Stanley Handplane Identification
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2023
- Which vintage Stanley planes are best? Identifying Stanley hand plane types and dates, and identifying their features.
For the plane dating flowchart go to carlstammerjohn.com/2023/08/2...
For more information, visit my website at carlstammerjohn.com
Thank you! Verybwell explained.
This video is a keeper and I appreciate the inclusion of the identification sheet you linked. There is so much info you provided and really helps one on the path to what to look for. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I was given a no.8 type 11 by a neighbour. It was in great shape - but it still took a couple of days of love getting it right. Maybe I should take less tea breaks! Greetings from UK
You are very welcome. Glad to hear the information helped.
This video has been very helpful. Based on your list, I currently own a Type 18. I know it's not as valuable as the pre-war planes, but I'm just happy I get to play a minor part in this tool's life, as I know it will outlive me (hopefully in the family). Thanks for the great video!
Except for the planes made in the last 40-50 years, maybe after the late 1960's, I think any of them can be decent user planes. But like most tools, some are better than others. I'm sure your Type 18 will work well for 95% of what you need. Glad to hear the video was helpful.
Excellent discussion AND, well done! Henry
Thank you so much for taking the time to shoot this and post it. Very informative. First rate.
You’re welcome. Glad to hear it helped.
Amazingly helpful and informative video. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
This video was very helpful. I happened upon a #7 at a junk and vintage show. It happens to be a #15. It takes great shavings. Thanks again for the video.
Hi Carl, Great information on the bench planes. Nice to have the manufacturer fabrication data, to follow through. I am looking for a type 5-1/2 and then a 7 down the road. Nice editing as well.
Excellent video, very informative and well organized. Thanks !
Very helpful. Well thought out. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Thanx for the video, yes type 10 thru 12 probably the best
Good information. I have a similar, if not the same, chart hanging in my shop space. I have an inherited plane that is the 1867 age, not the best or my favorite, but it's from family. Your time estimate to restore, tune and fettle is spot on. Some take less, some take woefully longer. I've done Stanley, Miller Falls, Sargent, a Parplus (fixed frog and superlative cuts), and a "should have been tossed, Co-Mar. A few others as well, mostly the Stanley knock offs. Most are usable, a couple I hand milled the frog to workable flatness ( way too much time and effort, but a challenge I accepted) What I've figured out is, get an aftermarket iron that is heavier than the original. The one lesson that supersedes the others, save your money, buy a new, quality plane like a Woodriver (best buy for the buck). I still use my Stanley and Miller Falls planes, they do okay, the Woodriver is an absolute joy to use. It's like a Continental to a Willy's jeep. I learned a great deal in the restoration and use of the older planes, but honestly, I'm done with them. I'll sell my restored planes and buy the ductile iron, machined and matched iron and chip breaker the iron that's twice the thickness resulting in no vibration. Wood sole planes are far from dead, a quality Japanese plane rivals any steel plane. That set up is a whole new skill set.
I agree 100% with everything you said, although I have to say that tuning up and using a 100-year-old plane is a unique and satisfying experience. You probably would agree. When I was teaching, I recommended Woodriver as the best value by far. Not as good as the fit and finish of Lie-Nielsen, but the performance was nearly identical. But for those students with more time than money, it was hard to beat an old Stanley with a Hock blade. $25 for the plane (on a good day), $40 for the blade, and some elbow grease, and you're golden. As long as the grain isn't too nasty, it will work as well as any other plane. Thanks for the comment.
Thank you for these very appreciated and precise information.
Congratulations
Super interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing. I have a several LN planes and a couple of millers falls planes. The old planes work great after some work. I keep them in rotation especially for some unknowns. I recently replaced some doors. The new doors had some staples enbedded below the primed surface that weren't visible. I was putting the doors in existing casings and needed to plane them down to fit. Hitting a staple hurts but a little bit less on $40 plane. The old planes hold their own and arent afraid of a little damage
Very good information, and nicely articulated.
Wonderful lesson!
Thank you for a very informative presentation.
Wow, that was awesome, although it would have been great to find it a week ago - as I’ve just purchased my first Stanley Bench Plane (5½).
