Edward Preston & Sons

By the end of the nineteenth century, the firm of Edward Preston & Sons, said to have been founded in 1825, had become one of England's leading makers of hand tools and in many ways "a British counterpart to America’s Stanley" for its wide range of quality utilitarian tools at affordable prices.^[1]

History

It seems that Edward Preston Sr. (1805–1883) was first listed as a plane maker at 77 Lichfield Street in the Birmingham Directory of 1833, but an entry in a later edition of the directory asserts that the business was started in 1825. Preston is likewise recorded as a plane maker living with his family in Lichfield Street in the 1841 census, at which time his younger son Edward was 6 years old.^[2] Around 1850, his son Edward left school to join his father's business and is recorded in the 1851 census as a plane maker at his father's address.^[3] He appears to have been quite a talented and resourceful young man, as he had later been able to start up his own "wood and brass spirit level manufactory" at 97½ Lichfield Street by 1864.

By 1866, Edward Jr. had added planes, routers, joiners, coach, gun, cabinet and carpenters tools to his line, and the following year he moved his shop from his father's address and relocated to 26 Newton Street, before moving again to much larger premises at 22–24 Whittall Street. This location became known as the Whittall Works and later was the office and factory of Edward Preston & Sons, Ltd.

In 1889 Edward Preston's three sons were brought into the firm and the name was changed to Edward Preston & Sons. Part of the firm's output was a healthy line of malleable and gunmetal planes and patent adjustable iron smoothers, shoulder planes, bullnose and block planes - a range that was expanded in later years. The 1901 catalogue shows several styles of planes which were unique to the Preston brand, along with the usual styles which had already been set by other makers such as Spiers and Norris.

Edward Preston & Sons were forced to liquidate in 1934, due mainly to the Great Depression and mismanagement of the company. The plane-making concern was sold to the Sheffield firm of C. & J. Hampton, who had subsequently merged in 1932 with Record Ridgeway Ltd. During this time some of the Preston planes were directly added to the Record line by the Hampton firm, while others were modified or discontinued altogether.

Edward Preston manufactured tools at The New Works, Cheston Road in Birmingham, England and elsewhere from 1825 to 1932. Edward Preston made woodworking tools, mainly in beech wood and metal, and later manufactured cast-steel tools. The tools are elegant, ergonomic and utilitarian in design; some designs persist to this day in copies by other manufacturers.

The Preston 1909 Tool Catalogue, which contains images of every model then sold, has been reprinted.

Generally all Preston wood planes are clearly stamped on the front of the plane, the shape, size and character type of the stamp indicating the age of the plane. On some metal planes all the component parts were stamped with a number or symbol during manufacture. This number was used to re-assemble the parts following a batch process.

Not all Preston tools are trade marked clearly. Early shoulder, rebate, chariot planes and chamfer rebates commonly appear without trade marks, but may have assembly numbers.

The trade mark Preston also appears on some later tools that were manufactured in Sheffield, England. These are generally smoothing planes and appear modern and very similar in construction to other modern manufacturers' planes.

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