Yep, that definitely is a wood plane. As far as finding out who made it, I recommend you do a google search, using something like - how to tell who made an old wood plane - for your search phrase.
Hand Plane ID help
Hi everyone,
I'm getting back into wood working and generally making "stuff", so I'm on the lookout for tools, as you'd expect.
Anyway, I stumbled across this No 4 plane. There's no makers mark on it, however the grain pattern on the sole plate is quite distinctive. also the casting on the lever cap makes me think that the plane is relatively old.
Does anybody recognise it?
I'm getting back into wood working and generally making "stuff", so I'm on the lookout for tools, as you'd expect.
Anyway, I stumbled across this No 4 plane. There's no makers mark on it, however the grain pattern on the sole plate is quite distinctive. also the casting on the lever cap makes me think that the plane is relatively old.
Does anybody recognise it?
Attachments
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
I zoomed in on your plane looking at the adjusting wheel. im guessing its an old millers falls. it has more of a diamond pattern like this one.
as far as the wavy stuff I think someone did that to the sole and the sides. I don't know of any advantage to that except to identify it, maybe from a great distance haha. just a guess. all my planes are old Stanley/bailey. heres a site to look at that might help
welcome to the forum. I envy you living in new Zealand. we had an exchange student from gore south island live with us. the pictures I have seen of your country make it a place I want to visit someday. then of course being from Oklahoma I want to thank you for steven adams:smile:
Quickly Identify Your Hand Plane | TimeTestedTools
as far as the wavy stuff I think someone did that to the sole and the sides. I don't know of any advantage to that except to identify it, maybe from a great distance haha. just a guess. all my planes are old Stanley/bailey. heres a site to look at that might help
welcome to the forum. I envy you living in new Zealand. we had an exchange student from gore south island live with us. the pictures I have seen of your country make it a place I want to visit someday. then of course being from Oklahoma I want to thank you for steven adams:smile:
Quickly Identify Your Hand Plane | TimeTestedTools
Attachments
Humm ... interesting. I zoomed in as tight as I could and there are definitely letters raised in the sole casting, just below the thumb wheel. After rotating the photo a couple of times, and sitting with my head on one side whilst squinting I think it says "made in the USA" ... dunno, however there area couple of other clues in the link, so thanks for that.
I agree with you when you say the the waves are decorative, but I did think that it might have been a company trademark.
Yep, I moved to NZ from the UK about 15 years ago, and yep there is some stunning scenery around the place, however there are a few things about the place that I wish I'd thought more about before moving over here. The problems are, in my opinion, related to NZ's "isolation", because until recently it took a long time to get anything here, and when it did arrive it was horrendously expensive. The other detractor is the tiny population, and amongst other things that also increases prices because the demand isn't great enough to generate competition in suppliers.
On the other hand, I've got more true friends in NZ than I ever had in the UK. I mean the type of friend where you can knock on their door with no money in your pocket, and they'll feed and clothe you without a second thought ...
As for Steven Adams, if you're looking for an Olympic Gold Medal winning female Shot Put, check out his little baby sister, Valerie ... :grin:
[edit] In the link, it makes reference to Miller Planes manufacturing planes for other companies to brand / sell, and I think that could explain a few things.
Anyway, if I can get the plane for sensible money, I'll grab it and see what we have, thanks [\edit]
I think we have a winner ... :dance3:
The cleaned up plane is a Millers Falls No 9, and whilst I'm not convinced that the plane in question was originally branded as a Millers Falls tool I'm pretty certain that the two planes are extremely closely related ... :dance3:
That said, I'm still intrigued by the markings in the casting, and I'd love to hear any thoughts that people may have about that ... :grin:
Thanks guys
Attachments
John; give this a try to get your metal parts rust free:
A trickle charger is perfect for the power supply, and any old piece of iron/steel (not stainless steel). A chunk of rebar works well. And a plastic pail.
