Again, these planes were offered for sale very early on by MARPLES , at least as early as 1862.
Initially these planes, issued in matching pairs, were available up to No. 12, but seem to be available later in 1897 (or before) up to No.15. and with higher widths being available at extra cost. As you can see, these planes were to be had in either square or skew configuration, skew being more expensive.
Elsewhere under ‘Wooden Planes’ I shall endeavour to write about the various MARPLES marks to be found on Wooden Planes in general, so I shall not elaborate here.
The following extracts from MARPLES Catalogues should show the sizes available, at those times, much better than I can explain in words.
The listing of 1862 is shown here:
In 1873 these prices and [new] numbers are shown:
The 1897 Catalogue shows these listings under a new numbering system:
The 1909 showings are here, but note that the item numbers have again been changed:
1921 shows these listings:
The 1928 Catalogue has the following listings and I note that this is the first time that inch sizes are associated with all the Nominal numbers:
And the 1938 Catalogue shows these planes:
By 1959 the lists are drastically reduced because so few craftsmen existed to carry on the trade of making these planes:
In the price list of April 1962 the numbers 2950, 2951 are still listed but these items do not show in the March 1964 Price list. And thus ended two centuries of these made by hand moulding planes.
Below you will see a set (not matched) of ‘Rounds’ Nos 2-18. {The 2 Smoothing Planes are just ‘supports’!} This set appears to be all ‘square’ examples, as you can see that the wedges are square to the body on their front edges.
