Images(5)

Trying plane

Date1748-1775

Maker William Madox

OriginEngland, London

MediumWood, iron, and steel

DimensionsLength: 22 3/16" Width: 3 1/8" Height: 2 9/16"

Credit LineGift of Mr. Frank McGregor Smith.

Object number1986-268,19

DescriptionPlane of standard bench plane shape with a flat sole and top discharge. The tote, which is closed with a decorative segmented design, is slightly offset to the right, and sits in a mortise behind the throat secured with a nail. The top and side edges have flat chamfers that terminate with gauge cuts while the top check edges of the throat have tapering eye chamfers. Fitted with a sharpened iron and a wedge with mitered corners. A strike button is set into the top of the forestock and is slightly raised above the body.
Label TextTry planes were used to smooth and level the uneven surface left behind by the jack plane. Its long body rode over the “hills” on a board’s surface and shaved them down with a straight edged blade. This example has a strike button set into the forestock, meant to absorb iron-and-wedge-loosening mallet strikes.
MarkingsOn toe: raised "MADOX" within a crenelated rectangular cartouche and raised "G.W.CARTWRIGHT" within a crenelated shaped cartouche
ProvenanceFrom the George W. Cartwright II tool chest (1986-268,1). He immigrated from London to Ossining, New York in 1819. Cartwright's fitted tool chest contained chisels, planes, sharpening stones, and implements for marking, measuring, carving, and veneering. Many had been made before Cartwright was born, indicating that he probably inherited the tools or bought them secondhand. A substantial number of these tools remain with the chest today.