# Antique Wooden Block Plane Identification Help



## Taylormade

I've been collecting old hand planes when I find them on good deals. Today I picked up this old beaut with the intention of just having one to display. 

I'm having a hard time finding any markings on this fella, other than what looks like "butler" stamped in the back a few times. Judging by the erratic nature of the stamping, I'm assuming it was a prior owner's name and not the manufacturer's name. 

Can anyone offer any suggestions/help? Thanks!


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## Dominick

Looks nice Taylor. I don't know much about these and don't use them. I found this at a garage sale. Looks similar


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## joesbucketorust

Butler just looks like an owners mark, not a maker. If there's no imprint on the other end, then your only hope is that the iron is original to the plane and that it is a big enough maker that it has its own irons (many small makers bought their irons). And if that's the iron in the pic then it isn't original. The bed shows a slot below where the iron goes. That indicates an iron with a chipbreaker screwed to it - just like in your Stanleys. The round head of the bolt that holds on the chipbreaker would sit in that slot. Still, you could always drop the iron in a tub of evaporust for a week or break out the electrolysis to see if it cleans up enough to find a mark on it.


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## Taylormade

Dominick said:


> Looks nice Taylor. I don't know much about these and don't use them. I found this at a garage sale. Looks similar
> 
> View attachment 39052


Yeah, the guy I bought it from had one just like yours, Dominick, but it didn't have a handle on it. I thought this dude looked neat so I grabbed it real cheap.


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## Taylormade

joesbucketorust said:


> Butler just looks like an owners mark, not a maker. If there's no imprint on the other end, then your only hope is that the iron is original to the plane and that it is a big enough maker that it has its own irons (many small makers bought their irons). And if that's the iron in the pic then it isn't original. The bed shows a slot below where the iron goes. That indicates an iron with a chipbreaker screwed to it - just like in your Stanleys. The round head of the bolt that holds on the chipbreaker would sit in that slot. Still, you could always drop the iron in a tub of evaporust for a week or break out the electrolysis to see if it cleans up enough to find a mark on it.


Yeah, I agree totally on the Butler thing. I have another old Stanley in the electrolysis bucket currently, but I'll drop the iron in it soon and see if it's any help. 

The slot actually holds the wedged piece that's out laying on the bench in the third pic with the exposed iron, so I'm not sure it isn't the original iron. It's pitted pretty bad but I haven't been able to see any type of identification on it yet... more to come. 

Thanks for your quick replies!


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## Kenbo

I've got no answers for ya on this one, but I really like the plane. Very nice indeed. :thumbsup:


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## Taylormade

Kenbo said:


> I've got no answers for ya on this one, but I really like the plane. Very nice indeed. :thumbsup:


Ha, thanks buddy. I like it a lot too, I'm having fun wondering who had it before me and what they did with it.


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## Lancer33

Love the old wooden planes. That is state of the art here.


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## MastersHand

Hey Taylor I have quite the Wood Plane. Check that marking again are you sure it doesn't say Butcher. Butcher is on slot of mine and it was the blade steel Maker



















Sent from my iPhone using Wood Forum


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## joesbucketorust

The bottom wedge could be a user addition. The correct tapered iron and chipbreaker would have been thicker than the replacement iron without breaker. That makes the top wedge too thin to hold the cutter in tight. The innovative solution here would be to take that extra piece of wood and wedge it beneath the cutter in the slot left by the missing screw. Here's a couple examples of a correct setup for a woody of that vintage. The bottom one is about 20 years newer than the top one. 
I've come across a lot of replacement irons that look like the one in your pic - they usually aren't tapered in thickness like the originals would have been, and the top corners usually aren't rounded or tapered off either. If it's a very thick piece of iron (3/16") and tempered to hold an edge it can still work fine if sharpened but shavings may tend to get jammed between the wedge and the iron.


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