Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi guys and gals-

This is a ca. 1900 English infill smoother. It's not a Norris or Spiers of course - it's a usermade plane. The maker bought a metal casting and finished it.

The infill is a light colored hardwood and the whole plane weighs a bit over 4 lbs. It has the maker's name "L. S. Griffiths" stamped on the infill and wedge in 5 hidden spots. The James Howarth iron is 2 1/4" wide and bedded at 50 degrees; the chipbreaker is stamped "Marples and Sons". The plane is 9 1/2" long, so it's about the same size as a Stanley #4. The mouth is incredibly tight and other than needing to sharpen the iron, it's ready to use.

I bought this for a fair price from Patrick Leach who has the Stanley "Blood and Gore" website. Oh yeah, the brass escutcheon on the knob is used to back out the wedge - you just wack it with a hammer. Thanks for looking - now I have to go play with my new toy.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

SWEEEEEET!!! Nice find, John!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Love it!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I read a great article a few years ago on how to restore old tools. Electrolysis was used to clean up the corrosion and the polishing to look spectacular.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

I got this a little while ago. It is a Scottish Spiers smoother with a shop made ivory strike button on the front bun. Fun fun fun!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Nice find John! You have to love Patrick's monthly tool list. I always drool over half the stuff he has listed.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Pat, Hesh, Don and Greg-

I'm glad you guys like it - It's my first really nice hand plane and I just had to show it off.



Nice Arnt, very, very nice. Want to trade .

I'll definitely have to save my pennies to get something like that - I've been jonesing for a Norris or a Spiers for a long time. I do like mine but I'd sell a body part for one like yours.

I may get adventurous and buy one of the Saint James Bay kits - $250 and a few weekends and I can have a copy of a Norris A5.



Hey everyone-

If you have a favorite hand tool, post a picture here. I would like to see them, even if it's something simple - those are the best anyway.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

Thanks Dave-

Yeah, Patrick's monthly tool list is awesome. He is the biggest enabler for my Tool Acquisition Syndrome.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

Nice smoothers guys.
John, thanks for telling us about your acquisition. I've seen the blood & gore site for a while now, I've just not been brave enough to sign up for the list because of my TAS. Peer pressure sucks :). I've been wanting a smoother for a while. It's almost impossible to find them this far south. I think most of those type planes/tools are in the north east.

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nay

My blogs
Hand Made Gutar
Woodworker++

Great planes guys! My favorite hand tool would have to be this Baily 15 1/2 I found at the local flea market:

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Dave, it's not fair to gloat!!!

Hesh, Be sure to keep those blades sharp!