Thread: Spiers Plane

Guy

Sometimes good deals do show up. I was up early this morning and found this Spiers just listed on eBay and they didn’t know what they had. I asked for a photo of the bottom and when I saw the dovetails on the end, it means the ends are closed making it the earliest of the Spiers planes. I’ve seen some of these early Spiers wedge planes before and they all seem to have a parallel Ward iron in them?

B45DB04C-D8F3-4243-825C-1BA5C53666A0.jpegBC4698E8-B9DC-4947-8671-46EBC01A8D5C.jpeg60A275E3-C0B6-419B-8870-E781F4B09873.jpeg

Peter, I think the screws retaining the stuffing are another 'early' indicator, but I don't know when Spiers moved to rivets. Both wedges & lever-caps were offered as alternatives for some time, but again, there isn't any readily-available info as to how long that was.

That's an interesting specimen all round - the metal of sides & sole must be different for the D/Ts to show so clearly, and I've not seen the rivets for the blade block show up so obviously either - they are usually invisible.

Interesting!
Cheers,

Originally Posted by Peter Armstrong

Guy

Sometimes good deals do show up. I was up early this morning and found this Spiers just listed on eBay and they didn’t know what they had. I asked for a photo of the bottom and when I saw the dovetails on the end, it means the ends are closed making it the earliest of the Spiers planes. I’ve seen some of these early Spiers wedge planes before and they all seem to have a parallel Ward iron in them?

B45DB04C-D8F3-4243-825C-1BA5C53666A0.jpegBC4698E8-B9DC-4947-8671-46EBC01A8D5C.jpeg60A275E3-C0B6-419B-8870-E781F4B09873.jpeg

Don't suppose you have a link to that Peter? . Or did you buy it already ??

I just did 44 pages of Ebay searching and I give up .

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Don't suppose you have a link to that Peter? . Or did you buy it already ??

I just did 44 pages of Ebay searching and I give up .

Rob

Rob
I would not of said anything until I’d paid for it, it was $200 or best offer it wasn’t going to last long so I didn’t haggle.

Peter

Well that’s a jaw dropping bargain !
$200 Buy it now !! Well done .
I’ve got a very similar one I think . Maybe it’s got a brass bridge plate ? I’ll have to go see . My one is missing a handle though . A resto job I’ve not got around to yet . I’ll post a pic later .
Rob

Ian

I have another very nice early smoother and when I got it the rivets for the iron block were just as visible but once I flatten the sole they just disappeared.

Peter
F8B01A16-1A84-4A03-A6C9-BDCA8AD970E8.jpeg

Originally Posted by Peter Armstrong

...I have another very nice early smoother and when I got it the rivets for the iron block were just as visible but once I flatten the sole they just disappeared....

Peter, I've looked numerous times for evidence that a blade block is actually there, on every old plane since I became aware of such things, but couldn't detect any rivet heads. I guess I've only ever handled old planes that were in regular use, so the soles were well-polished. On a couple of my own planes the rivets show faintly on the sole, one is the first dovetailed plane I made (on the left in the pic.) & I didn't peen the rivets tightly enough. Two of the 6 show faint lines around their perimeter - you can just make one out in the centre about 12-15mm behind the back of the mouth on the sole at left. Blde blk rivets.jpg

On subsequent planes I managed to disappear them completely, except for the very last one I made a few months ago, which is the one on the right. All of the rivet heads show because they have a very slightly different colour or reflectivity, or something, but I assure you they are as tight & flush as it's possible to be!

The stuffing rivets are very plain on your little Norris, whereas I have a later-model A5 & I'm blowed if I can see any evidence of rivets on sides or sole apart from the one on the top of the front bun on the left side. I guess it's just because of different batches of steel of slightly different composition were used for body & rivets.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Peter Armstrong

Guy

Sometimes good deals do show up. I was up early this morning and found this Spiers just listed on eBay and they didn’t know what they had. I asked for a photo of the bottom and when I saw the dovetails on the end, it means the ends are closed making it the earliest of the Spiers planes. I’ve seen some of these early Spiers wedge planes before and they all seem to have a parallel Ward iron in them?

B45DB04C-D8F3-4243-825C-1BA5C53666A0.jpegBC4698E8-B9DC-4947-8671-46EBC01A8D5C.jpeg60A275E3-C0B6-419B-8870-E781F4B09873.jpeg

Mark, The Original poster with his 45 UK buy is an absolute bargain .

