Anyone know anything about a "Conover Woodcraft plane"?

[David Tiell]

I may have a chance to pick up what I think is a little scraper plane. It's marked Conover Woodcraft. 4 in. long by 11/4 in. high by 1 9/16 in. wide, bronze or brass side plates, rosewood infill. A machine screw in the butt clamps a piece of metal (blade?) about 3/16 in. thick at a 90 degree angle. The blade? is beveled at about 12 degrees, but not sharp at all.
It's also possible this piece of metal just clamps the real blade in place in a notch behind it. A couple of pics are attached. I just can't find anything about this plane online anywhere and would like an idea of what it might be worth, if anything, before I make an offer.


Thanks,

Dave

[Dave Cavanaugh]

I believe Conover was a hardware chain that sold their own line of tools (made by others) in the early to mid part of the 20th century. They also marketed planes under the "Rev-O-Noc" brand, which is Conover backwards. I have a pretty nice Rev-O-Noc Jack plane that looks an awful lot like a Stanley, the only difference being the adjustment lever is one piece vs 3 piece. I may have some more info on Conover on my home computer and will try to remember to look it up this evening.

[David DeCristoforo]

I would guess that this was one of Ernie Conover's products. check out this site:
http://www.conoverworkshops.com/
and note the similarity of the logo. Ernie has had a number of products over the years mostly related to turning but also including planes, thread boxes and the like. I'm sure you could contact them through the web site and verify that your plane was one of their products. I don't think Ernie actually made any of his products but "subbed them out" to other makers but I could be wrong on this. Google for "Ernie Conover" and you will get a lot of "hits". I don't think this plane is related to either Conover Hardware or Rev-O-Noc...

YM

[David Tiell]

I would guess that this was one of Ernie Conover's products. check out this site:
http://www.conoverworkshops.com/
and note the similarity of the logo. Ernie has had a number of products over the years mostly related to turning but also including planes, thread boxes and the like. I'm sure you could contact them through the web site and verify that your plane was one of their products. I don't think Ernie actually made any of his products but "subbed them out" to other makers but I could be wrong on this. Google for "Ernie Conover" and you will get a lot of "hits". I don't think this plane is related to either Conover Hardware or Rev-O-Noc...

YM
Yoshikuni,
Thanks for the link. The logo does look similar, so I sent an email off to them asking if it is one of their products and/or if they have any info on it.

[Dave Cavanaugh]

I wasn't aware of the Ernie Conover connection...thanks for the info. You learn something every day.

[David Tiell]

Ernie himself responded to my email. He said a company he sold in 1989, Conover Woodcraft, did indeed produce the plane. It's a scraper plane intended for making bamboo fishing rods. But that was the only information he gave me. It's more than I had before, though. Thanks again for the tip, Yoshikuni!