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One unusual looking plane - looks like a plane .. :-) that I've never seen before ...

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John T.

Reply to
hubops
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If you mean the one with the "120" on it, my guess is that it's a spokeshave.

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Reply to
krw

Lots of photos to browse online - I couldn't find one quite it ...

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cabinet scrapers have similar handles .. dunno.

John T.

Reply to
hubops

Can't really tell without seeing the blade.

...or it could be a University of Texas hood ornament. ;-)

Reply to
krw

Looks to me like PART of a tool. Looks tohave a hole for a bolt up the center and 2 "teeth" that allow it to be afjusted / indexed to the tool below. Looks like a "draw handle" for something.

Reply to
Clare Snyder

One unusual looking plane - looks like a plane .. :-) that I've never seen before ...

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John T.

That looks like a foot rest... it's not shaped well for holding/grabbing with one's hands and it?s rather large.

Reply to
John Grossbohlin

That occurred to me as well ... The <A> ? 120 seems too prominent for a footrest <?>

I looked through hundreds of google images of scrapers and spoke-shaves etc and didn't see a single tool with up-swept ends - they were all flat or rounded downward < or wood knobs >

The mystery remains. John T.

Reply to
hubops

There is a picture of a wooden version on page 210 of Garrett Hack's, "The Handplane Book" (1999). It appears that the tool was designed for a cooper (barrel making). My "wild guess" is that the "120" implies that it is for shaping the outside of the barrel staves and that it cuts with a curve having a 12" radius. I could be mistaken.

On a related note, I have seen a remarkable tool used for gauging the correct angle on the sides of the staves (as a function of radius) so that all of the staves fit together perfectly. Don't underestimate the technology of barrel or bucket making! : )

The book above was one of the first books on woodworking that I read, and it cost me quite a few dollars (hundreds) after I finished reading it. For the uninitiated, it wouldn't take much to push an interest in planes into the thousands! If you like "molding planes", Bickford's book, "Moldings in Practice" was interesting, but being published by the "Lost Art Press", it is sort of pricey for what it is. But if you wish to dwell on the nuances of the molding on fine furniture, it may be one of the few options. However, As Leon has pointed out before, such details can get in the way of getting any work done! I sort of salivate when I examine antique fine furniture, but I am not anywhere near as successful in getting as much woodworking done as Leon does!

Reply to
Bill

Thanks for your input, Bill. I tried various google image search key-words including "barrel" and "cooper" but alas google isn't what it used-to-be ... If you have a picture or web link of your wooden version I'd be happy to see it. Or even a unique word for a further web search.

More image searches turned up this wooden tool :

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John T.

Reply to
hubops

Maybe a salon chair as opposed to a barbers chair.

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Barber's chairs seems to all have the wide, flat footrest.

Even images with that type of foot rest on this page eventually lead to a "salon chair".

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Reply to
DerbyDad03

Seems odd that a barbers chair foot rest would be in with a bunch of planes. I know stuff gets mixed in but this is probably some type of cutting tool.

Reply to
Leon

John, I posted a photo (jpg) of the picture I mentioned to the newsgroup: alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking

I hope that helps! I don't claim that it "settles" the matter! ; ) You be the judge.

Reply to
Bill

I still vote for spokeshave but they may be close cousins.

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Reply to
krw

Thanks Bill. My image searches for vintage cooper plane returns that exact photo from Fine Woodworking and lots of other designs. As Clare pointed out, the one in the auction had features that strongly suggested that some pieces were missing so the mystery remains. John T.

Reply to
hubops

I like the idea that it's some sort of plane / scraper because of the grouping in the auction sale - but with pieces missing - who knows ? .. John T.

Reply to
hubops

John, I posted a photo (jpg) of the picture I mentioned to the newsgroup: alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking

I hope that helps! I don't claim that it "settles" the matter! ; ) You be the judge.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the notion that the item is intended for use with the hands. The majority of the antique tools I've used (original and reproduction -- I worked at an 18th century living history museum and have used many of more recent vintage) were generally more ergonomically shaped than this item. This thing doesn't appear to be comfortably graspable. The hatch pattern suggests to me that it was designed to prevent feet from slipping. Assuming the plane iron on the right is 2" wide that makes this thing about a foot long. It appears to have indexing humps on the bottom (note the two bumps on the close side in front of the hole) and a hole through which I can imaging a bolt/rod/hook of some sort with a washer and wing nut holding it in place.

Regarding coopers' tools. The vast majority of those I've seen were wooden. A notable exception is those of a local cooperage that has made custom machines to perform tasks formerly done with hand tools. From hearing the cooper at a couple presentations, and having discussions with him, I got the impression he did a lot of research into historical cooperage tools and had acquired a significant assortment of them. I've sent a copy of the photo off to the owner and asked his opinion.

I've had people give me boxes of tools that belonged to their grandfathers' that went back to the early 1900s. It was not uncommon to find completely unrelated items in those boxes. Automotive parts, farm implement parts, etc. That leaves me wondering if this is a tool at all!

I'll keep poking around with Google and see if anything jumps out.

Reply to
John Grossbohlin

Thank you for your further contribution..interesting stuff. I had a hard time grasping why there would be "120" on it, were it not for it being a tool... But it *does" look like a footrest too (I've searched images including tractors and barber chairs!--maybe a dentists chair? :D ).

Reply to
Bill

As I mentioned earlier: Salon chairs have T shaped footrests, as opposed to barber's chairs that almost exclusively have full, flat surfaced footrests.

A salon chair, albeit a somewhat modern one:

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Reply to
DerbyDad03

It "makes sense" that a chair such as salon chair would have the "feet" so close together (to keep them out of the way). Good thinking.

Reply to
Bill

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