Unknown 1/8" Side Bead

Racers · 4 Jul 2012

Hi, Chaps

This arrived today from Ebay.

A nice boxed 1/8" side bead in good condition but no makers mark just a couple of users.

Anybody recognise the maker?

I filled the blade to match the profile with a cheap set of dimond needle files from Aldi/Lidl, gave it a hone and it works a treat.

Pete

richarnold · 5 Jul 2012

Hi Pete. without a makers mark it's very difficult to know. by the looks of it i would say it dates from the end of the 19th, to the begining of the 20th century. Something about the wedge shape makes me think Scottish, and Matheison are notorious for not marking there planes. I wonder if this is because you often see there later planes with a transfer print on the side, and this would soon wear off

Racers · 6 Jul 2012

Hi Rich

Thanks, I though it was going to be a tough one.
The wedge looks very much one in R.Routledge side bead but the boxing is at a different angle.
It's a nice plane, makes loverly beads.

Pete

bugbear · 6 Jul 2012

Pete Maddex":2f2gupem said:
It's a nice plane, makes loverly beads.

Pete

That's a steep bedding angle - I make it 55° from the picture.

BugBear

AndyT · 6 Jul 2012

There's so little to go on!
I have planes by Moseley and Gardner which look very similar. The top part of the wedge is identical but the cut in at the bottom is a little steeper on yours. I have one more which also looks very similar - but it too is unmarked!

A useful tool nevertheless.

Cheshirechappie · 7 Jul 2012

According to Goodman (2nd edition, page 3) there were about 70 planemakers active in Britain in 1900. Could be any of those.

I have a small rebate plane (1/2" wide) with an unmarked body and an iron by Mathieson. The wedge is completely different, however - the top being almost perfectly elliptical, and the sweep into the main wedge a smooth curve. That doesn't prove anything of course - there's no guarantee that either iron or wedge are original to the plane, though they do fit nicely, and there's little wear to the body suggesting it hasn't seen a great deal of hard service.

I don't think it really matters who made it (beyond curiosity, of course). It looks a good, clean, little-used plane with nice, tight boxing. Obviously both Mr Amiss and Mr Dixon looked after it, even if they didn't use it much. The next challenge is finding a project for it....