Bayfield Coffin Sided Smoothing Plane With Walnut Infill

Another infill plane by elusive British maker Charles Bayfield of Nottingham. This time it is an attractive cast iron coffin sided smoothing plane with “Scottish design” overtones. Like most of his planes I think the infill on this one is walnut, though not having it right in front of me it’s not always easy to tell from photographs.

Similar to its larger cousin, the C. Bayfield jointer plane featured elsewhere on this site, this plane is made from cast iron and has a gunmetal lever cap which is stamped “C. Bayfield, Nottingham”. The rear infill is quite substantial and the shaping of the closed handle (which has been added by a previous owner, I should mention) has been well done, being mostly laminated out of several pieces to build up the block and also for ease of construction.

It is unfortunate that not much is known of this maker at all. A possible working date for him is around the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Bayfield was, however, a very competent maker of infill planes and his planes are quite rare and collectable. Unlike more renown makers though the prices for Bayfield infill planes do not fetch as high a price as those by Spiers or Norris (EDIT: This has changed dramatically in recent years). Still they are quite desirable planes and a worthy addition to any workshop or tool collection.

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