Norris A13 Smooth Plane By Darryl Hutchinson

There have been some great makers of infill planes in recent years — some of which I will be featuring on this site. One of the newer planemakers is Darryl Hutchinson of Classic Planes in England. Darryl has been making infills for the past ten years or so, and his designs are based on traditional Spiers and Norris planes — usually featuring a Norris-style adjuster.

This copy of a Norris number A13 smoothing plane is, to my mind, one of the nicest styles of infill plane I have seen. It’s a style that many woodworkers would be familiar with, being quite a popular design amongst planemakers (and buyers for that matter) in recent times — possibly due to the relative scarcity of actual Norris A13s.

The brass sides of this A13 have been expertly dovetailed to the steel sole, thus accentuating, rather than hiding, the joints. While this method of construction was available as a customised option amongst some of the traditional makers of the past, it has really come to the fore in the last 10 or 20 years with contemporary makers. It’s not difficult to understand why as the overall look of the planes is striking.

This plane is in near-new condition — so much so that the blade has only been honed once. It features a 50 degree “York pitch”. The overall length of the sole is 9 inches, and the cutting iron is a piece of 3/16 inch thick A2 steel which is 2-1/4 inches wide. The plane has been fitted with a Norris style adjuster and lateral movement at the cutting edge is lessened by the addition of Allen key side adjustable blade guides. The lever cap and cusp screw is bronze and the plane is infilled with Indian rosewood.

Check out more of Darryl Hutchinson’s Classic Planes at his website.

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