A different Fulton Plane

[steven c newman]

With a made in West Germany iron? SDC13624.jpgSDC13626.jpgSDC13625.jpg Knob on the "lever" cap has a maroon plastic top. Iron is Stamped" MADE IN WEST GERMANY, and is quite thick. Almost twice as thick as the chip breaker. Base of that frog has a raised ridge all the way around. Long frog bolts. Them red handles ARE wood, just a thick coat of red paint. They may get stripped down to see WHAT kind of wood is in there. Tote bolts is a two piece affair, ala Stanley. Knob is just a one piece bolt. No raised ring, either.

A West German iron??? Age? ( Well, 1945 - 1989) Did Fulton have an overseas outlet? Or, did someone in Michigan ( where this came from) re-iron it? It will get a nice re-hab. Tried it out when I got it out of the shipping box, was able to get some decent shavings as is. "Japanning" is 100%. I did clean it off where the frog sits, though. No frog adjustment screw, though. Large, Brass wheel for the depth adjuster. This is a #3 sized plane. Worth the $10????

[Harold Burrell]

I think it is absolutely worth $10 (and more). I have a Fulton #4 that isactually one of my better users. That should clean up quite nicely. Nice score!

[David Keller NC]

Very interesting. I wouldn't do anything to it except lightly clean it with some paste wax and a rag, sharpen the iron, and see how it works. It's very hard to say what something is worth until you know how rare it is, and whether a significant fraction of the collector's market has some nostalgia for the item. Personally, I wouldn't give someone $15 for a Millers Falls "Buck Rogers" plane, but they are hotly collected on the antique market, and can be worth more than $400 if in pristine condition.

One possible way to date the plane is to look up some information about the "made in" mark. Early production from West Germany tended to say "Made in Western Germany" rather than "made in West Germany", so that might exclude some earlier dates.

[steven c newman]

A morning's worth of re-hab work...SDC13637.jpgSDC13639.jpgSDC13640.jpgSDC13642.jpgas for that german iron..SDC13641.jpg it is a nice thick iron. About twice what the chipbreaker is. Iron is 1-3/4' wide.

[Jim Belair]

I suspect that isn't the original iron. Nice job cleaning it up. A very distinctive look with the red handles, lettering and frog. I'd be happy to own it.

[Harlan Barnhart]

I have a no.3 size of that same plane. The blade looks identical. It's marked "Made in Western Germany." The combination of huge gaping mouth and thick blade convinced me to turn it into a scrub.

[steven c newman]

This iron is stamped MADE IN WEST GERMANY. I did try it out on some poplar, once I had polished the iron up. No problems making a cut. Nice little plane. About a #3 size. Tote seems to fit my hand as well. I think I MIGHT try and find a Brass bolt for that lever cap, though. Any ideas about that???

[Pedder Petersen]

Hi,

I don't think that the whole plane was made here (only Kunz did that and does today), but there are a quite a lot maker of good blades in Germany:
Two Cherries/Hirsch ist the most famous, but there where other. Maybe it is a replacement blade?

Cheers
Pedder

[steven c newman]

Just saw two other Fulton planes, also have the German irons. A #5 sized one, and a #4 sized one. All have the same look to them.