OldTools Archive

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8672 BBohl@g... (Bill Bohl) 1996‑10‑29 Thackeray rabbet
I was at a local shopping mall that was having an antique show the other day
and spotted an infill shoulder rabbet plane. The plane had some pitting on the
sides, a crudely made replacement wedge, a good-sized nick in the blade, and a
coating of lacquer(?) applied over all of the exterior surfaces, but, hey,
what do you expect for a plane found in front of J.C. Penny's? The rosewood(?)
infill was in very nice shape but I could not make out the marking on the
blade. I got the plane for $25 + tax, got it home and removed the lacquer with
mineral spirits. Upon cleaning up the blade I found the following inside of an
engraved oval:

 W THACKERAY
 PLANE MAKER
 ARMLEY YORKS

The plane is 1.25" wide and 7.625" long. Do any of you know any history on
this maker? When his planes were produced? Any help would be appreciated.

This is my first infill plane so I am kind of excited about finding it. I will
make a new wedge and will regrind the blade.

thanks,

Bill B.


8684 Jeff Grothaus <jgrot@t...> 1996‑10‑30 Re: Thackeray rabbet
At 10:10 PM 10/29/96 EST, you wrote:
>
>
> W THACKERAY
> PLANE MAKER
> ARMLEY YORKS
>
>The plane is 1.25" wide and 7.625" long. Do any of you know any history on
>this maker? When his planes were produced? Any help would be appreciated.
>
>This is my first infill plane so I am kind of excited about finding it. I will
>make a new wedge and will regrind the blade.
>

Goodman shows John William Thackeray at various locations in Leeds from
(approx) 1893 to 1930.  He is described as a metal plane maker.

Jeff


8691 tkissam@c... (Todd Kissam) 1996‑10‑30 Re: Thackeray rabbet
At 10:10 PM 10/29/96 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>
>I was at a local shopping mall that was having an antique show the other day
>and spotted an infill shoulder rabbet plane. The plane had some pitting on the
>sides, a crudely made replacement wedge, a good-sized nick in the blade, and a
>coating of lacquer(?) applied over all of the exterior surfaces, but, hey,
>what do you expect for a plane found in front of J.C. Penny's? The rosewood(?)
>infill was in very nice shape but I could not make out the marking on the
>blade. I got the plane for $25 + tax, got it home and removed the lacquer with
>mineral spirits. Upon cleaning up the blade I found the following inside of an
>engraved oval:
>
> W THACKERAY
> PLANE MAKER
> ARMLEY YORKS
>
>The plane is 1.25" wide and 7.625" long. Do any of you know any history on
>this maker? When his planes were produced? Any help would be appreciated.
>

Bill,

Information is pretty scarce in my references.

Ken Robert's in his English Woodworking Tools book has a single line
indicating that this company got in the metal plane business after 1860.

Goodman (British Planemakers) has the following:

Thackeray, John William         LEEDS
Wesley Rd, Armley               <1893>
67 Old Row Armley               1907 - 1912
Ivy Works, 51 Old Row, Armley   <1930
Metal plane maker

(Goodman uses brackets to indicate that he was probably in business
for more time in the direction of the bracket, but he could not pin the 
dates down.)

Great price,

Todd


8727 Ernie Fisch <ernfisch@i...> 1996‑10‑30 Re: Thackeray rabbet
** Reply to note from BBohl@g... Tue, 29 Oct 1996 22:10:23 -0500

Bill Bohl wrote:

>
> blade. I got the plane for $25 + tax, got it home and removed the
> lacquer with mineral spirits. Upon cleaning up the blade I found the
> following inside of an engraved oval:
>

Just for accuracy sake you can't remove lacquer with mineral spirits.

I am not ordinarily so mean spirited as to quibble about stuff like this
but it is important to use the right solvents so as not to damage the
artifacts. Mineral spirits is not a powerful solvent and there aren't
many finishes it will remove.

I would also caution agains using lacquer thinner on wood. It seems to
penetrate and move some of the "life" from the wood leaving a faded
surface. It can be used with great care but I don't like to. It is okay
on unpainted metal.

ernie The Arizona tool sink, IT #22

8786 BBohl@g... (Bill Bohl) 1996‑10‑31 Re: Thackeray rabbet
In respone to my post, Ernie wrote:    

>Just for accuracy sake you can't remove lacquer with mineral spirits. 
> 
>I am not ordinarily so mean spirited as to quibble about stuff like this but 
>it is important to use the right solvents so as not to damage the artifacts. 
>Mineral spirits is not a powerful solvent and there aren't many finishes it 
>will remove. 
> 
>I would also caution agains using lacquer thinner on wood. It seems to 
>penetrate and move some of the "life" from the wood leaving a faded surface. 
>It can be used with great care but I don't like to.  It is okay on unpainted 
>metal.
>

The dealer I bought the plane from said that the coating could be removed with
lacquer thinner. What ever it was, it came off pretty easily with mineral
spirits and some light rubbing with a Scotch Brite pad. You are surely right
that it could not have been lacquer. 

I will take your advice and avoid using lacquer thinner. If the mineral spirits
had not taken off the coating, what would you have tried next?

thanks,

Bill B.


