Imagine my excitement for a moment when I thought I’d found a plane that Record tools had never produced. A cold sweat formed on the brow at my disbelief with many thoughts running through my head, things like prototype, a factory sample or just a one off special order.
There are no known Record 0103 block planes as these were never produced, yet there I stood with one in my hand.
Closer inspection was needed and I started to take the plane apart and soon the signs were there that this plane was just not quite right.
I removed the lever cap and iron and looked at the body where the Record name was there so to was Made in E—–d with the middle letters missing, this is where the adjustment mechanism has been attached to the body.
Was this when they realised that the standard 102 body markings conflicted with where the mechanism needed to be?
Let’s assume at this point if the story fits, it’s likely they would have used a Stanley No: 103 and stripped its parts to see whether their current production sole casting at the time was compatible. They would have found the issue with the placement of the England and would have adapted and fitted it to the sole, to establish where the holes would need to be positioned.
The plane has a record iron and things were looking good until I turned it over to reveal what can only be described as an irregular serrated pattern which had been punched into the iron. These serrations were probably formed with a small cold chisel and there were no side walls like you would see on a Stanley 103 block plane iron. Still at first I wondered if this was just a sample and they were just testing things, before I thought about it a little longer.
Then hey presto, why on earth would they go to all the effort in not using the Stanley Iron? Or just to throw a spanner in the works. Has it been used and someone has improvised with a standard 102 iron as a replacement?
It’s likely to be an adaption of a 102 but one also has to question whether someone would really put in the effort to do all this work for what would have been an easy cheap user plane to replace.
Would it have been created for the collectors market? Well certainly not for what I paid for it that’s for sure.
Conclusion.
This plane has created more questions than answers and on that basis I’d have to say, It’s not right and as such so I won’t be putting it onto the market. It’s just interesting what turns up from time to time and certainly worthy of discussion and comments.
I often find these interesting types of old tools which can be just as fascinating and is another side of what is a great interest.
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