Blanchard Of Paris Plough Gauge: Advice Needed

[Medi1979]

Hi all,

I've been in the background reading up on this site for the last few months, so please allow me to say a big thanks to you all for the great tips and advice that's freely available here.

I'd appreciate some advice from those of you who know a little about plough guages. I've recently purchased an old 'Blanchard of Paris' plough gauge on eBay (pictured below with blank blade). This was basically an 'upgrade' from a strap cutter and my first gauge. The seller noted on the listing that there was a replacement blade rather than the original. When I received the item, I realized that the blade was totally wrong for the guide. Basically, it was an entirely plain blade which had been wedged between the screw fitting which was very insecurely attached.

I sent the item back to the seller who told me that he could probably source a better blade. Yesterday he sent me some pictures of the new blade (attached below with the slotted blade). From the look of it, I'm pretty sure this blade won't be suitable either.

So, having almost zero knowledge of plough gauges, I'd appreciate any advice before I give up the ghost and request a refund from the seller. My questions are: Has anyone come across this particular style of Blanchard gauge? Is it a 'standard' fitting blade? Any suggestions for a fix?

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Medi1979

[bruce johnson]

He is trying to use a Dixon type blade with one slot in a Blanchard which likely uses a 2 slot blade. Most of the Blanchard frames I get have a screw on the back edge of the blade slot that catches the rear slot on the blade. The front slot catches a little nib further forward in the slot.

Interesting plough gauge. Besides being very pretty, it looks to only be marked in inches. Most I get are marked in centimeters with the occasional one dual marked in cm and inches. If you run into a snag and just can't get a Blanchard blade, I have a drawer of them here.

[Medi1979]

He is trying to use a Dixon type blade with one slot in a Blanchard which likely uses a 2 slot blade. Most of the Blanchard frames I get have a screw on the back edge of the blade slot that catches the rear slot on the blade. The front slot catches a little nib further forward in the slot.

Interesting plough gauge. Besides being very pretty, it looks to only be marked in inches. Most I get are marked in centimeters with the occasional one dual marked in cm and inches. If you run into a snag and just can't get a Blanchard blade, I have a drawer of them here.

Hi Bruce, thanks for the response. A double slot blade makes sense! I'll send you a pm about those blades. Cheers.

[Macca]

I'd be getting a refund on that one.

The blade is wrong (which you now know)

The scale has been chopped off at some point (should be 6 inch minimum with the Blanchard logo on the end), you can see it had been chopped off after 4 and a bit inches

Finally, the sliding guide rail is a replacement, not a Blanchard either.

I've got a load of French plough gauges & none of them look like that.

If you don't mind me asking, how much was it ?

[Medi1979]

I'd be getting a refund on that one.

The blade is wrong (which you now know)

The scale has been chopped off at some point (should be 6 inch minimum with the Blanchard logo on the end), you can see it had been chopped off after 4 and a bit inches

Finally, the sliding guide rail is a replacement, not a Blanchard either.

I've got a load of French plough gauges & none of them look like that.

If you don't mind me asking, how much was it ?

Huh, that doesn't sound good :/

I paid £155 as a winning bid on eBay.

[Sona]

So well, I just made some pictures for comparison, so you could see some differences.
Actually it is old, and it looks like it´s old ^^.

Here you can see what Macca says about the length, about the marks (exspecially on the scale and the blade!) and the sliding guide rail... (even though, the one you got is much more on the "bling-bling" side of life than mine *laugh*)

The funny thing about mine is, that I bought, but never used it, because I don´t have enough room to lay out the hides completely.....;(

Edited July 26, 2014 by Sona

[Studio-N]

I've got a Dixon and love it. thanks for the education on the Blanchard.

[Macca]

Heres a pic of some I bought a while back. Ignore top left & centre top in this picture, the rest are blanchard or mayer flamery (same pattern as the blanchards, interchangeable parts) you can see the variety they did over the years.

pic below shows what the blade should look like, as Bruce mentions, they have 2 slots

[Hi Im Joe]

Heres a pic of some I bought a while back. Ignore top left & centre top in this picture, the rest are blanchard or mayer flamery (same pattern as the blanchards, interchangeable parts) you can see the variety they did over the years.

pic below shows what the blade should look like, as Bruce mentions, they have 2 slots

Jesus man. You have so many nice tools. I am green with envy. Feel free to send me any "extras" you don't "need" anymore! LOL.

