Glass check? More likely an adjustable groove plane

Plane Chatter

Greenslade plane owned by Fred Hostetter proved to be difficult to identify. Earlier in this column (The Chronicle, Vol. 55, No. 2, June 2002), it was postulated to be a glass check plane. The request for information on similar tools produced two responses. John Ross reported an almost identical plane signed by Marshall (Glasgow). The rear marking ("3" on the plane earlier reported) is "I" on this one. It bears the marks of two owners and has been well-used. The surfacing of the second tool of this type rebuts the earlier suggestion that the tool was special and made-to-order.

The report of a matched pair of planes made by Joseph Marples (York) (Figure 1) provided the key to a better identification. Our thanks to John Jones, Shrewsbury, England, for providing this information as well as the photograph.

Mr. Jones offers a convincing diagnosis of the tool as an adjustable tongue plane. The plane on the right of the photograph is identical in function to the one previously shown, save for a slightly thinner upper sole which results in less projection for the tongue. The tongue depth on the Greenslade plane is rather too small for a glass check, and the tongue cut by the Marples tool is definitely too small for this purpose. The presence of the mating groove plane is a clincher.

The groove plane of the pair can accept irons of different widths to agree with the setting of the tongue plane. The thoughts offered for use of the Greenslade plane in the June column apply equally well to a tongue plane (a glass check is a close relative). While the adjustable tongue tool could be used with just the one iron, it is more likely that several would be provided with different gap spacings to allow the more conventional tongue geometry. Mr. Jones believes that three irons were originally provided.

Still unexplained is the significance of the numerals on the heel; the "2" on the Marples planes completes a trilogy, and refutes the suggestion in the June column that the Greenslade "S" referred to the availability of three irons.

With three examples by three different makers, there must be more examples not yet reported. Do you have one?

Copyright Early American Industries Association Dec 2002
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