Plane Id(s)

[Mark Engel]

I recently picked up a small collection of hand planes in various condition. The plan is to get as many of them as I can back into working condition and back out into the world.

Among the group are three wood body planes that I can't identify. Maybe someone here knows what these are? I could find no makers marks anywhere on them. I haven't worked with too many wood bodied planes and I don't know the proper names of the various pieces and parts, so bear with me as I try to describe these.

This one is ~16-1/2" long. The tote is let into the body with the base of the tote left a little proud. There is no knob. There is a two piece wedge holding the (Stanley SW)iron. There is a rounded bevel at each corner of the body going about half way down from the top.

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[Mark Engel]

This one is a transitional ~18" long. The frog has been painted by a previous owner. The cutting iron, cap iron and lever cap had also been painted black (even the cutting edge of the iron???). I stripped the black paint from those parts.
There is no horn on the tote, not sure if it was cut off or broke off, but it looks to be 'finished' with smooth rounded over edges. Can't be sure if it ever had horn.
The knob is a large round ball with no screw showing. I did not attempt to remove the knob so I don't know how it is attached to the base.
The cutting iron is marked with the Keen Kutter logo. The iron is very thick and heavy, as is the cap iron. Thicker than any Union or Ohio irons I have seen.
There appears to be a logo (Keen Kutter) at the top of the base at the toe.

I'm guessing this is a Keen Kutter, just looking for verification from someone that knows.

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[Mark Engel]

Here is another transitional that is ~15" long. It has a Stanley Liberty Bell lever cap and the lever style depth adjuster.
The tote has a plug in the top where the mounting screw should and could be located.
I could not find any markings on the cutting iron, but the top of the iron has quite a bit of pitting.
There is a 'B' cast into the back side of the lever cap.

This seems to be a Stanley Liberty Bell, but I have never had my hands on one before, so again, just looking for verification?

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Another question on this one.
With the iron and cap iron installed on the plane, the lever cap screw is in line with the end of the cap iron screw. I can't see a way to adjust the position of any of the screws so that the lever cap screw tightens against the cap iron instead of the cap iron screw. Is this possibly the wrong lever cap? Or is there something else that I have set up incorrectly?

[Jim Koepke]

My comments are mostly opinion since my knowledge of wood bodied planes is limited.

The first example looks to be a large jack plane. Many didn't have, or even need, knobs since one could just place their hand across the front of the plane. Many did have a strike button for the purpose of blade adjustments.

Not sure if the two wedges are original. It might be helpful to see the body without the blade and wedges installed to see if it has a notch for a chip breaker's screw. There were many makers of planes like this over time. It would not surprise me if kids in wood shop classes in the 19th century made them as class projects.

The second plane would be easier to tell more about the knob with a side view. My guess is it is a replacement. There is likely a screw hole in the metal work that allowed the original knob to be attached to the wood with a long screw. If the hole stripped out, an easy fix would be to use the metal to hold the screw going up into the knob.

The blades on any of these could be replacements. The lateral adjuster does look like one used by Ohio Tool and Union Tool companies.

A search on > liberty bell transitional planes < yielded this:

http://www.richmondantiquetools.com/Liby%20Bell%20Type%20Study%20_2_.pdf

My first thought before the search was the adjuster wasn't of the Bailey design. Now my knowledge has been increased about this design and the court case that ensued.

The problem with the lever cap screw hitting the chip breaker screw may be due to the way the lower screw is supposed to work with the adjuster. Again, my thoughts on this are just guesses. Like many jokes, one would have to be there to get it.

jtk