E Clark Jointer Planes

“Amongst the Bisbee family heirlooms were some of Levi Bisbee’s furniture along with his mentioned woodworking tools and workbench. These items had been passed down through multiple Bisbee generations. In all, six Bisbee generations had lived in the North Rochester house that Levi’s father, Hopestill, had built in 1771.” “The tools consisted of four early bench planes, one early crown molder …”    “Two planes were unmarked but three of the planes were marked E Clark / Middleboro!”

“What is particularly interesting is that the E Clark jointer planes were not of the same age. One of the E Clark jointers is an early piece ca. 1780 and the second is a “mid-period” piece ca 1790-1800.” (Note that “mid-period” and “early” are the author’s/editor’s designations.)

 “Perhaps the age span of the planes speaks to an ongoing association between the two men in addition to the apprenticeship period of 1794 through circa 1797. Of the two “E Clark” jointers, the mid-period jointer has more wear. In fact, the earlier jointer has very little wear.” “The early E Clark jointer is 28 5/8" long and is 3 1/8" wide. The body chamfers are flat as are the cheek chamfers on the wedge abutments. The chamfers on the two ends end with flute details similar to H. Wetherel and Jo, Fuller. The “mid-period” jointer is 27" long and 2 7/8” wide. It has later features including heavy rounded chamfers on the top of the body with flat chamfers on the ends. The flute details remain the same. The chamfers on the wedge abutments are slightly rounded…but mostly indistinct. The iron’s bed is steeper than is “standard”. Both totes of the E Clark jointers are identical and are offset by the same amount. The “mid-period” E Clark plane” presented at the start of this piece …. “is nearly identical to the Bisbee “mid-period” E Clark jointer…except for the iron bed angle.”

“The final Bisbee E Clark plane appears to be a crown molder with the offset tote broken off. This plane has traits closer to the “mid-period” jointer.”