Seeking information on plane iron maker

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

Among the pile of plane irons I have got from my friend, there was one from a Danish manufacture I have never heard of. The brand is "Tiger" and I want to hear if anyone have ever seen this mark before ?

Its laminated and tapered.

It seems like good quality, but who knows?

I guess the S.S. means Swedish Steel ?

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[Thomas Laursen]

Nice find Lasse. These are not common, but not really rare either. I have some of these as well as their sibling "Lion High Speed".

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Unfortunately the stamp is of poor quality, but it's basically the same logo. They left out the "Made in Denmark - Garanti" part, but the S.S. is still there even though it's barely visible in this sample. In 1942 the Lion brand was registered by a company called Silldorff, Steffin & Co. Or S.S. Later on they used a logo with SS in a circle registered for knives, saws and all kinds of cutting tools. I have never found a trademark for the Tiger brand, but I'm pretty sure it's the same company.

I believe the Tiger brand is older than the Lion, simply because that all of the Tiger irons I've seen, have been laminated and is a thick chunk of steel and quite well made. Whereas the two pieces of Lion irons I have, one is laminated and appears to be up the the Tiger standard, but the other is not, and is much thinner and seems to be of lower quality. The Lion brand was cancelled in 1952, but the company went on to make knives at least till some point in the 1960'ties.

Whether Silldorff, Steffin & Co. actually made these irons themselves or just owned the brand is hard to say.
SS started out as a trading company in the 1920'ties in Copenhagen Denmark. Focusing on import-export, but by the 30'ties they also owned some companies. One of these where a maker of carborundum stones. The building this company was located in might give some clues to the origin of these irons. Three other manufacturers was in the building, and the products were metalwares, saws and drillbits. It's possible that there have been a connection. They certainly would have had access to people who knew how to work metal.

So a carefull guess is that these were made somewhere in Copenhagen in the 1930'ties by Silldorff, Steffin & Co.

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

Very interesting Thomas, have you seen this thread ? http://www.galootopia.com/sloop/index.php?topic=22.0

[Thomas Laursen]

Yes, I'm aware of it, as I'm the guy who wrote it :)

Since then I have gathered more information and changed my mind on a few things. Like the age of the Tiger irons. Also I have found no relationship between H. Olsen. and Silldorff, Steffin & Co.

H. Olsen was both an ironmonger as well as a toolmaker. Still don't know if he made his own brand "Tiger manufact." himself or had someone do it. That brand was renewed as a trademark as late as 1965. The relationship between the two Tiger brands are still mystifying me. Denmark is a small country, and the two companies were located just within a few kilometres. Still they did not know the brand was allready taken? Anyway, it was probably why they eventually changed it to a Lion.

[Lasse Hilbrandt]

I thought it was you but wasn't sure. My friend from whom I got the "Tiger" plane iron has another one similar to mine but it is in a much nicer condition and has never been used.

[Mel Fulks]

I think the word "alloy" in the Tiger label is an indication of earlier date. I'm guessing 1900 or not much later.