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4th October 2022, 11:53 PM #1Intermediate Member
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Need help with unknown brand No. 3 plane
Hi,
Seen this on eBay. Any idea who the manufacturer is...??Vintage_No__3_Wood_Plane.jpg
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4th October 2022 11:53 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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5th October 2022, 05:21 AM #2Senior Member
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No, but it looks like a steel body; definitely a formed steel cap. Hard to tell about the frog. If you're looking for a user-grade plane, you'd be taking a chance; this could be a decent plane or trash. Most planes fabricated (bent to shape) from steel lean toward the trash direction.
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5th October 2022, 08:21 AM #3
Agree with Bill's assessment; it looks very suss. If I saw it on a table at a flea-market for $2 I might take it home out of curiosity, but I'd not pay real money for it. It's probably quite a bit lighter than a cast bodied #4, & might make a usable scrub plane, but you would probably struggle to turn it into a fine instrument.
There was some discussion of "Faithful" pressed-steel bench planes on a UK forum a while back. The lever-cap & blade adjuster (Norris style) on these are different from yours, which seems to have a Bailey style adjuster, so the one you show is definitely not a "faithful". The general consensus was that they are not worth taking home.
Stanley made some steel-bodied planes like the 118, which Patrick says unkind things about.
P'raps it's just snobbery, but pressed-steel bodied planes don't seem to be held in high regard anywhere!
Cheers,IW
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5th October 2022, 11:19 PM #4
I just had a look at the ebay listing and there are quite a lot of pictures. It actually looks a bit better than I was expecting but I would not pay 99 bucks for it. No idea on the maker however. Like Ian says if it were going for a song then it may be something to tinker with for the experience. Who knows if it does not go this time round he may reduce the price.
Regards
John
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6th October 2022, 08:15 AM #5
At first I thought it may be a Bohrer, but I couldn't find anything similar.
It may even be a Birmingham "B" plane, but I can't see an example logo anywhere.
Birmingham or “B” Planes | TimeTestedTools
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6th October 2022, 04:47 PM #6
Do you have any more photos, Rob?
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6th October 2022, 10:45 PM #7
Plenty pics on the ebay listing
Vintage No. 3 Wood Plane; Collectable Old Tool; B Marked | eBay
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7th October 2022, 08:38 AM #8
Thanks , I was thinking of looking it up to see more pics & you made it easy...
That 'B in a diamond' logo seems very familiar to me, but I just can't put it in context. It's been bugging me since I saw it - one of us should save a pic of it & post on the UK forum, there are a couple of dudes there who seem to recognise every trademark that was ever applied to a tool!....
One thing's for sure, you have to grant that the manufacturer of that plane has made very good use of stamping machines, even the frog is stamped! I think I've seen enough to convince me that it would be good for someone who collects odd & unusual attempts at emulating "Bailey's original recipe", but if you wanted a good user, you could probably pick up a far better candidate for half the starting price!
Cheers,
[Edit: OK, I dunnit, so let's see what they come up with - I'm sure someone there will know...]IW
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7th October 2022, 12:29 PM #9
Thanks, Orraloon and Ian. I also have a deja vue feeling about the "B in a diamond" trademark but have been unable to identify it precisely. Let us hope the Poms come up with something.
You will note that the central bar on the "B" is angled, not horizontal, which is the sort of thing that IP attorneys advise for differentiation purposes.
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16th October 2022, 04:56 PM #10
It is not quite the same, but I have seen a "B" in some sort of diamond shape on planes from the old USSR.
I have small #1 size.
The logo might have undergone some evolution. Maybe worth looking in that direction too.
Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk
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20th October 2022, 04:16 AM #11GOLD MEMBER
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Avoid all planes with an aluminum or stamped lever cap. Even a sort of pot metal-ish clever cap is probably better, and a cast lever cap more like stanley is better.
Aluminum and stamped lever caps are flexible enough that the iron can move ever so slightly in use and fail to enter and stay in a cut nearly as well. The effect and how significant it is is very big, and just changing the lever cap on a plane like that to a good one (like any older stanley) will make for a huge performance improvement.
i've never had a plane with an aluminum or stamped frog, so can't comment there, but a lever cap is not where you want to cut costs - the end of it and where it presses on a cap iron is critical and flexibility is bad.
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