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I bought a plane at an antique store this weekend. It’s #3 size smoothing plane made of solid rosewood and a rosewood wedge. The rich patina is gorgeous. It also has a steel button on the end of it. Is this for loosening the wedge or fine adjustment of the blade?
The blade is stamped at the top with “Buck Brothers Warranted Cast Steel”. “Buck Brothers” is arched over a horese head. But it has the slot cut out of the middle of it for use in a steel bodied plane. So this tells me that it is not original to the plane. No other markings on the plane.
But then in a different antique store that same day I saw another solid rosewood jointer plane with the same Buck Brothers stamped blade. What’s up here? Coincidence? This plane was in very poor condition otherwise I would have bought it.
I would like to know the history of this plane and why the two planes in two different antique stores would have the same blade.
Jeffrey
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Lots of people made their own planes and used Buck Brothers blades or blades scavenged from where ever. Buck Brothers stuff is fairly common. As for the history, with out a name on the plane itself the odds are slim. Hey come to think of it I have a few of those rosewood planes myself. Manufactured planes have the makers name on them. The situation is purely coincidental.
*Someone please correct me if I am wrong! The button on the back can be used to lessen the blade exposure if tapped lightly, or completely loosen the blade if struck harder. Slotted irons, for securing a chipbreaker, were sold for use in wood bodied planes. Is the iron parallel or thickly tapered toward the cutting edge? Irons with a heavey taper are often of the laminated variety and almost certainly intended for use in a "woodie". A thin parallel iron would likely be from a metal plane, although I don't know that Buck made that style.
*In Garrett Hack's "The Handplane Book" p. 30:"On better-quality traditional wooden bench planes there is a small button let into the top of the body at the toe, called a striking button or start, which is hit to free the iron and wedge, or to adjust the cutting depth rather than hitting and marring the plane stock."John
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