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American Wooden Planes

WP23039 Massive Applewood Fore Plane An 18" long applewood for plane that looks to be a Pennsylvania made plane to me. It has an uncut James Cam iron that is 3 inches wide. That is unheard of in a plane like this. The handle is also oversize. The plane looks professionally made to me but it is not signed, I am speculating that it was a special order and did not get marked. Because of shrinkage, the blade is pretty tight in the body, and should probably have a bit ground off the edges so that the body doesn't split in a really dry winter. Right now, the blade is not pushed down all the way because it is so tight. It is up about an inch higher than it should be. The blade is still quite long, although not quite as long as it appears in the photos. There is one spot on the edge of the sole were some wood is missing. I can't envision why. This is a real gem. G++ $165

WP221116 Sandusky Tool Co. 133 In nearly 40 years of tool dealing this is the first time that I have found a really nice rosewood plow with decorative tips, that has never been molested by an old time collector. These finacy plows were the holy grail to old time collectors and when they found them, they invariably overcleaned them. In fact, I did a quick search on Sandusky Tool Co. 133 and a heavily overcleaned example comes up on a competitor's website, sold for $1500. This one has its original French polished finish. The skate is not rusty and the brass plate has a nice patina. The brass depth stop adjuster also has a nice patina and has clearly not been removed. Whenever these have been removed, it is usually obvious, and not in a good way. The decorative tips are yellowed, as is normal on genuine examples. More faking of these have been done than one would think. Expecially back in the 70s and 80s. On the negative side, this one has some modest chipping on the rosewood threads and the wedge finial is pretty bad. One of the rosewood nuts was craked and glued. This is a period repair and could be made invisible without much trouble. Also, one of thesteel screws that hold the fence to the arms was replaced. I would have John Porrit make a new wedge. Otherwise you just want to clean it with a soft cloth and museum grade wax. This is a gem for serious collector and priced very gently to allow you plenty of margin to get a wedge made and still come out ahead. It comes with one 1/4" Sandusky marked iron that is original to this plane. G++ $899

WP21108 Sandoe & Edelen, Manuf., Shellebager's Patent, 1848 A rare Shellebager's Patent smoothing plane. The patent was for an unusual cap iron that doubles as the mouth of the sole, giving the plane a Norris style mouth on a wooden coffin smoothing plane. I used one years ago and I can tell you that once you have it set up right, it really works well. The setup is critical. This one is in nice untouched condition. Most of the original Butcher iron remains. There is some roughness to the top of the wedge and a big chip out of the back edge of the wedge. The plane body has a pleasing patina and shows only light wear. There is just the hint of a split in the right rear cheek, but really just a hint and not something that would bother me. This is the best example of one of these that I have handled. From the Carl Bopp collection. G+ $199

WP200155 C. Lindenberger Christopher Lindenberger was a son of the famous Rhode Island planemaker John Lindenberger. He migrated to Columbus Ohio and this plane was probably made in Ohio. The mark is quite a scarce mark and is ranked as a 3 star mark in Tom's book. This plane is in decent as found condition. It is missing the blade and wedge, as well as one of the arm wedges. I am suspicious that the existing arm wedge is replaced, but I can't see why anyone would replace just one wedge when both were missing. The back of the plane bears the dreaded "J.A. Moody" stamp and inventory number. J.A Moody was an early collector, who wrote the book, American Wooden Plow Planes. The edge of the fence is reeded, an unusual but attractive touch. An important plane for a collector of early Ohio tools, that can easily be restored to be quite presentable. G++ $99

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