# Dad's (I Think) old wood planes



## MeasureTwice (Jan 12, 2012)

Here are two old planes that my Dad had. They could of been my Grandfathers, but I really do not know. They haven't been taken care of in many,many years. The larger one has a stamp that reads, "Butch ---- Co" There is more but I cannot make it out.

My real question is, should I try to restore them or leave them alone. I do not want to screw them up any more than they already are. I do not plan to use them, I have a hard enough time learning modern day ones. So I'll probably just hang them on the shop wall.

If I restore them any comments, tips and suggestions are welcome!


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

Is the wood stamped butch... or is the iron? If it's the iron then it might be a W. Butcher - they sold just the cutters to planemakers. There weren't any American planemakers with butch at the beginning of their name. Might be British but my british planemakers book is buried somewhere. 

If you're going to restore the broken tote, I have an old Chapin Stevens catalogue around, buried on another pile. They sold the totes in two styles - yours looks like it was a closed handle. They were made to fit in the slot on top of the body. I can try to find the catalogue and scan the page so you see what the piece is supposed to look like before you connect it to the body. 
That style wooden plane is common enough that unless it's made by a very rarely seen maker it's not going to kill anything if you rehab it.


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## MeasureTwice (Jan 12, 2012)

Thanks! The iron is stamped. I'll soak it in some evapro rust and maybe I can read more. Didn't want to do that if I should leave it alone..


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