Ancient yews

When we think of old trees, we often think of the towering redwoods of the west coast of North America. We don’t often think of small trees as being old. When we went to Scotland a couple of summers ago we visited the Fortingall Yew, which is an ancient European yew in the church yard of the village of Fortingall (Perthshire). It is one of the oldest trees in Europe, and arguably the oldest identified tree in Britain.

It is somewhere between 2000-3000 years old, and although now a series of small trees, it once had a girth of 52 feet. This was recorded by Daines Barrington in 1769.

I measured the circumference of this yew twice, and therefore cannot be mistaken, when I inform you that it amounted to fifty-two feet. Nothing scarcely now remains but the outward bark, which hath been separated by the centre of the tree’s decaying within these twenty years. What still appears, however, is thirty-four feet in circumference.

Daines Barrinton, “A Letter to Dr.William Watson, F.R.S. from the Hon. Daines Barrington, F.R,S. on the Frees which are supposed to be indigenous in Great Britain” Philosophical Transactions, The Royal Society Transactions,, 59 (1769).

Over time the heartwood had been lost (natural decay caused the centre of the tree to rot to ground level by 1770. It was also seen in the same year by Thomas Pennant the traveller on his first tour of Scotland, published in 1771 as A Tour in Scotland. He notes the tree measured 56½ feet in circumference. Hardly a shadow of former self now… but how often do you see a living entity that is thousands of yeas old?

The Mayo block plane

This is an interesting little block plane that seems quite rare. The M.C. Mayo tool company was a manufacturing company in Boston, Massachusetts, established by Matthias C. Mayo. The company is predominantly known for its Mayo’s Patent Plow Plane (Patent No.167,772), released in 1875, which was a curvaceous plow plane painted with gold and embellished with Brazilian rosewood. Mayo seemed to be a little egocentric, casting the side of the plane with the phrase “The Boss Plane”, and casting “M”, “A”, “Y”, and “O” atop each of the thumbscrews, one letter per thumbscrew.

The long version of the block plane

There is little written about the block plane. From limited literature, it seems that it is the only plane manufactured apart from the plow, built from 1875-1879. It is a non-adjustable, low-angle, iron block plane, approximately 7¾” in length with a width of 2″. It is a very curvy plane, as both front and rear ends of the plane have rounded corners, and the lever cap is humped (I imagine to provide support for the palm of the users hand). There is a finger depression at the front of the plane, and a decorative, scalloped edge separating the front of the plane from its throat.

The most unique features of this block plane are the integral lever cap, held in place by a rod (which interleaves through the lever cap), the “M” on the brass lever cap screw, and the very fine ridges running lengthwise on the sole. There is no patent related to this plane, and to my knowledge, Mayo only every received the single patent for the plow plane.

The squatier version of the block plane

What’s more interesting is that a little searching reveals a second, shorter version of this plane. The nose of the plane has been reduced in size, and the scalloped edge replaced by a much simpler curve.