At 04:55 PM 11/26/01 -0800, Brent Beach wrote:
>Picked up a wooden jack, quite old looking, stamped
>
>   J. Pearce
>   New York
>
>   No. 109
>
>I have no records of this maker for any old tools, so would appreciate
>knowing when Pearce was making planes.

J. Pearce was a hardware store brand name used by H. Chapin - Union Factory 
1828-1860.

>The iron has a slightly interesting feature, if having a strange cap iron
>screw can be interesting. This screw is hollow, and even stranger, the
>hollow is threaded! It must be a replacement, or did they ever do this sort
>of thing? What would a screw with a threaded interior be used for?
>
>The iron is a laminated Robt Sorby with the kangaroo imprint.

That is a replacement iron..Chapin Bench planes would have had an American 
iron (I don't have any here at present but I have seen Chapin marked irons, 
although I do believe they used others as well).

Tony

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Parental Woodworking 101---
Look, you nailed 3 boards together and only used........50 nails!
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