Thread: Help to identify plane maker

Hi Clinton,

Try sending a Q to Hans Brunner at http://www.hansbrunnertools.gil.com.au/

Cheers!

There is a site that I have found that is quite good at identifying old tools.

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html

This page deals mainly with Stanley planes but there are links to other tool dating pages



Mark

Sounds like some small company that been long forgotten. I've got quite a few plane blades with all sorts of logos on them. I don't know much about any of them. Some are great, some are poor. And quality seems to vary a lot even within the same company.

I've had a hard time finding out info on these companys. Goodluck. Curious in what you find out.

This is what I have come up with.

The plane may have been made by William & Charles Johnson of Philadelphia (1823-1840).

William Johnson (Sr.) was in business from 1834 to 1864. Junior took
over the business in 1864 and ran it until 1909. At that point a
group of investors ran it until 1958 when it was acquired by C.S. Osborne.
The name now exists only as the trade name of "mason's trowels and
plumber's chisels".

Regards from Perth

Derek

Looks like you've nailed that Derek. Where'd you source it from. Might be able to find out info on my blades as well.

Jake

Hi Jake

One of the other forums to which I contribute is Old Tools. This is dedicated to, yup you guessed it, old tools (woodworking tools dominate, but other non-power and handtools are also discussed). It is based in the USA and, as a result, has a dominant American bias, but there are a number of Aussies who contribute as well (and do so very frequently). This forum is a huge resource of information, not only because the members are generally very knowledgable (much of the time I am overwhelmed), but there is an archive of past posts available. This can be found at:

http://denali.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu:...ingle/archive/

You may need to be a member to access it.

I also have access to the DATEMP database (The DATAMP project is a cooperative effort of the OldWWMachines and OldTools mailing lists), so I can look up names, etc. The address is:

http://www.datamp.org/index.php

Before it closed a few years ago, I was a member of Badger Pond, a USA-based forum that was the major handtools forum on the website. All the contents were placed on CD at the end, and I often refer to this for information.

Sometimes Google is also helpful, as are other handtool-oriented forums and websites. Here are a couple:

http://www.jlatech.com/rob/Woodworki...anes.htm#Metal

http://www.wkfinetools.com

That should be enough to get you going!

Regards from Perth

Derek

More than enough. Thankyou very much Derek.

I'll give them a go.

thanks you Derek, more than enough to go on with.

As always you are a font of knowledge.

Hey up, Clinton,

Originally Posted by Clinton1

I have a plane blade marked with a semicircle enclosing a flag on a pole,

The flag logo's a dead giveaway. It's a Christopher Johnson and Co. iron, Sheffield, England (sorry Derek!) anytime between 1845-ish and 1971. Dates courtesy of British Planemakers from 1700. The flag usually has "C.J" on it, and often Trade Mark is split either side. I've a couple of their tools, and they're good steel.

Originally Posted by Clinton1

It is out of a very old wooden trying/fore plane that has a hand saw style handle on the rear and a mounting hole at the front for some kind of handle.

The front hole probably had a wooden button in it; put there to strike when setting the blade, rather than ding up the plane's body.

Cheers, Alf