Wherever you are on this spinning lump of rock we call home, I sincerely hope you had a Happy New Year and if you believe in Father Christmas (as I do) a great one of those as well!
My festive season got off to a cracking start when I spotted a Clifton No.6 plane on the Classic Hand Tools page shortly before Christmas. It appeared to be in pretty good condition and to my amazement it was still there in the New Year. I lusted after this lump of 'old skool' British cast iron all over Christmas so I girded my lions😅 and decided to take the plunge; it arrived yesterday. To say it was in good condition is a slight understatement; this plane was probably twenty years old and was in pristine condition:
On closer inspection, the sole had absolutely no wear or scratch marks:
...and the cutter had never, ever been sharped, except when I honed it yesterday evening. The original grinding marks are still evident on the back of the cutter and the ground bevel is straight from the Clifton factory in Sheffield:
You can draw you own conclusions but mine are that this plane has sat in a lovely warm workshop for the last couple of decades and has never, ever been used. There are a couple of insignificant 'dings' but essentially it's a brand new No.6 in perfect, mint condition.
It's now been racked out under the bench with all it's other playmates!
