Picked this plane up, but I am not sure what it is. Can anyone give me a hint. It seems to be a combination moving fillitster and plow. Neat feature to adjust the width of the spur cutters. No makers stamp, but a pencil mark “24” on the heel of each plane and XXIV etched into one of the cutters. Boxwood screws and nuts. One of the screws is broken. Beech body. Please don’t look at the large file. Its the same as the smaller ones, but I did not know how to remove it.
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Wow! How cool is that? Gotta be a wooden tongue and groove plane doesn't it? (That's a guess, not an ID - my 1872 Greenfield Catalogue doesn't show anything like it).
Just a guess but could it be designed to cut with the grain in any direction, hence the reason for the mirror image blades?
edit: on second thought I have no idea....
Edited 1/12/2006 7:50 pm ET by MBerger
Are there any symbols on the body, anywhere? They usually have them in a conspicuous place on one end or the top. I think the 24 in pencil was because whoever wrote it may have thought it would avoid confusion since a lot of people can't decipher Roman numerals. XXIV is 24, anyway. I looked at the large file and still didn't see anything that would indicate who made it, although Stanley and Ohio Tool Co made them looking a lot like this one. Other than the bad screw, it looks like it's in pretty nice shape.
There's not a crescent moon with a star above it anyplace, is there? That would make it an A. Mathiesen, & Son or Sons, depending on when it was made. Have you disassembled it yet? (You know you want to). I have one by that maker and the brass thumb screws look almost identical to the one on mine.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Edited 1/12/2006 8:41 pm by highfigh
For those that are interested, I have learned that it is a Jensen Patent plane, patent no. 126,707, May 14, 1872, manufactured by JH Lamb of New Bedford, Mass. It was claimed that this plane combined in a single tool, a tenon-cutter, a dado, a fllletster, and two rabbets of different widths, using only two irons that did not need to be changed.
Thanks for the update. How well does it cut?-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
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