Spiers dating

[dickm]

The Heritage centre in the next village has just been given a load of interesting woodworking tools, including an unnamed infill smoother and the body, but not iron, of a Spiers coffin smoother. I suspect the latter has never even been used, but has sat somewhere slightly damp so there is a lot of surface rust. One odd detail - on the toe is stamped "DOVETAILED". This, and the absolutely pristine state of the Acme thread on the wedge, makes me think it was possibly a very late model. Presumably most likely buyers in the earlier years would know such a plane would be dovetailed? Apart from this detail and the lack of evidence of use, it's identical to my very much "user" Spiers.
Some pics below. Can anyone confirm my speculation about date?

(Sorry about the slightly fuzzy images; they were hand held in very poor light)
Next move will be to talk to the folks in the centre to see if the iron can be located and, who knows, they might even have the missing knob off a locally acquired Preston side rebate plane

 

[tobytools]

its a no7 dovetailed coffin smoother.
what a beautiful spur, be careful not to pick up just by the tote because these had a habit of breaking due to the weight of plane...

this will give you some good info on what you seek,
http://www.infill-planes.com/44/spiers- ... her-plane/
tho a different model the principles apply..
hope this helped thanks
TT

another way to narrow down the date of spires is by the font on the lever cap

 

[richarnold]

I have just checked in Nigel lamperts book, and from what I can tell the models marked "dovetailed" are from the last period between 1920-37. These planes usually have the script style mark
Cheers, Richard

 

[dickm]

[/attachment]

I have just checked in Nigel lamperts book, and from what I can tell the models marked "dovetailed" are from the last period between 1920-37. These planes usually have the script style mark

Thanks, Richard, that's very interesting - the "dovetailed" marking confirms the suspected late date, but as the pic below just about shows, the mark is very severely non-script.
[attachment=0]DSCF4252.JPG

TT - don't worry, I know all about the potential fragility of the tote. My hardworking twin to the one shown was broken and repaired by its previous owner but is still the immediate goto plane sitting on the bench.
'fraid the link you gave won't work at the moment.

 

[jimi43]

Hi Guys

I think Toby was right but got the wrong link in the post above...the one you want is this one....




(CLICK ON PICTURE FOR THE LINK)

As you can see...this has the lower rear end which is typical of the handled version.

Also..you can't really see it clear but the stamp is the earlier capitalized serif one.

It's still a late model though I think it may be earlier than the example from the link as the spur is longer and far more elegant and the sides are more streamlined.

Jimi

 

[dickm]

Not sure if the slimmer depth of metalwork is real or an illusion from the angle of the shot/inadeqacies of the camera; the base of the heritage one was identical to mine and on casual examination, it looked to have exactly the same proportions. But one big difference is the spur, where mine has a very abbreviated version (and a lot more signs of abuse!) as shown in pic below. To be honest, I prefer the abbreviated version; the longer one always seems to dig into the outside of the thumb/palm web on my hands.

 

[jimi43]

Agreed.

There appears to be a variation over the years in the way the lever cap neck is shaped.

Certainly...if you go back in time to the earlier ones like my old workhorse....

...the neck was decidedly thinner and I think there is a difference between the two smoothers above...although that again may be an optical illusion.

I guess the only way to tell is for you to revisit and take more photos side by side with the same distortion on both.

Cheers

Jimi

 

[dickm]

Thanks for comments, Jimi. Yes, I plan to pop over to the Heritage centre next time it's open to see what can be sniffed out. Mind, there is a degree of competition between them and the heritage group in our own village; we just haven't had as nice a donation yet