[Macca]

Jesus man. You have so many nice tools. I am green with envy. Feel free to send me any "extras" you don't "need" anymore! LOL.

haha !

Once I get my new house sorted I'll see whats available

Better not show you my splitter collection

[Hi Im Joe]

haha !

Once I get my new house sorted I'll see whats available

Better not show you my splitter collection

Please don't. I won't be green with envy...I'll die with envy.

[Medi1979]

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone's contribution on this thread; it's been a real learning experience. Amazing to see the collection of tools some of y'all have!

As an update, I ended up having a telephone conversation with the seller and ultimately it was decided that a refund would be the best way forward. The seller seemed like a genuinely nice bloke and, without prompting on my part, very kindly refunded the postage costs too. I'm not an expert on these tools, but I'm still feeling a pang of regret at letting this one go since it was such a beautiful thing. But ultimately, I need something that I can work with.

Now I've gotta decide whether I should invest in another plough gauge or just stick with my strap cutter...

Cheers all.

[ClaireAshton]

Lovely to see all these old tools. But just a thought when I read ".......you can see the variety they did over the years." I thought that variety, constant changing and fiddling, 'upgrades' really means that the basic design is flawed. Now compare that with some tools that have stayed the same over all the years. Having said that, 'Leather' tools in general have probably stayed essentially unchanged for a couple of hundred years. I visited the Walsall Leather Museum and nearly everything on display was just a dusty version of all my tools. No wonder the reselling value (Ebay etc.) of some tools is so high.

Claire

[Macca]

wouldn't say the design was flawed, the real old ones were made by an individual by hand, all the pieces were made for a single gauge (hence why they have numbers stamped on every piece, they were all slightly different)

then they changed design slightly to be made by machine

then materials changed during the war

Finally, real cost cutting takes place & the brass content is lowered which required a change in the guide rail & clamp parts.

Interestingly though, the blades fit all of them, they never changed that layout.

BTW, dixons did at least 3 different versions of their gauge, even though they were much simpler/rougher/cheaper than the french ones, they still found things to change

[Oldtoolsniper]

Changing things over the years is quite common. One example that comes to mind is Stanley wood planes, during WWII they stopped using brass because it was needed to make shell casings. They switched over to a black Bakelite type of stuff and after the war went back to brass. The parts interchange but they also give you a history lesson if one takes the time to learn it. There are I believe 19 variations through the years on the common number 5 plane.

A problem you run into is they turned thier own threads on everything. You can't get placement parts at Home Depot, the thread pitch will be wrong and forcing it will put that tool in the scrap yard. That being said when you see a stanley plane with a bright shinny new screw in it your best option is to leave it where you see it.

I enjoy old tools and working on them, they were meant to be used and I use them. I learned to sharpen tools and that's why I'm leaning leather work. My friends have not learned that if I own it and it is supposed to be sharp, it's sharp. Putting the sharp pointy things in leather sheaths keeps the rust off my tools, apparently blood has a high salt content in it.

There is a huge difference in quality between the old stuff and the new stuff. Rust is really rust, it's not patina dispite what the EBay ad says.

[srajek]

Hello everyone, 

I‘m aware this is a very old thread, so sorry if I bring this back up, but I was thinking, maybe someone could be of help. 

I‘ve stumbled over this during a research on google. 

I have an old Blade (already took me some time to find out it‘s part of a plough gauge), with 2 slots. 

Only mark on it is a horse on the blade. 

It‘s been in our family for decades, but I finally wanted to sell it and tried to do some research. 

Can anyone help me on infos regarding manufacturer, brand, age and maybe value as a single blade? 

It doesn‘t seem to work to attach a picture here, so here‘s a link to the picture on my Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/163TIVAqIHAPPIw8sWw1BMjggfyd_6q4-/view?usp=drivesdk

Thanks in advance for any help or advice. 

 

Steve