Description:
A grooving plane is used to cut a groove on the edge of a board, to make one-half of a tongue and groove joint used to join the edges of two boards. This plane iron is 1/8" to cut an 1/8" wide groove. Soles on grooving planes have a wooden guide used to run along the face of a board to center the groove on the edge. A metal skate acts as a permanently set depth stop. Tonguing and grooving planes are called “match planes” because they were sold as a match set. Most match planes were designed to be used on boards of specific thickness; the number stamped on the plane’s heel indicates the thickness of the board on which a centered tongue or groove can be cut. See: Graham Blackburn, “Traditional Woodworking Handtools: A Manual for the Woodworker, a Guide for the Enthusiast” (New York: The Lyons Press, 1988), 200-207.
The plane was manufactured by M. Copeland, and features manufacturer imprint C. Melvin Copeland made planes from 1822-1855 under different partnerships. From 1822-1842, he made planes in Hartford, CT. In 1842, he moved to Huntington, MA, and made wooden planes with his brothers, Daniel and Alfred. He was listed as a plane maker in Cummington, MA in the 1849 New England Mercantile Union directory. The 1850 Industrial Census shows him as a plane manufacturer in Huntington, MA; in 1855, the company became Copeland & Co. See: Emil and Martyl Pollack, "A Guide to the Makers of American Wooden Planes" (New Jersey: Astragal Press, 2001), 103.
The plane stock is beech, and the wedge is black ash. The wedge is short with a squared off end, suggesting that it is a replacement. There is a small strip of wood attached to the bottom of the sole, presumably to act as a stop, which is southern yellow pine. The plane iron was manufactured by the English firm, Willam Ash & Company. There is a " \l/ " mark on the back of the plane iron, presumably made by the owner/user.
Owner/users sometimes imprinted their owner/user mark directly over a previous owner/user's mark. A nice example of this can be seen on the toe of this plane; D. B. Bruno used two of his imprints to obscure the name of the previous owner.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+83.104 |
