Need Info on Moulding planes?

[harry strasil]

I have recently inherited a small collection of old wood molding planes. They are in pretty good shape, and from quite a few different manufacturers. I have been trying to find some info about them on the web, but haven't had much luck.

Is there any one out there that knows anything about these old tools? I can provide a list of the manufacturers and molding contours.

I also have a plow plane made by H.L. James of Williamsburgh Mass.

And a Norris of London number A5 smoothing plane.

Any info is a great help.

Thanks,

Bryce Eschenbacher

[Callan Campbell]

Posting some pictures here might help some people figure out what you have on your hands. Checking out websites that sell old tools may give you some clues as well. Then, there are also old tool guides/books that are sold to help everyone understand history and value of a certain tool line or particular manuf. . The Norris plane alone should have books, websites and sellers providing info on it. Plus some jealous looks from this forum if you end up posting pictures of it.;)

[Bob Glenn]

Harry, send them to me as soon as possible. I'll look them over and let you know all about them. :p

[David Keller NC]

Harry - I can help if you've a list of manufacturers. There are two bibles when it comes to wooden planes - A Guide to the Makers of American Wooden Planes (in print, and relatively cheap), and W. L. Goodman's British Planemakers from 1700.

The last one has 3 editions. You can find the 1st and 2nd editions for relatively little money, but the greatly expanded and much more complete 3rd edition is out of print and brings lots and lots of money.

I have AGMWP and the 2nd edition of Goodmon's book, so I could look up the makers for you. I know a lot about Norris infills, so I may be able to answer some questions about your Norris A5. BTW - if that's a pre-war Norris A5 with its original blade and no damage to the infill, it's worth quite a bit of money - over $1000 all day long.

[Jim Koepke]

This is actually a post Harry brought over from another thread.

The question originally was posted by Bryce Eschenbacher.

jim

[harry strasil]

Thanks Jim,
It was the orignal posters first post and he posted it in an existing thread instead of its own thread and the Mods couldn't figure out a way to give it its own thread, so I moved it to a thread of its own and PMed the OPer to tell him of what I had done in an effort to help him out.

Jr.

[Jim Holman]

Harry,

HL James is listed as a manufacturer from 1855 to approximately 1870. His planes are not hard to find and at a peak he was turning out about 5000 planes per year. This information is from Emil & Martyl Pollak's book "American Wooden Planes." Norris planes are common on Ebay and it is a fair indicator of worth. I will be happy to look up the rest of the manufacturers if you forward a list.