Not all planes are made of beech!

This is a lovely early moulding plane with some unusual features that set it apart from the norm.

 The most obvious difference is that it is not made from the normal plane makers favourite timber which is of course beech.  At first I wasn't too sure what this plane was made from, but having consulted a few other knowledgeable people, the general consensus is that it's made of plumb. That's certainly the best description of it's colour, which is by the way absolutely stunning. Fruit woods seem to be a favourite for some of these early makers, as I have seen a number of examples from this type of wood. The second curious feature that stood out when i first saw this plane, was the strange nib of wood at the base of the wedge finial. this something i have never seen before. There is a neatly set out circle marked out on both ends of the stock to describe the round profile. the length is just over 10 inches. Given the choice of wood, and overall style of the plane, it would not surprise me if this was a 17th century plane. One other thing I hadn't noticed until I was photographing the plane today was the initials stamped into the heel of the plane. Guess what, they just happen to be IC !!!

The mysterious "I C" mark

For quite a while now I have noticed that a lot of early London made planes crop up with what i have previously presumed to be an owners stamp of I C. The style is not always the same, but i find it curious as to how often it occurs on these early planes.  The recently discovered Nathaniel Gamble has this mark, and an early looking smoothing plane i have just found has a similar mark . While examining the planes at the last David Stanley auction, I spotted a John Davenport, a Robert Wooding, and one other early plane that all had the "I C" mark. This all might be coincidence, but it has made me wonder if there might be a different explanation for the marks. These  planes were possibly quite expensive to produce in the early 18th century, so is it possible that they were owned not by individual craftsmen, but perhaps by a large London workshop, who marked up there tools to differentiate them from the workers personal tools . If this is the case maybe research will bring to light an early London Joinery, or cabinet making business that would fit the "I C" mark

Welcome to my blog

Hi there. This is my first attempt at setting up a blog so please bare with me.
Hopefully this blog will give people somewhere to post there comments about my web site, and also share information with everyone out there interested in early woodworking tools