I purchased a wooden jack plane at the local flea market yesterday for $10. I can’t figure out for the life of me where it’s from. Not an expert collector, but it seems to be in fair condition.
The iron reads “moulson brothers warranted cast steel.” And the chip breaker has “Rob. T Sorby” written on it. I found some articles on old irons from that company but none of the images seem to match mine exactly.
The plane body has metal sides with brass screws that I have never seen on a wooden plane before. The front says “d.frame” twice upsidedown. The whole thing seems pretty sturdy and is quite comfortable to hold.
Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Replies
The blade and cap iron often have nothing to do with who made the plane. Many, if not most, wooden plane makers sourced their irons from elsewhere.
The metal sides on yours were user added. The body split in front of the eye, at the corner of the throat.
The d. Frame stamps were the owner. The manufacturer's name should be stamped on there also. I think I can just make it out at the top. If you clean it up some more and can read a name, I can tell you more about who, where, and when it was made.
Thanks so much for responding!
I hadn't even noticed the name on the front. The letters are so shallow they're almost illegible, but it reads "CRANE _______ STON" it may be stone but I'm not sure. The middle but was totally unreadable.
Not sure if this helps but this one seems similar to mine.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325299580773?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=SAMMT6AzSgm&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
See if you can clean the name up some more. Maybe some steel wool, very slightly damp, then a couple of drops of linseed oil after to highlight the stamp. There were several Cranes who made planes, both in the US and Britain. But nothing whose letters end in -STON. If you can decipher it a bit more, it will help.
Thanks for all your patience.
The steel wool and linseed oil helped make the CRANE part more visible but the middle is pretty much gone. all the marks are weathered off.
The pond and wells, new haven plane on this list is probably the closest match visually.
https://www.thebestthings.com/woodplan.htm