Here I saw the uniting of a small pocket of old Sheffields industrial past with the sophisticated computer - aided present. In addition to planes, Clico makes a variety of traditional hand tools and router bits, augers, and hollow mortise chisels, as well as specialized tooling for the aerospace industry. I dont want you to get the idea that Clico is a huge organization. Its not. This company is as far from the industrialized giants of Record and Stanley as you can get —intentionally so. Clifton planes are made using small batch production methods, with each engineering craftsman knowing all the various procedures for making the planes all the way through the different stages to final completion. It is in this hybridizing of the old and new that I discovered how Clifton planes achieved their present - day standards. The company began when Alan Reid, who originally worked for Record Tools, left the company and bought a division of Record Tools that they were selling off. For most of us, Stanley and Record are two of the best - known Western - style hand plane manufacturers, but any tool buff will tell you that Preston Tools of Sheffield produced some of the finest woodworking hand tools in the history of traditional toolmaking —particularly shoulder and bullnose planes, but many others too.