Last Sunday I was at the Alameda flea market in the SF/Bay Area and picked up a good catch.
I originally glossed over the vice-like item on the left. At the time I though it was a small auxiliary vise for joinery or a small tail vise. Quickly after posting that thought Thomas Conroy told me it’s actually a bookbinders’ plough, missing it’s cutter. He added: “I’ve made them, copying ones I couldn’t buy. I’ve never seen one in the wild.”
I believe this to be a re-build of an older plough, but the jury (Mr. Conroy and other bookbinders) will soon contribute a verdict.
The screw is pinned to the cheek with a full-height dowel, a rather difficult approach. I’m a bit shady on the mechanics of the knife assembly. The plate is marked “14″ with the one being up-side down. I find it possible that it was stamped that way accidentally. Serifed 1 dies aren’t difficult to mis-orient. The slot is 17mm at its narrowest and 19mm at the widest. The threads look hand-cut by a screwbox, and two angles vary slightly. The screwface that is towards the direction of pressure during use is more vertical than the outward screwface. I’d guess around 3.5-3.75 TPI, 60°. The rails are hand turned and are of uneven diameter.
Overview of the plough:
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- Top of the plough
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- Right-hand side of the plough, upside-down
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- Left-hand side of the plough
Details of the plough and knife-holder:
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- The knife-holder
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- Plan view of the same
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- Profile of the knife-holder
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- Detail of the shaft for the knife tension bolt, and wooden pin for the screw
Measured images of most parts:
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- Showing the length of the screw
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- Hieght of the plough
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- Thickness of the cheeks(?)
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- Diameter of the screw
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- Diameter of the rails
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- Height of the cheek
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- Total width of the ‘lip’ of the knife holder
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- Width of the knife holder
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- Width of the dovetail slot for the knife
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- Total width of the knife holder and width of the mortice for the same
Pencil layout details:
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- Line marking the center of the knife-holder and it’s shaft.
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- Line marking the center line of the screw & rails and the circumference of the hole.
I have one my husband had sitting in the garage. It looks just like this but has the cutting wheel and has what looks like “45” written on the groove for the cutter. Yours is the closest I’ve found to it. We love unique old things.