My wood plane collection includes 22 infill planes of various shapes, sizes and makers. One that I especially like is my Spiers No.3 Steel Rabbet Plane.
Stewart Spiers was the founder of the firm and was considered to be the inventor and original maker of steel dovetailed planes. He operated from Ayr in Scotland and his planes were considered a premier product.
It would seem that the ‘No.3’ designation relates to the type of plane and within this designation there were at least 9 different sizes. These ranged from 5 in. long x 1/2 in. wide through to 9 in. x 1 3/4 in. – with mine being toward the larger end at 9 in. long x 1 1/8 in. wide.
These planes consist of a steel body with the sole dovetailed to the sides. Filling the inside of the plane is rosewood, with the wedge also being rosewood.
These planes were made from the 1850’s through to probably around 1938, I suspect mine was from toward the end of that period but I have not found any information that allows me to date it with any certainty.
Below is a screenshot from the Spiers Handplanes website which shows catalogue prices from 1850, 1909 & 1930.
To put the price into perspective – a skilled carpenter in England in 1930 would have earned from 3-5 pounds per week, with a plane such as mine costing around 1 1/2 pound (so up to around 1/2 the carpenters salary)