I. N. Miller: Maker of Wooden Children's Woodworking Planes

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Jun 2004 by Kelly, Patrick M

It is almost certain that every collector of wood-working planes has from time to time come across planes that were apparently designed to be used by children. These planes are normally characterized by their diminutive size so as to fit comfortably in their user's small hands. For those of us who collect wooden planes, children's planes seem to occur most commonly in two varieties, the "coffin" style smooth plane or the simple ubiquitous "block" plane (Figure 1). In addition, it had always been my experience that these wooden planes never carried a maker's imprint, that is, until about a half dozen years ago.

While searching through a local antique shop near Utica, N.Y., I came across a small wooden plane that caught my eye. It certainly appeared to be just another common child's "block" plane. However, when I turned it over I got quite a surprise. It was a match plane for producing a tongue cut, and not only that, it had an adjustable fence for various stock sizes (Figure 2). Unfortunately, the plane was missing its wedge, but I investigated further and found that it appeared to have a maker's imprint on the toe. Consequently, I forked over my ten dollars and took my find home to see what a little cleaning would reveal.

After a bit of work, a light, small imprint was evident. It read "I. N. MILLER MCLEAN N.Y." with the Arabic numeral "5" below the location (Figure 3). Furthermore, the iron was also lightly stamped on the bevel side with "I. N. MILLER" and again on the opposite side with a much bolder mirror image imprint of "I. N. MILLER" and the numeral "5." Those of you who collect wooden planes may recognize McLean, N.Y., as the location where Nathaniel Spaulding made wooden planes from 1824 to 1850.1

The plane is made from beech. Its body measures 5 5/16 inches long by 1 5/8 inches wide by 1 11/16 inches high not including the fence, and there are notches at the toe and heel of each side. The throat of the plane is positioned off-center and to the right side of the plane in order to accommodate the fence (Figure 4). The fence is slotted and held in place by two pointed, round-headed wood (made after 1850) screws (see Figure 2). This same type of screw is found on some Sargent & Company match and dado planes and on two combination match planes that I have in my collection, one made by S. Dalpe and the other by the Sandusky Tool Company and would appear to date the plane from about the last quarter of the nineteenth century into the early-twentieth century. As far as the iron is concerned, it seems to be fairly thick for its sixe (slightly greater than an eighth of an inch) and made from a single piece of steel since no weld line is apparent. This type of iron would also seem to confirm the same period of manufacture as the wood screws since all-steel plane blades were in common use around this same time period.

The thickness of the plane iron would seem to indicate that the tool was no toy (as opposed to the block plane in Figure 1 with its paper-thin iron) and was designed for a young person to actually learn something about wood working while producing some useful wood object. In addition, it would appear that I. N. Miller took pride in the quality of the children's tools that he produced since the appearance of this plane harkens back to the days of the all wooden plane with their maker's mark prominently displayed on the toe.

Notes

1. Emil and Martyl Pollak, A Guide, to the Makers of American Wooden Planes, 4th edition, revised by Thomas L. Elliott (Mendham, N. J: The Astragal Press), 386.

Author

Patrick Kelly is an analytical chemist at the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica, New York. He has collected, used and written about wooden planes and their makers for more than twenty years.