should have put his name on it, it's very nicely done & something to be proud of....

OTH, stamping your name on your own tools as the owner was very common a hundred years ago - they cost a goodly proportion of your wages to replace so you didn't want them disappearing into someone else's kit!
:)
Cheers,
 
Mr. Bell may not have made it, Argus, that was just a plausible suggestion. Whoever made it knew his way round both metalwork & woodwork, I reckon, both appear to be of a very high standard, so a patternmaker would be my first suspect. It may have been a mate of J. Bell who made it for him, without a lot of searching & a lot of luck, I suspect we'll never know. A lot of very well-made one-off tools have been shown in books & forums over the years & in most cases there is no maker's name to be found on them so unless there is a history of possession, they remain anonymous. I reckon whoever made it should have put his name on it, it's very nicely done & something to be proud of....

OTH, stamping your name on your own tools as the owner was very common a hundred years ago - they cost a goodly proportion of your wages to replace so you didn't want them disappearing into someone else's kit!
:)
Cheers,
stamping your name on tools remained common in the states until 1. Certain tools began to be made as disposable (cheap hardpoint unsharpenable saws) and 2. The advent of opinion of forums of handtools as investments.
 
When he'd finished reinventing routers, Mr Bell joined his brother, Alexander, in the 'phone business........

....I'll get my coat.;););)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top