Thread: Found a number 1 in the wild

Good find.
Even a 3rd quality matheson should be pretty good. I have a Matheson coffin smoother and your plane looks about as well made. Only thing I can see that may make it a lesser grade is the direction of the wood grain rings being a bit skewed. May be why the sole needed a bit of a flatten but if thats all after all the time that plane has been around then not bad at all. My smoother has a pretty large mouth due to its age but still takes whisper thin shavings and is a pleasure to use. I had read about matheson having other brand names but so far yours is the first I have seen.
Regards
John

Good find, TT, & nice to see the old horse spruced up & put back in harness!

Setting planes without mechanical adjusters is pretty straightforward after a bit of practice, but it's often hard to convince those wedded to screw adjuster of that. I reckon I can set up my non-screw-adjusted planes quicker than the couple I have with Norris style adjusters (except when I'm trying to show-off to someone! ).

I've made a couple of small smoothers about the size of yours. It's a very handy size to have at times, such as when you need to work a small area with a very slight dip that the 'standard' sized smoothers just cruise over. On the one I made recently, I did find that with so little room for my hand at the back, that long blade rubbed against it quite uncomfortably after a minute or so of use. I took to the protruding edges with a diamond file & rounded them off a bit, which helped only marginally, so for the present, I've substituted a shorter block-plane blade, which makes holding it a lot better, but it's an old-style thin blade, & it doesn't have the solid feel of the thicker blade I used originally. I am tossing up whether to try making my own blade or buying a thicker LN or Veritas block plane blade....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by orraloon

My smoother has a pretty large mouth due to its age but still takes whisper thin shavings and is a pleasure to use. I had read about matheson having other brand names but so far yours is the first I have seen.

You can make up for a largish mouth by using the cap iron set close. The plane performs well.
I haven't really seen another Tertius.
Interestingly there is an example (Jack) in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences that was used at the Sydney Observatory (they seem to have the wrong picture but it is mentioned)

https://collection.maas.museum/object/71515

Originally Posted by IanW

Setting planes without mechanical adjusters is pretty straightforward after a bit of practice, but it's often hard to convince those wedded to screw adjuster of that. I reckon I can set up my non-screw-adjusted planes quicker than the couple I have with Norris style adjusters (except when I'm trying to show-off to someone! ).

I'm used to setting molding planes that I use fairly regularly in my restoration work. I do like the strike buttons for the depth adjustment though.

I've made a couple of small smoothers about the size of yours. It's a very handy size to have at times, such as when you need to work a small area with a very slight dip that the 'standard' sized smoothers just cruise over. On the one I made recently, I did find that with so little room for my hand at the back, that long blade rubbed against it quite uncomfortably after a minute or so of use. I took to the protruding edges with a diamond file & rounded them off a bit, which helped only marginally, so for the present, I've substituted a shorter block-plane blade, which makes holding it a lot better, but it's an old-style thin blade, & it doesn't have the solid feel of the thicker blade I used originally. I am tossing up whether to try making my own blade or buying a thicker LN or Veritas block plane blade....

I read that thread with interest. Very pretty planes.
My metal working skills are, shall we say, untested

The plane is fairly comfortable, but I dare say it won't be used for long periods.
I make a lot of little custom boxes for friends. I use highly figured boards and I can see this little plane could be useful.

Cheers,
Stu

Stu; you may have already seen this info; OldTools Archive

The price list shows Trade Marks for Mathieson goods of three different
qualities.

"For Best Quality." a crescent moon (horns up) with an eight
pointed star

"For Second Quality." a crescent moon with a simple cross

"For Second Quality." "Crossmark Keen & Co., Glasgow"

"For Third Quality." "G Tertius Keen & Co."

Originally Posted by planemaker

Stu; you may have already seen this info; OldTools Archive

The price list shows Trade Marks for Mathieson goods of three different
qualities.

"For Best Quality." a crescent moon (horns up) with an eight
pointed star

"For Second Quality." a crescent moon with a simple cross

"For Second Quality." "Crossmark Keen & Co., Glasgow"

"For Third Quality." "G Tertius Keen & Co."

Thanks Stewie ...

I visited that site during some of my research.

I didn't mention it, but you can also clearly see the 'G' on the front. Maybe it represents Glasgow?

Originally Posted by Thumbthumper

.......I'm used to setting molding planes that I use fairly regularly in my restoration work. I do like the strike buttons for the depth adjustment though......

Yairs, I guess a strike button does save the tool a bit of stress. There are those as likes to really wallop their planes, judging by the number of oldies I see with severely belled blade tops! I don't like hitting my planes to release the blade, which is why I prefer to fit lever caps rather than wedges.

I was going to comment that yours has a redundancy of buttons, hitting either the rear button or the one on the toe will loosen the wedge, so I was wondering why there would be two buttons for the same purpose on a 'cheap' plane??

Originally Posted by Thumbthumper

...The plane is fairly comfortable, but I dare say it won't be used for long periods.....

Yes, I imagine such planes were intended only for brief bursts of work, but it also seems to me that some toolmakers of old weren't overly concerned with user comfort. I guess the generations before us were a tougher breed & just sucked up the pain & got on with it.....

Cheers,

The Tertius marking is no real cause for concern. Quality gradings were a different beast 100 years ago.

Doesn't mean it was adjudged to be substandard. More likely that it was made by an apprentice or a junior tradesman, and not by a Master Toolmaker.

Don't ask me for a source, but one of my first coffin planes was a Tertius Keen, and I read that somewhere at the time.

Clever pun too. Tertius. Latin for third, and Keen as in sharp.