Know anyone called Reeves?
Must be a woodworker with an initial T.
A friend of the school donated some tools to the school this weekend and amongst the tools was a steel name stamp with the stamp name T REEVES.
Craftsmen through two centuries have used personal name stamps like this to mark their tools permanently. It would be easy to lose a tool or two when half a dozen men were working on a large project.
Here is the impression made from the stamp. It’s quite crisp and precise.
In our throwaway-saw culture we lose value in the tools we use because we rarely actually earn our living with the tools. Many of the tools I use have served me for over four decades, some are as old as 45 years and many are older because I got them secondhand and they were 50 years old when I got them.
If you know someone working wood with the name T REEVES please ask him or her to contact me. I don’t want a useable name stamp in one of my drawers when it can be used by someone who owns the name.
So very thoughtful of you and Paul. Did you ever find anyone to give the stamp to?
That should read, so very thoughtful of you Paul.
No, but I look forward to the day.
Is there an inexpensive way to get a stamp like this made? I like the idea of stamping the things I make.
I recently bought some moulding planes which include the makers’ stamps “Charles & Co.”, “B Frogatt” and what appears to be “CLEGG -~THE MARKET ~~Uxbridg…W”. Given their condition, I was very surprised to find the Charles & Co is likely mid-late 19th century but far more surprised to find the Frogatt is probably mid-late 18th century!
What are your thoughts on a new user adding their name to an old tool that’s come into their possession? I wonder if it has any effect on value (although I hope to use these tools, not just collect them).
No problem updating the record with your stamp on there too. Now over-stamping is questionable though many people did do that if they worked with someone with the same name as a previous user on their plane.
Thanks Paul. Your videos and blog have opened a new world for me in my mid-fifties. In a matter of months I’ve gone from having little interest in woodwork to acquiring a handful of handtools and making my first mallet from fallen timber on my block. I posted a link to it in another comment but it seems to have got stuck in moderation 🙂