This plane belonged to my father and may have been my grandfather’s.
The base is stamped “Rapier 400” and “Made in England”. The cap iron is stamped “Rapier” and the frog is painted red.
It seems that it is a Clifton plane but what has intrigued me is the screw, rather than a lever on the cap iron.
I have found pictures of block planes with a screw like this but none of bench planes.
The plane must be over 55 years old as I never remember my father doing any woodwork within my memory span.
Could anybody shed any light on this plane? Google was not my friend on this one!
Replies
dave,
I just Googled rapier 400 hand plane and got numerous hits. Might give it a go.
Also, came across this interesting site: http://www.lunds.com/AboutUs/ContactUs/ They're located in British Columbia, Canada. I found a Rapier #400 that sold for $20 here.
If the plane was my grandas' I'd most likely clean it up, tune it and use it. Along with being fun to have planes seem to have a lot of sentimentallity (sp?) to me.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks for this Bob.However the refs I've found all had cap levers, not screws. Hence my question. My intention is to clean it up and use it but on the other hand I don't want to risk spoiling a valuable antique (if it is).One think I did not mention is that the sole is just about dead flat but the part in front of the mouth is concave - just my luck!
Dave,
I had one of those Rapier planes, size #4. They were common in the then Rhodesia and I inherited it from my father. It had bakelite handle and knob and the chromed cap with screw was well made, same as the rest of it.I swapped it for a Record #4 because I wanted a Record and it has Rosewood handles. I have seen a few here, but rusted to hell.
Philip,
I see you have a plane on EBay. I wish you luck. I remember suggesting Ebay to you a long time ago. I wasn't sure it would work, and am still not sure, but it sure is worth a try. I see that the time is up very quickly. It is possible that with a costly object, a longer time would be necessary.
That is a beautiful instrument.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Hi Mel,
I am not the seller- and I am interested to see what happens too , although I would be on the pessimistic side given the current state of economic affairs.
The seller has told me that he is forced to sell all his woodworking equipment due to a health problem-and he is also not too young anymore.
I have been selling all kinds of things including reworked Stanley types, old tools, watches, some furniture(very very very difficult to sell), etc on the local equivalent of EBay here- I have learned that anything can happen on this medium, but the best thing is that I have also met all kinds of people who have noticed what I write and sell-people such as ex Rhodesians and others.But there are some problems with selling on E Bay from NZ....it is not as easy you may think.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words.Philip Marcou
High-end stuff is suffering on ebay just now. Many people just don't have disposable income, and even those who do are reluctant to spend on non-essentials. I had thought about thinning out my collection of cavalry-related artifacts. Back in January I put a couple or rarities up on ebay with a reasonably low reserve -- just enough to prevent me from really regretting a sale. I still own the pieces. A year ago, they would have fetched a premium of at least 50% over my reserve. In January, no one got within 50% of the reserve. I won't bother listing anything especially valuable again until things pick up.Joe
I agree, its not a sellers market at the moment. Prices are well down.As for the Rapier plane, Rapier was the trade name of the Anglo-Scottish Tool Company Ltd. who made planes in the 50's & 60's. Not valuable per se' -- a check of my database of eBay & dealer prices for the past 8 years gives me an average price of around $25-$30 for the 400 -- but an interesting plane to have.
Handplane Central
I wonder how the high-quality hand tool makers are doing in this recession? In a real sense, anything from a Hoteley to a Lie Nielsen is an unnecessary expense, unaffordable by many and possibly not at the top of the list even for those who have the dough.Joe
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