Taking over a firm that opened for business in 1780’s Alex Mathieson grew with the fortunes of the Ship building industry in Glasgow from the early 1800’s onwards. Regarded as the most prolific producer of hand planes ever in the UK, there is no shortage of examples in good condition for people like me to buy up cheep and put back to work.
No 7 Screw Plough Plane – Buying this one was a bit of a gamble with all the woodworm holes and some other damage to one of the screws. So in the freezer for a week and submerged in turpentine for a week just in case. Then on to repairs, cleaning and sharpening. Once scraped clean and restored with Tung Oil (it soaked up 10 coats) the wood really came to life. The main body, wedge and fence are English Beech and the threads and nuts are English Boxwood. It is now a very pretty and useful plane for a small fraction of the price of a working pristine example.
Coffin Smoother – It may seem that the metal bench planes were an improvement on the old wooden varieties. I admit it did take me a while to learn how to adjust them and it takes longer to learn how to use them effectively, but this is the smoothing plane I now use most.
22″ Jointer Plane –
Rebate Plane with ‘Nicker blade’ and depth adjustment –
Small Groove –
Medium Round –
Skewed Rebate medium –
Tounge project –
Auger Bits –
Quiet Carpentry 