SPIERS INFILL SMOOTHER
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS
ROBIN GATESWhen this centenarian smoothing
plane left Stewart Spiers’ small
premises in River Terrace, Ayr, it was
the embodiment of excellence – and
it remains so today. Notwithstanding
the many developments in metallurgy,
design and manufacturing of the
intervening years, when a vintage
infill smoother is well fettled it’ll
out-perform the best of today’s
mass-produced tools. Spiers was a
time-served cabinet maker before he
started making planes; evidently he
well knew what craftsmen required.
By today’s standards an inordinate
amount of hand work went into
making this type of plane. The body
was formed of three steel plates
joined by dovetails which skilled
finishing with ball pein hammer and
file made almost invisible to the
naked eye. Exotic hardwood infills
were ‘overstuffed’, that is fitted to lie
flush with the metal sides. This
example has Brazilian rosewood while
others used ebony or mahogany,
dense woods adding to the mass and
momentum needed for working thehighly figured timbers used in fitting
out. Infills were fastened by through-
pins hammered over and filed to lie
perfectly flush. The heavy cast steel
blade, a meaty three-sixteenths of an
inch thick, was clamped hard against
the bed by a massive gunmetal lever
with shapely Saracen’s head screw
eliminating all vibration. The blade
was simply set by light blows of a
hammer, eye and feel.
Every apprentice passionate about
their craft aspired to own an infill
smoother but few would do so before
the seven year apprenticeship was up.
In 1914 when a ship joiner favourably
employed as a time-worker was paid
40 shillings a week, a plane of thisquality cost 21 shillings. By contrast a
good quality all-wooden smoother
could be had for four shillings. Then
as now it was a craftsman’s rule of
thumb to buy the best tools he could
afford. With that in mind, imagine the
owner’s feelings when – as seems
likely – this plane fell to the floor and
its most alluring feature, that graceful
rear handle with extravagant
rearward-pointing spur, snapped off.
But our hero wasn’t to be
defeated. By ingenious use of inlaid
brass plates, applied with screws like
graving pieces on each side of the
handle, he executed a repair that was
both elegant and solid, returning his
valued plane to service.Clockwise from
above: An
apprentice’s
dream circa 1914;
the brass plate
repair to the
graceful handle;
rosewood
infills are fitted
flush with the
steel bodyTraditional Tool