UP FOR GRABS IS A LEONARD BAILEY 14 5/8" SPLIT FRAME JACK PLANE. WHEN I GOT THIS SOME TIME AGO I ASKED PAUL VAN PERNIS ABOUT THIS PLANE AS IT DIDN'T MATCH ANY SPLIT FRAMES IN HIS BOOK OR PTAMPIA. HE EXPLAINED THAT NO TWO SPLIT FRAMES WERE EVER EXACTLY ALIKE AS BAILEY WAS ALWAYS EXPERIMENTING. THE FRONT AND BACK SQUARE ENDS MATCH SOME OF THE PICS IN THE BOOK SO IT COULD BE ORIGINAL, DOESN'T LOOK ALTERED. SPRING & WASHER ARE ORIGINAL & STAMPED " 14 " ON THE WASHER. TURN SCREW LOOKS ORIGINAL. FRONT KNOB LOOKS TO BE A REPLACEMENT BUT DID NOT TAKE IT APART. REAR HANDLE LOOKS ORIGINAL, MAYBE REFINISHED ?. BRASS LEVER CAP & SCREW, DON'T KNOW, MAYBE THIS WAS ONE OF HIS EXPERIMENTS OR A PROTOTYPE. BLADE IS A REPLACEMENT BUT YOU CAN GET A MOULSON BLADE WHICH IS WHAT THEY WERE FITTED WITH ORIGINALLY. I HAVE NOT DONE ANY RESEARCH ON THIS PARTICULAR PLANE SO I'LL LEAVE THAT UP TO YOU BAILEY EXPERTS. MOUTH HAS NO CHIPS, BODY IS FINE WITH NO CRACKS VISIBLE & SOME SPOTS OF MILD PITTING. OVERALL A VERY NICE EXAMPLE AND QUITE POSSIBLY ONE OF A KIND.
AS A SIDE NOTE, I RAN INTO PAUL VEN PERNIS AT BROWNS AUCTION LAST MONTH & HE LOOKED AT THIS PLANE ON MY WEBSITE AND HE TOLD ME THAT THERE WERE ENGLISH MADE VERSIONS, LOOK AT THE LAST PICTURE FOR COMPARISONS. THEY ARE ALSO RARE & EXTREMELY HARD TO FIND.