Tons of You Tube vids on the electrolysis process.
A trickle charger is perfect for the power supply, and any old piece of iron/steel (not stainless steel). A chunk of rebar works well. And a plastic pail.
Attachments
Your old girlfriend shouldn't take it to heart, they don't seem keen to let anybody in at the moment. I was trying to arrange for a girl to come over from the Philippines for a short holiday, but despite the fact the fact that she has already visited the US without incident (and you know how picky you guys have become recently), the Kiwi's seemed to think that she would abscond and stay as an illegal ...
I still haven't put my hand on the plane, but it's price is such that I won't shed a tear if it turns out to be a lump of junk, which neatly leads into ...
.. yup, I'm with you all the way. I've just picked up an old Stanley framing square (ground edges, not stamped), and the first thing I did was check it for "square" ... as far as I'm concerned, it was bang on at 24" ... :dance3:
The only issue was that it's not as clean as it could be, so I've finally found an "under bed" storage box that will take the 24" x 15" square for a quick "rejuvenation" with the magic of elastic-trickery ...
The plane can have also have a soak when it arrives ... :dance3:
Yes, I had read that Sears (amongst others) had sold tools made by Millers Falls, but as you say, it always surprises me when a manufacturer doesn't mark their product, it's almost as though they are saying they aren't particularly proud of their creation.
Anyway, as I've suggested, I'll see if I can get this plane for "sensible money", and see where it takes me, because even if it's a heap of junk, I can have some fun with the electrolysis, as I've got a few projects that would benefit from some treatment.
Once again, thanks for all the comments, they are all giving me a few more things to think about ... and if anybody can shed any light on the "wave" pattern, that intrigues me too. Looking at the photo's more closely, it looks like the "wave" effect is achieved by varying the depth of the "valleys" which seem to be running parallel to the edges / sides ... this detective work is definitely a bit of fun ... :dance3:
Well, the mystery has been solved ...
The plane was in my letterbox when I checked this morning, and I do find it a little odd as it's Sunday here in NZ.
Anyway, I couldn't see any makers marks on the plane, but I could see quite clearly that the plane wasn't a top drawer item. The lever for lateral adjustment is bent plate, rather than being made up of two parts, the depth adjusting nut is steel rather than brass, and a couple of other things too.
So I did the obvious thing, and pulled it apart, but there were still no obvious makers marks, but I decided to hit the iron with a bit of wet + dry and sure enough, the iron was marked.
The plane is a Mohawk-Shelburne No 900, an economy plane made by Millers Falls.
However, the biggest disappointment for me was that the "wave" pattern in the body of the plane wasn't anywhere near as attractive as it appeared to be in the listing. That said, I do think it's worth a try to restore the thing, if for no other reason than to have a practice run for restoring another plane in the future ... :dirol:
As I've already said, thanks to everyone who's contributed to this little thread, as a noob, it's reassuring that everyone has been so helpful ... :smile:
The plane was in my letterbox when I checked this morning, and I do find it a little odd as it's Sunday here in NZ.
Anyway, I couldn't see any makers marks on the plane, but I could see quite clearly that the plane wasn't a top drawer item. The lever for lateral adjustment is bent plate, rather than being made up of two parts, the depth adjusting nut is steel rather than brass, and a couple of other things too.
So I did the obvious thing, and pulled it apart, but there were still no obvious makers marks, but I decided to hit the iron with a bit of wet + dry and sure enough, the iron was marked.
The plane is a Mohawk-Shelburne No 900, an economy plane made by Millers Falls.
However, the biggest disappointment for me was that the "wave" pattern in the body of the plane wasn't anywhere near as attractive as it appeared to be in the listing. That said, I do think it's worth a try to restore the thing, if for no other reason than to have a practice run for restoring another plane in the future ... :dirol:
As I've already said, thanks to everyone who's contributed to this little thread, as a noob, it's reassuring that everyone has been so helpful ... :smile:
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
