51/36

A moulding plane, or 'plough', has curved and shaped blades to make mouldings in timber, and has been used for decorative woodwork since the Mediaeval period. Moulding planes are sometimes used together as a set to produce a particular moulding. This plane, called an 'ovolo', has a fluted blade, and is one of a set of seven which came from a master carpenter in Winchcombe. The shavings peeled from the wood are discharged from an opening at the side of the plane.

1 moulding plane; wooden [beech] and metal; fair condition: woodworm holes and chipped

Citation in publication [H. J. Massingham, 'Country Relics' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)] –' A tool yet more deeply buried in forgetfulness is the "plough", also in the Hermitage, shaped like a carpenter's plane but with a filing at the bottom for making mouldings in timber and indicating by grooves and markings on the beams where the mortising holes were to be made. This came to me, like so many other of the old implements, from [the donor], and with them the old and complete set of moulding plates which the woodworkers handled in constructing the barns, churches, halls, dovecots, manors, priories, abbeys and steadings...// With this moulding planes [the donor] repaired and refixed the oak panelling in Sudeley Castle....[page break]...His foreman...in scraping off the plaster from the chancel walls revealed the mural paintings for which Hayes is now famous...My moulding planes have not only art but history in them and to me now form another link with Gothic architecture and the Hermitage.' (p.68) [for more information see p.68] [see also 51/37, 51/38, 51/39, 51/40, 51/41, 51/42], Previous AdLib description: 'woodworking tool of 'ogee' and 'quirked bead' type'., The moulding plane/plough is shaped like a carpenter's plane. At the bottom there is a 'filing' which is used for making mouldings in timber, or for marking where holes are to be made. The curved and shaped blades, sharpened with files and whetstones, fit to the flutings on the beech wood sole of the tool. Planes like the ones in this collection were uesed in the medieval period for work such as decorative pieces in churches, abbeys, manors and barns. It was most popular in the mid nineteenth century for constructing highly decorative buildings and furniture of the Victorian era. Mass production and development in machinery has meant planes have come out of general use. There exists a great variety of size and shape in the mouldings. It is constructed of beech wood as are most planes. Sometimes planes were used as a set to produce a particular moulding., MERL list / description [Massingham Collection, October 1989] – 'ACC. NO.: 51/36 // NAME: MOULDING PLANE // NEG NO.: 35/189 // STORAGE: '

Wood, beech, Metal