8800 "Richard Wilson" <seskfur5@i...> 1996‑11‑01 RE: THACKERAY RABBET
 Ernie, on solvent (dis)abuse...
 >
 >I would also caution agains using lacquer thinner on wood. It seems to
 >penetrate and move some of the "life" from the wood leaving a faded
 surface.
 >

 To enlighten the other half of the hemisphere (meaning me)

 Is lacquer thinner what I would refer to as 'cellulose' thinner? or one of
 the newer ones?
 Where cellulose paint is the older car paint, as opposed to newer
 catalytic hardeners, for which I believe the thinner is much more
 aggressive?

 Richard

 Currently on assignment at SKF Dataservice, Goteborg, Sweden
 Personal e-mail to 100042.512@c... will follow me around
 Replies to this mailbox will only be on-line when I am.


8841 Ernie Fisch <ernfisch@i...> 1996‑11‑01 RE: THACKERAY RABBET
** Reply to note from seskfur5@i... Fri, 1 Nov 1996 06:05:56 -0500 
 
Richard asks: 
 
>    
>  To enlighten the other half of the hemisphere (meaning me) 
>    
>  Is lacquer thinner what I would refer to as 'cellulose' thinner? or one of 
>  the newer ones? 
>  Where cellulose paint is the older car paint, as opposed to newer 
>  catalytic hardeners, for which I believe the thinner is much more 
>  aggressive? 
>    
 
Not being familiar with old world terms my answer lacks certainty but 
that has rarely stopped my. 
 
I strongly suspect that lacquer and cellulose thinners are the same. 
The lacquers it thins are the nitrocellulose lacquers.  This is what 
the hot rodders of the '40s would spray in multiple thin coats. 
 
Modern thinners may be more aggressive but this stuff is still nasty. 
I wear gloves if I am going to get my hands in it to any extent and I 
don't like to breathe the fumes.  Since I live in Arizona where 70 
deg is cold I do my paint work outside and can minimize the fume 
problem.  I clean my airbrush (HO railroad modeler) with it but the 
amount is so small it isn't a problem.

ernie 
The Arizona tool sink, IT #22


8837 "Michael D. Sullivan" <mds@a...> 1996‑11‑01 RE: THACKERAY RABBET
On Fri, 1 Nov 1996 06:07:32 -0500, Richard Wilson wrote:

> To enlighten the other half of the hemisphere (meaning me)
>
> Is lacquer thinner what I would refer to as 'cellulose' thinner? or one of
> the newer ones?
> Where cellulose paint is the older car paint, as opposed to newer
> catalytic hardeners, for which I believe the thinner is much more
> aggressive?

Lacquer thinner is the solvent used for nitrocellulose lacquer (cellulose 
nitrate, or guncotton, is dissolved in the thinner).  So, yes, it's probably 
what is called 'cellulose' thinner in Sweden.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael D. Sullivan, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
mds@a... / avogadro@w... / 74160.1134@c...
----------------------------------------------------------------------


9125 tkissam@c... (Todd Kissam) 1996‑11‑06 Re: Thackeray rabbet
At 10:10 PM 10/29/96 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>
>I was at a local shopping mall that was having an antique show the other day
>and spotted an infill shoulder rabbet plane. The plane had some pitting on the
>sides, a crudely made replacement wedge, a good-sized nick in the blade, and a
>coating of lacquer(?) applied over all of the exterior surfaces, but, hey,
>what do you expect for a plane found in front of J.C. Penny's? The rosewood(?)
>infill was in very nice shape but I could not make out the marking on the
>blade. I got the plane for $25 + tax, got it home and removed the lacquer with
>mineral spirits. Upon cleaning up the blade I found the following inside of an
>engraved oval:
>
> W THACKERAY
> PLANE MAKER
> ARMLEY YORKS
>
>The plane is 1.25" wide and 7.625" long. Do any of you know any history on
>this maker? When his planes were produced? Any help would be appreciated.
>
=============== stuff I sent before
Bill,

Information is pretty scarce in my references.

Ken Robert's in his English Woodworking Tools book has a single line
indicating that this company got in the metal plane business after 1860.

Goodman (British Planemakers) has the following:

Thackeray, John William         LEEDS
Wesley Rd, Armley               <1893>
67 Old Row Armley               1907 - 1912
Ivy Works, 51 Old Row, Armley   <1930
Metal plane maker

(Goodman uses brackets to indicate that he was probably in business
for more time in the direction of the bracket, but he could not pin the 
dates down.)

=============== end of stuff that I did not want to snip

An update.

Its really strange how reference karma works.

I have in fornt of me the 1975 Arnold & Walker; "The Traditional
Tools of the Carpenter and other Craftsmen" sale catalog.

Item 190:

18" plane, weighing 10 1/4 lb., made by W. Thackeray of Armley,
Yorkshire. Thackeray normally sold the body casting ("planed on sole
and sides, square and true. Bored for screws"), the level cap and the
rosewood fillings, "with piece for handle" separately, leaving it to
the owner to assemble and finish the plane. In the case of the smaller
planes he would do the finishing "to order only" but that added more
than 200% to the cosr. This plane, with 2 1/2" cutter and pretty
rosewood fillings, is in good condition apart from a small repair
to the handle.

95 pounds.

---

I guess Roy Arnold or his partner had access to an advertisement
for Mr. Thackeray. A shame that this info shows up no where else.

Just to make ya gasp, the same page has two Norris YB smoothers at
45 and 55 pounds ($2.10 per pound in 1975).

Talk about my miss-spent youth :^)

Todd



Recent Bios FAQ