Images(8)

Bolection Molding Plane

Dateca. 1771

Maker Jethro Jones

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Holliston

MediumWood, iron, and steel

DimensionsOverall: 3 1/8 × 1 3/16 × 9 15/16in. (7.9 × 3 × 25.2cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2020-137

DescriptionPlane of standard rectangular shape with a coved step on the discharge side. Top and side edges have flat chamfers that terminate with gouge cuts on the step and lamb’s tongue cuts on the far side. Fitted with a sharpened iron and wedge with a heavily relieved elliptical finial and compound curve notch.
Label TextPossibly born free around 1733, Jethro Jones fought in the French & Indian War and was practicing the planemaking trade in Wrentham, Massachusetts by the middle 1760s. Jones shared the same business and locale as Cesar Chelor and there is documentary evidence these African American tradesmen were closely linked. Furthermore, it is believed Jones actually trained under Chelor. By 1771 Jones had relocated to Holliston, where he made this plane used to create ornate moldings. Putting his business on hiatus during the Revolution, he served in the Continental Army from June 1777 until the return of peace in December 1783. Jethro Jones died in Blandford, Massachusetts in early January of 1828 in his mid-nineties.
MarkingsI+JONES / LIVING IN / HOLLISTON
On toe: Incused, "T.P" and "8"
On heel: incused "T.P"