Thread: Wooden smoothing plane questions

I can’t make out much of the first plane, the bottom of the stamping in the 3rd photo looks like it says “English Beech” but no idea what the top word(s) are. I can tell you that the arrowhead stamping and the 1941 date means that it was originally a government purchase. It could have been used by any branch of the army, navy or airforce or prison service in either the UK or Australia.

The 2nd plane is a bit easier to identify; from what I’ve found online “Tertius Keen Co” was the stamp that Mathiesons of Glasgow put onto their “3rd Quality” planes.

Thanks CT. I had seen the arrow stamping on other tools too. Do you know what Mathiesons 2nd quality brand was? Looking at the original photo of the stamp I'm pretty sure it says "Guaranteed English Beech". Does the "Master" mean anything to you? The iron from the TK&c is stamped with a Sheffield makers "cast steel" stamp but not one I've seen before. The iron from my "services" plane is unmarked (assuming they are originals).

THIS LINK to an archived forum posting lists the various stamps used on the Mathiesons.

The only reason I know of where the word “Master” was stamped or engraved onto an item was when it was being used as a reference in manufacturing, but that just doesn’t feel right here. Unless it was being used as a master reference for Naval Shipwright or Army Carpenter apprentices but that’s really clutching at straws...