What I love about yours Peter as you would know, is its rare and early and for $200 is a steal as well .


This is two early Spiers I have that are around the age of your one above Peter.
The panel Plane is 13 3/8 long . No handle unfortunately . The plane is sitting on the largest bit of BRW I ever had the Luck to come across . Its a pretty good match and Ill do the handle from that one day. I'm sure My Plane would have had an open handle like in the picture at bottom Nabbed from The Best Things website



IMG_2808.JPGIMG_2811.JPGIMG_2813.JPG




Next to a Spiers Block ? Smoother . Mahogany Infill . Both stamped Spiers Ayr .
IMG_2823.JPGIMG_2821.JPG


The Best Things Plane

Antique British Metal Planes & Infill Planes at The Best Things

bm100555b.jpg Eedit , Here's Its engraved lever Cap bm100555a.jpg bm100555aa.jpg
Edit. And same site same Page . Different Plane . A Spiers made plane stamped Mathieson on the woodwork bm91052a.jpg

Beautiful things !

Rob

This is a very timely thread! I've been trying to write up a bit of a treatise on making metal planes, and it's caused me to track into all sorts of territory, reading up on what I can find on infills, old & new, on the web, etc. It's a fascinating topic, but I've found more questions than answers, to some of my 'questions'.

One thing I'd like to know is if & when Spiers stopped using wedges altogether and switched to lever-caps only. In a very early catalogue, they offer planes with wedges or lever-caps for about a shilling extra (adding about 15% extra, so the cost was significant in the day). An early 20th C catalogue I found was devoid of any wedged examples. What started me looking was trying to find any real or perceived advantages of lever-caps vs wooden wedges, apart from simplicity & cost. The only advantage I've found myself is convenience - it's just so much easier to undo a screw & pull the blade out than having to bash something to get a wedge to release its grip. I've never seen a claim that one is functionally better than the other.

Speaking of bashing, hitting the front bun or front of a plane (wedged or lever-capped), is a great way to get a bit of blade retraction. I was taught to hit the rear of a plane & only saw someone hitting the toe after I was well into my woodworking addiction. I tried it & it seemed to me to be much more effective than hitting the back. I've no idea if it holds in all cases, it might be just my imagination, but it's my preferred method of easing set both on wedged & lever-capped planes without screw adjusters (of which I have one or two!). Anyway, the point I'm getting to is that I agree with Rob - front strike buttons are very handy things & should be retained..

One last thing, the lever-cap on the old Spiers on "The Best Things" site looks really spindly to me. I've seen pics of at least one LC that was bent, supposedly due to some hero over-tightening it. You'd have to work damned hard to bend 3/8" bronze with a thumbscrew, methinks, so not sure that's the true explanation, but it does seem that all makers beefed up their LCs as time went on, some got really chunky...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

One thing I'd like to know is if & when Spiers stopped using wedges altogether and switched to lever-caps only.

I think he certainly stopped Ian but when would be interesting to know . Id guess at around 1880 ?? Cast iron stuff was in and getting bigger. I wonder if sales of wedges dropped off or were brass caps cheaper to use ? Taking away the fitting of a bridge plate would have been a time saver that added to a Lever cap being a cheaper option than a wedge?

Originally Posted by IanW

Anyway, the point I'm getting to is that I agree with Rob - front strike buttons are very handy things & should be retained..

They save the front wood work .

Originally Posted by IanW

One last thing, the lever-cap on the old Spiers on "The Best Things" site looks really spindly to me. I've seen pics of at least one LC that was bent, supposedly due to some hero over-tightening it. You'd have to work damned hard to bend 3/8" bronze with a thumbscrew, methinks, so not sure that's the true explanation, but it does seem that all makers beefed up their LCs as time went on, some got really chunky...

Cheers,

Spiers caps were long and thin and the thread was ( pretty sure from memory, Ive not measured) 3/8 rather than 1/2 on his earlier stuff .

Not sure when that changed but the ones in his 1851 to 58 brochure were long and thin, so after that . They do bend under careless use . Ive seen them too . Seen plenty not bent as well . Owners who cared and didn't let the apprentice any where near his planes Id say .

Rob