The Planes of Baltimore

A generous family in Maryland has rescued a long-neglected collection of Baltimore planes and sent them for me to put to use.  Not only did I recieve the planes, but also a booklet full of interesting information about the plane and toolmaking trade in Baltimore.

Here are some of the molding planes in profile:

And some of the maker's marks:

From the Directory:

Atkinson was active 1836-1838.  Robert W. Maccubbin sold his planes from 1840-1977.  Napolean Camper was a "plane maker, plane manufacturer, took maker & tool store.  Wife ran a fancy store at same address".  He was on Exeter from 1851 to 1853, then moved to Lexington until 1874, at which point he relocated to Mercer.

The Directory is full of interesting tidbits about what makes Baltimore planes unique, but also information about how the shops all seemed to cooperate with each other.  They shared not only designs for planes (and most likely patterns) but even shared workshop space on occasion.

Huge thanks to my Maryland friends for sharing this haul with me, and I look forward to putting them all to good use.  I still need to clean and sharpen them, but they certainly have lots of usable life left in them.