I went on to the online shop and came across this nice little group of planes. At the time, about an hour and a half before the end of the auction it was sitting at £67. I decided to wait for the end of the auction to make my bid, in the meantime I watched the build up to the Canadian Grand Prix. Two minutes to go and I logged in to my account, still £67. My first bid pf £389 was bettered and I swooped again £493 with 4 seconds to go alas on the final second I was beaten with a bid of £503.  Under bidder for a rare plane.

A good friend saw these in a shed and asked the owner what she was going to do with them. She said that they had been in the shed for years and were about to be thrown out. “I know somebody that’ll be glad to have them”. So here they are, another couple of items saved from Mr Rust. The draw knife is scary sharp, even after all these years.

Also on my trip to The Barras today, I came across Robert( Bob of The Barras) a well-stocked tool trader. His stall is like an Aladdin’s cave for anyone interested in old tools. He has planes by Mathieson, Spiers, Norris and Stanley as well as many by un-named makers.

His collection of chisels is breathtaking, he showed me a set of pattern makers chisels, which were outstanding.

Squares, trammels, rules, levels etc he has them all in abundance and all of good quality.  Take into the fact that Bob is a very pleasant and knowledgeable chap and you have visit worth taking if you find yourself in that part of the world.

Bob can be found in the building across from “The Square Yard” through the archway.

Saturdays and Sundays only.  The only comment I can make about his prices is that I’ve never had the fortune to buy any of his tools.

I got an email from someone about Bob’s prices.

Over my years as a collector I have always paid top dollar for my tools but nothing has compared to the prices that “Bob” is asking.

 

Went to Glasgow today on a shopping trip and took the chance to pop into the Barras, a famed part of the city. Although in decline from its past glory the area still has a certain pull. There are still a few stalls remaining selling bric-a-brac to antiques.

I went to the place where I have purchased several nice planes, and saw this interesting tool. It is a Stanley 75 look-alike only twice the size.  I paid over the odds for it only because I have never seen its like, another unusual tool to add to my collection.

Evaporust.

I soaked the plane in Evaporust a product that I have recently been trying. I am doing so many planes at present that I thought I might try it out. Although the results have been very good the fact that it cost so much for a hobbyist means that it is prohibitive. The thing is that if it was a reasonable price I would probably use it as a matter of course. Anyway it did the trick(back to vinegar for me)

Turns out that it was originally silver and red. I’ll have to have a think about what colour to finish it off.

 

I came across this very old foot measure when I was having a clearout.  I have so many boxes filled with tools that I haven’t seen in years but occasionally have a look see. I was just about to give it the heave when I noticed that it had English Sizes marked on the top scale and Inches on the reverse but on the side it had Cloggers Sizes.

 

This immediately took me back to my first job. I left school in 1967 and got a job with Lairds Forge in Irvine Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. The company at that time made pipe flanges for the oil industry but was better known as the “Block Work” having made block and tackle for many naval vessels most of their work being for the Admiralty. The footwear still prefered by the Lathe Operators were clogs. The blue “U” shaped cuttings that came of the lathes were so hot that they would immediately burn any exposed skin.  I’ve seen many an operator burning his finger when trying to remove a cutting from his face or neck. The reason that the cuttings came off as “U” shaped was that the cutting tools had chip breakers, this was to prevent long pieces of coiled razor -sharp metal coming off the piece being machined.

If the operators had worn normal plastic soled footwear the cuttings would have burned straight through. Old Willie McKinstry’s (Snr) neck had many a “U” shaped scar, caused by 40 years of machining, not too much health and safety in those days.

Anywoo, back to the tool collecting. This is why I collect. The history and the memories that items can bring is so strong that you can almost touch them.

Collect for ever, stop when you die, let your kids worry about what to do with your tools.

 

I purchased this Stanley No. 7 a few months ago and just got around to restoring it yesterday. When I picked it up it was in a bit of a state. The lever cap was broken and both handles split. Fortunately I purchased a No. 4 1/2 Stanley Eng at the same time and used it as a donor plane. Although the No. 7 is a USA made plane it is of no consequence as these planes are users only. At present I have approximately 50 Stanley type planes, I find them hard to turn down when given the opportunity to buy while on the hunt for infill planes. Stanley planes hold a place at the top table in plane making history and I have had the pleasure in restoring hundreds in the last 20 years of collecting.

 

 

I’ve had a few months off from my tool collecting activities. A very good friend and prominent author was looking to set up a “blog” and knowing that I had dabbled, asked if I could assist.

I picked up the Mathieson shoulder plane from the online shop for £40 (note to self, stop buying from that place). It required little more than a cleanup, to be fair. The Mathieson smoother, on the other hand, was something I picked up as part of a job lot. Both the front bun and the tote had been destroyed and needed replacing which I did, using  sonokeling rosewood.   This brings my total of Mathieson smoothers to 6, which isn’t too shabby for a Spiers collector.

 

I happened to go on to my favourite Facebook page Infill  plane collectors and noticed that there was a heated discussion regarding the naming of a plane for sale on the online shop. A member of the forum had added a link to a plane that he had on for sale.

Rare infill plane, bares many similarities with many Norris planes but any markings have long since gone, may have been user made but if it is it’s high quality.

The seller had added the picture of the plane onto the forum and had asked what the members thoughts were regarding it. The seller was told by the most eminent member of the group an Australian guru and fountain of knowledge in all things Infill, that it in no way resembled a Norris. Yet he went ahead and advertised it as the above.

I think that it only goes to show to the lay collector that if it doesn’t say Spiers, Mathieson or Norris then it isn’t.

 

 

The number of times that I’ve gone on to the online shop and seen planes described as the above are countless. It is perhaps sellers that have limited knowledge of hand tools shooting in the dark, hoping that the mere mention of the 3 great makers names will increase the price they receive.

The truth is that each of these makers had a slightly different take on the infill plane, subtle differences that can be noticed after nearly 20 years of collecting. A veteran collector can spot a quality plane at 20  paces across a busy room.  The most common misdescribed plane is one with a Mathieson blade. The only thing that is known for sure is that it has a Mathieson blade.

Does all this really matter, to the user no, each plane will be judged on its individual qualities? To a collector yes, it’s about the name, I personally have a couple of Mathieson planes probably made by Spiers, no marking on the lever caps but faintly marked Mathieson on the front bun(Not an uncommon practice for these plane makers to do work for each other.) Would I get top price for these 2 planes, probably not even though they are both in fine condition?

I decided to take a duster to my smoothing planes. I do this every few months, it lets me see if there is any build up of rust or any other issues. I always wipe them down with an oily rag. No problems this time, so I can leave them and enjoy the display for another while.