Hey all!
Lately I have been becoming more interested in wooden planes and learning how to use them, but other than H&R's I haven't bit on buying any yet. Well I found this guy for sale for $15.00 CDN (like $12 USD) online. It felt like a no-brainer so I bought it. I have a few questions about it and I know there are a lot of wooden plane fanatics here (Hello, Mr. Dillinger?) who can probably help...
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First is the plane itself says it is a "New York Tool Co 12", but the iron says Estab'd 1823, Ohio Tool Co, Thistle Brand, High Grade Steel, Auburn NY USA. Is it possible that this is the original iron even with that difference or is it a substituted iron?
Also, the plane iron itself seems to have a fairly distinct line across the width a bit up from the cutting edge. Does this look like it would be a laminated blade?
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Overall it seems to be in excellent shape. Being just a hair under 16 inches long I am assuming this is more of a jack plane. Is there anything I should do to it before I sharpen up the iron and just give it a whirl? This is going to be a dumb question, but I am assuming you treat the blade and cap iron just as you would any modern BD plane?
Lastly, anyone have any real history and probable age of what I have here?
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Bob