OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

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