Early provincial English plane makers I Johnson of Warwick I have been pondering on the subject of early English provincial plane making and as to why their seem to be so few surviving examples from the first half of the 18th century. We now know that their were at least two makers working in Bristol in the late 17th, and early 18th century, but as yet we have not seen any surviving examples of their work. It is highly likely that the early looking moulding planes marked “Moody of Worcester”, were made by Joseph moody, the Father of Thomas Moody of Birmingham, and this, as far as I know, would possibly make him the earliest provincial maker who we have surviving examples of work by, but one other maker might also have been working outside London in the first quarter of the 18th century. This is “I Johnson of Warwick. We know very little about this maker, but at least two planes have been found bearing his makers mark. One is a 10 1/2” moulder which has an Edward Dingley iron, and a small panel raiser with a William Cosbe iron. What is interesting is that a good deal of Warwick was destroyed in the great fire of 1694. The town was largely rebuilt in the new Georgian style, much as London was after the fire in 1666. This might go some way to explaining as to why Johnson set up as a plane maker at such an early point in a fairly small provincial location. These two fascinating planes are now in the museum collection, but I don't recall ever seeing any other examples of planes by Johnson, so I would love to know if anyone else has any planes by this intriguing pioneer of English provincial plane making. (fb)

A Whatsit from the Oak Fair. Long thin nose with a hollow at the end, small hammer, a hook one end of one handle, and a fold out screwdriver like blade... Bob Burgess thinks they might be an angler's degorger pliers. (fb)