Frankly,I have wondered how the 18th. C. plane makers managed to make such DEEP intaglio stamps on the front ends of their planes,without breaking the wood into the escapements. I have seen many really deep stampings on those old planes.

It has been suggested that they soaked the front ends of their planes in water first. But,I never saw any evidence of water marking-unless the surfaces were subsequently planed off.

Perhaps the planes were stamped before the escapements were cut? Then,they could have whacked the stamps as hard as they wished to drive them into the wood like that.

Any response to my wanderings?

Derek: perhaps I should tell you the exact font my stamps use? Then you could copy them more accurately.