Infill Thumb Plane By The Henley Optical Company

A very rare infill thumb plane by the short lived Henley Optical Company of 4 Hart St., Henley-On-Thames, Oxon in England. Modelled on the Norris No. 31 thumb plane it comes with a Norris-style adjuster and the original baize pouch and box. There is also an advertisement slip in the box.

The Henley Optical Co. first came to prominence sometime in 1976 — bridging the gap in infill planemakers from Arthur Price to the resurgence in the mid to late 1980’s and early 1990’s with makers such as R.H. Wood, The Jamestown Tool Company, Bill Carter, Karl Holtey, Jeff Warshafsky, myself and others. Henley Optical Co. wasn’t the only company making infill planes in the 1970’s of course, but they were probably the “Holtey” of their day, with numerous articles being written about them in British magazines such as Woodworker and the like. One of those articles on the “Best English Mitre Plane” by the Henley Optical Company can be found here.

The thumb plane is 5″ long and has a 1-1/4″ wide cutting iron set at 20 degrees. The infill is Indian rosewood. What makes this plane particularly rare though is that it belonged to the originator and founder of the Henley Optical Company, Alan Beardmore, and it’s stamped with his name on the side of the rosewood wedge. Beardmore himself would go on to write numerous woodworking related articles and books over the years. The plane was made some time in 1977 and is stamped with both “1” and “77” underneath the wedge.

By the early 1980’s the company had been renamed to the more aptly sounding Henley Plane Co. but, by that stage, the firm was well and truly in its death throes. The tool buying public just wasn’t ready for the high quality planes that this company made. A decade or two later and the story might well have been different. However, the Henley Plane Co. did offer a line of around half a dozen different planes throughout its short career, including mitre planes, smoother planes, shoulder, chariot, thumb and badger thumb planes. Each plane was fitted with a Norris-style adjuster and many of the gunmetal (or naval brass) planes had a unique inlaid sweated-on steel sole. There was apparently a 10 week delivery time on all planes.

Henley planes are uncommon, so if you see one anywhere be sure to snap it up if possible.

NOTE: This plane was offered for sale by Patrick Leach for $2885.00 earlier this year (2009), and I’m grateful for the use of his pictures here.

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