I now need to check whether it is a keeper!
But the information here, along with the detailed knowledge Carl has included, is going to make identification so much easier, thank you very much sir… 👏🏻
Glad to hear it was helpful! For some help on tuning up an old Stanley plane, see the series at carlstammerjohn.com/tag/stanley-plane-tune-up/
A very good video.
I think the frog is the critical component of these planes. The more solid (no excavations) the blade mating surface, the better the quality in my opinion.
Thanks for making this video and supplying the flow chart.
Much appreciated.
You are welcome! There's no doubt that solid support near the cutting edge is critical, although I'm not sure if the cavities on the frog higher up make much of a difference.
For those not clear what we're referring to, see the frog surface at 05:47 and 24:27.
Thanks Carl. Subscribed for more.
Thank you Carl most informative
Glad it was helpful!
Really great vid! Recently I was in sn antique shop and found a vintage #4 hand plane for only $12 in very good gondition. It has the word Eclipse stamped on top of the iron, Made in USA on the bed, stamled C72 mark as well with rosewood tote and knob. Some peole have said my plane was made durung the Great Depression by Stanley.
Sounds like a great deal! I wonder if the blade is aftermarket. A while ago I did a series of blog posts on tuning up a Stanley plane. Check them out at carlstammerjohn.com/tag/stanley-plane-tune-up/
Great info thanks
Hi Carl, Greetings from the UK, do you have any information on where Record planes fit into the story? Most of my planes are Record Bailey pattern, don’t know how old they are, only that they are copies of Stanley models. Thanks for the video, regards, Steve
I have wondered about that myself. I think you know as much about it as do I. Copies for sure, with the only real difference being the words cast into the bed.
I got to call you out Carl. You had me feeling bad since I have a complete collection of type 13 Stanley plane's , thinking mine were inferior to the 11 or 12 after watching your video . Could not confirm it till I got to my shop on Monday. Much to my pleasant surprise the 13's have the same luggs on the side of the frog to get a tight lateral fit at the base. You said it with such authority too! With alot of things these days , question authority especially in California.
Well...you're right to an extent. I didn't say the 11's and 12's were the only planes with the lugs, but I do think they were the best. With that said, I don't remember what changed after the Type 12 that made a Type 13 SLIGHTLY less desirable than an 11 or 12. Whatever it was, it's a minor detail. At some point, perhaps the Type 15, they quit machining the frog location lugs. That, I think, does make a difference. As for the questionable authority of anything coming from California, I'm certainly with you there...
@@CarlStammerjohn Thanks for your reply. I watched your video a 2nd time and recalled the ascetic taper at the end of the chip breaker, same on the 13. The only other noticeable difference on the 13 is the cap iron has Stanley cast into it and the Sweetheart logo on the iron as you mentioned. Other than that I think they are identical. Thanks again for your video. I learned a little bit more.
Type 12-15 StanleyWorks SweetHarts are the desired and that certainly aligns with users. Features and little things we perceive as premium. Getting everything of the same type is a journey. I’m just happy getting a couple of each to try. Bedrocks just looked cool but then I found they were really the extra cost versions and there are less of them because nobody had money during their release and everyone already had 50 years of planes saturating market. History is more fun when you can hold it in your hands.
@@CarlStammerjohn I have an old, slightly beaten up, Type 15 (according to your flow-chart) № 4½ from my late father, who must in turn have inherited it from his father, a joiner by trade who died in the Battle of Normandy (so the dates match).
The frog location lugs are definitely machined, although the handle is, as you mention, somewhat cracked and broken but still perfectly usable.
How useful is the flowchart for UK Stanley planes? I have seen a few attempts at linking the two. Any thoughts - could make an interesting video. Thanks for the effort you have put into this video.
I'm not sure. I've seen so few UK planes and most of those were from the 1960's or later. It would be an interesting video, but I don't have the knowledge to do it.
I have a quick question, does the front two pads on the frog touch the base of the plane? Thanks to your video I was able to identify several of my planes as pre WWII
Typically yes, assuming they are not painted. But don't get confused by the planes like the one I show at 32:15.
