Skewed Rabbet Plane
Dateca.1780-1800
Maker
Arad Simons
1754 - 1836
MediumBeech, iron, and steel
DimensionsLength: 9 13/16"; thickness: 1 1/4"
Credit LineGift of Thomas Elliott
Object number2024-311
DescriptionSkewed rabbet plane with flat chamfers that end with a turn-out, and his distinctive "I. Sleeper" styled wedge.Label TextTrained as a joiner in Mansfield, Connecticut, Simons was busy enough to have taken on at least one apprentice. Perhaps also doing duty as a ship's carpenter, Simons is recorded as being a Marine in the Connecticut State Navy in February, 1777. He served aboard the 20-gun Oliver Cromwell, Captained by William Coit, may have also served as a Continental Army artificer later in the Revolution.After the war Simons moved to Lebanon, New Hampshire and continued working as joiner, carpenter, and planemaker. In the mid-1790s, he made a few clock cases for Jedediah Baldwin, then working up the Connecticut River in Hanover.Mark(s)The toe of the plane marked with ARAD:SIMONS in relief within a serrated rectangle (Elliott, AWP, p.340). Left side of body has an erased serrated rectangular mark.ProvenanceMarch 1993, purchased by Thomas Elliott (Westbrook, CT); 2024, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)
