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Norris Planes

A rare Norris No.6G, or homebrew?

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This plane turned up in a recent job lot I bought. I assumed it to be a very nice No.6 plane from Norris with considerable weight to it. However, the jury is still out, as I’m having trouble locating reference for one that has exactly the same characteristics, especially with a gunmetal body?

** First Update** My first thought before I checked out pics of a No.6 was that it was a No.17, but a very knowledgeable dealer tells me the no.17 was always coffin-sided. Can anyone help me out with confirming the i.d of this plane please? It has a regular Norris stamp on the gunmetal lever cap.

**Second Update** This may even be a plane made by the previous owner, whom I have found out used to be a toolmaker. Could it be that he has created such a wonderful plane and added the Norris cap? The build quality is absolutely amazing and the woodwork French polished. After consulting several very well-known dealers, two have said it’s probably made by Norris as a ‘special’ and one thinks the owner made it himself.
The lack of a screw under the handle makes me wonder, but also the edges to the metalwork are just so crisp. It doesn’t ‘feel’ like a Norris in the hand, it feels better, to be honest!

One reply on “A rare Norris No.6G, or homebrew?”

Hello,

The infill is absolutely Norris, without doubt!! I have had this design of rosewood infill through my hands many times (unfortunately not the brass casting). It has the strengthening strip on the inside of the tote (second type of this design) the first design had no strip, it is the most comfortable and well balanced of all the Norris tote designs, before the adjuster which of course required more room from the iron to the adjuster then hand … no where near as well balanced but that that had to be done to fit the adjuster etc. the curved face of the bun is another Norris feature, also sometimes there is no screw up from the bottom of the tote, I have a small sized #15 the tote is set close to the end of the rear body and hence … no screw. At the moment I am not 100% sure I have not seen this design before, I have seen a 3G (open tote) many years ago. If I was asked how sure I was that this is 100% all Norris I would say I am 100% sure!!

Regards, Paul.

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