Thread: garage sale find, again

Hi , I think Robert has nailed it with his last post with item 435 on the Preston cattle dog, the brass cup that the screw sits in, Matches, screw and captured nut, matches.In this case the precision of the fit of the boxwood base, the modifying craftsman had to employ hand tools,and or a machine shop and skills beyond the possible value of the plane and time involved,thats just my shot at it, if its truly rare and unique probably should be passed on , thanks Ross

I do agree it looks 'original', but don't underestimate how darned skilful some folks are. I'm not claiming I could do as neat a job myself, but I knew a couple of blokes who could've matched the fit, no sweat!

But there are several reasons why it is more likely a factory job, as Rob maintains, & I think you're observation that the time & effort involved for a user to do such a perfect job would cost more than it's worth is probably the clincher.......


Cheers,

Originally Posted by woodsurfer

Edward Preston and Sons one and a half inch shoulder plane, good condition with sharp blade, what got me and I was unaware of is the boxing in front of the blade slides to open the mouth, what a great idea, it took nice shavings without any work, i believe it could date prior to WW1,anyway it is in my care , what a story it must have , Thanks RossAttachment 515207Attachment 515208Attachment 515209Attachment 515210

Here you go Ross.
A collector friend sent me pictures from his (copy of ?) May 1909 Preston catalog.

The Preston 285B 1 1/2" T Boxed with a Moveable Face.

dsaag.jpg dsaah.jpg

dsaa.jpg dsaaa1.jpg.


Rob

Great sleuthing Rob!

Well found indeed Rob, & your judgement that it was factory original is completely vindicated!

The fancy bits sure increased the price over the run-of-the-mill rebate, didn't they?
Cheers,
Ian

Originally Posted by IanW

The fancy bits sure increased the price over the run-of-the-mill rebate, didn't they?
Cheers,
Ian

They did Ian . Not sure the fancy bits would have made it almost 3 x a better rebate plane though .
Its a Nice one. Top of the range for a Preston wooden "Rabbet" as they called it.
I thought Rabbet was just a US thing.

Originally Posted by auscab

.....I thought Rabbet was just a US thing....

Nope, it has a long tradition in the "mother country" - there are quite a few words that travelled to Nth America & remained unchanged while they may have evolved into different pronunciation or spelling in Britain. I guess "rabbet" is a natural corruption of "rebate", like "soffit" for "surfeit" ...