Great video! I just have one comment - i wouldn't call that a flow chart, but rather a decision tree 🙂
Technically yes, but if you search the web you'll find that most people call it a flow chart, and that's the title that was on it when I found it.
You must be an engineer. (Takes one to know one...) ;-)
@@CarlStammerjohn 😉
I noticed that link says popular woodworking
Was that an article?
If yes which issue is that ?
I'm not aware of an article associated with the flowchart, although it may exist. As implied at the bottom of the flowchart, the original was created a long time ago, probably in the 1990's, and has been circulating around the web since then. I think I first came across it in the early 2000's. The version on the Popular Woodworking site has some additional information at the bottom, so I linked to that. I should probably create my own version...
Thanks
Great video, very informative. I have run into laminated Stanley plane blades. Usually that means the cutting edge is much higher carbon content and takes a better edge. Anyone know if they are better than regular?
I have seen these off and on. Apparently Stanley made them up to about 1930 (per Patrick Leach via Paul Sellers). It's not clear to me if the steel was any better than in the non-laminated irons but Stanley touted their superiority for grinding/honing, presumably because you're grinding less hardened steel. I've never seen a back-to-back comparison and I've never seen anyone saying one is better than the other. On non-laminated blades you can often see where the steel changes color due to where it was quenched, but I assume the hardness at the tip is the same as on a laminated blade...
@@CarlStammerjohn I’ve read they were made in Sheffield and the steel was Swedish. They were used inconsistently until WWII forced an end. Supposedly Stanley had a backlog of them and mixed them in into the 1940s. One source said the edge was HRC68. But there is a lot of contradictory info on the net.
I came across one years back in the basement of an old house. It was marked Stanley and the lamination was clearly visible. It was impressive looking. I left it, it wasn’t my house.
I bought my Stanley no.7 for 35aud ($23.50usd ) from a local market and it was in almost mint condition just need sharping . My Stanley no.4 was from the same guy for $5aud ($3.25usd ) only need sharpening and just a little bit of rust
Great deals! Nice when you can find them.
Can we get that identification sheet . Did you make it
See the link in the description
Agree about the Type 11/12. But basically, anything from there up to and including Type 19 will be a serviceable plane. I have two Type 19's - A No. 3 and a No. 7. Both have rosewood handles, black Japanning instead of the newer paint, and are functionally identical to the pre-war tools. I think some of the later Type 19's used domestic hardwood due to import restrictions on Brazilian rosewood. Avoid Type 20 and newer. The wartime planes are interesting historically, but I generally stay away from them too.
Excellent points. I totally agree.
Back of the chip bracker is blued
Good point. I should have mentioned that, but I think it's only for the types 11 and 12, or others near that vintage.
Not sure that the second #7 is as early as a Type 15. Apparently, most of the Typing analysis is far less accurate for any planes other than #4’s.
I'm sure you are correct, and I think I've heard that before. When I was teaching, many students brought in planes that were difficult to ID, with conflicting details, etc.
You are assuming that all the parts are original with that body. You can have Franken-planes that have parts that may be from different bodies. You are looking at the planes from a collector's point of view where older and rarer are more valuable and not necessarily from the point of view of a user. You are assuming that later planes are not as good, but they could have improvements such as the lager adjustment wheel.
Correct, I am assuming the parts are original with the body. In doing so I point out what makes the various features important to a user. Whether or not those features are old or rare is of no consequence.
In my experience, the majority of old planes, maybe 80%, have all their original parts. When they don't, the replaced parts are typically blades or lever caps, which have little if any effect on the performance.
And yes, I think later planes are not as good. After about 1924, nicer features were watered down or eliminated. Fortunately, at least in the Los Angeles area, that doesn't make the earlier planes more valuable. Most prices are based on condition and cleanliness. A dirty Type 12 with surface rust sells for much less than a cleaned up Type 17. The rareness or collectibility is a non-issue. Perhaps that is different in other parts of the country.
When I first started years ago I made a huge mistake and bought a Stanley handyman #4. Do not do this lol