Haul of the year

On Saturday, I attended one of the best tool auctions I've ever been lucky enough to attend. Met up with a few good friends and made a few new ones. On to the tools that followed me home:



W. Haw side rabbet, homemade 1/4" stick and rabbet, homemade 1 1/2" skew rabbet, homemade astragal moulder, Shepley #8 Round, Auburn #10 Round, Auburn #8 Hollow, Homemade quirk plane, L & IJ White 1/8" bead, unmarked 1/4" dado (poor shape),
22" Scioto try plane, perfect condition (literally never seen a nicer wood plane),
30" Dutch jointer plane, 9" Marples steel sole smoother bedded at 50 deg., 18" Jackson tenon saw (thanks to Dave Jeffers), 26" 6ppi Butcher handsaw, large unmarked wood vise screw.







The following are all missing parts. I will try to repair some of them; others will be used for parts or donor wood:
Howland 1/8" bead, Ohio Tool large round, unmarked large bead, L & IJ White 6 round, Sandusky 5/8" dado, unmarked small sash ovolo, Sandusky horned smoother, unmarked 1 1/4" steel shoulder plane, D Malloch Perth glass check plane.

Now, the find of the auction, probably the find of my tool hunting career: 18 Gabriel molding planes, all bedded at 55 degrees. All have two successive owners stamps and appear to have always been together. Gabriel, for those of you who don't know, is a very well known maker in London. He made or provided most of the tools for the famous Benjamin Seaton tool chest. The planes:
#4 Hollow, #5 Hollow and Round, #6 Hollow and Round, #7 Round, #8 Hollow and Round,
#10 Round, #13 Hollow, #14 Hollow and Round, #16 Hollow and Round, Small ovolo moulder, Small ogee moulder, Pair of snipes bills.





Incredibly, I paid $9 per plane for the Gabriels. What a bargain! I have literally never been more excited to make a purchase. For the whole spread, with tax and buyers premium, I spent $270. More than I usually would spend on tools in one day, but I had to own those Gabriel planes. Like my friend Jim Crammond said, I can always get more money, but matching sets of 18th century planes don't come along every day.

5 comments:

  1. That's quite the haul. I am interested in getting started in wooden molding planes. I have no idea where to start or what to look for though. I did get a plow and a pair of match planes recently. Hopefully I did ok. Looks like you did awesome.

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  2. Nice steal on the Gabriels, with snipes too no less. I like the quote there from Jim, that's what I've been using to explain my purchases.

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  3. I guess my excitement paid off. My wife didn't even get mad at me for spending that much at one auction!

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  4. I've been on the hunt for a usable pair of snipes for a while, but couldn't make it to this auction. I'm glad these planes went to a good home. Enjoy!

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  5. Lovely set of Gabriel planes. I have a website called Hackney Tools, where I try to gather as much info as I can about 18th-19thc tools. The url is www.hackneytools.com. I also collect sets of planes and try to find as many rare planes as I can. I'm still mystified by the proper use of sash templates though, and exactly how one would use then to cut the mitre. I think they were sold with matching planes, so one would make the stick, then pop the template over it, (which would fit exactly), then you would scribe your angles using the template?

    Nice site, Zach.

    best
    Gary Cook

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