I have a Stanley #1 that I found in the food pantry of a job where I was working about 30 years ago. When I inquired about purchasing it the homeowner said “Oh, that old thing...take it.” (It took about 1/2 second to not argue the point and I’m probably going to hell for that). Anyway, I tuned it up and still use it to this day, partly for the guilty pleasure of doing so and partly because it works so well. My hands are large and they envelop it just as they do many of my block planes. Maybe one day I’ll drop it on the concrete floor and regret using it but I have a negative mindset about tools being used as display items/trophies. I find planes are quite personal and my arsenal of them is quite mongrel. I have both old and new wooden, metal, foreign and US made from many different makers. For example, one favorite is a #4 1/2C Union with a chunk knocked off the corner up by the front knob (probably from being dropped on concrete 🤦♂️). My only criteria is, do they work well, which usually translates into their being high quality from the get go. My brain resides in my hands and at the age of 73 am still at it in the shop. I often marvel at the level of personal and emotional attachment I feel towards my collection of tools many of which I’ve had since childhood.
I have a Stanley no 1. I've used it since I was a child and I believe it belonged to my grandfather. I have larger than average hands but I still use it regularly in guitar repair. I don't find it hard to adjust at all. I wrap my whole hand around it and find it perfectly comfortable and well weighted in use. Yes I use it one-handed, but I often hold the knob with my left thumb and one or two finger tips to guide it. I really can't imagine this was designed for children. Perhaps a toddler's hands would be small enough, but there's no way an 8 or 9 year old's hand would fit around the handle. Until recently I honestly had no idea of its value! Thanks for the video.
I am a history buff which made this video extra enjoyable! For some reason, it brought me back to the time that you could not convince a viewer that the wall behind you was not a picture. I think I could spend hours just taking those planes down, looking at them, and putting them back. I love old timey stuff because of the history.
I love hand planes. Hardly ever use one. I was about 4 years old when a visiting carpenter, planing the edge of a door for our landlord, handed me a fresh shaving to play with. Magic.
Been watching you for a long time now, and usually get a laugh or a small chuckle, but your lean - one leg shorter crack made me laugh quite loud, and the missus asked was I alright.......... great video James
The #1 is just so pretty. I found mine in a lot of ~6 planes I bought on eBay 20 years ago. All good planes. But the #1 was hiding in the pictures. I was so nervous bidding on the set, praying no one else would notice it. I won the set for about $100. I haven't been brave enough to use it. So it sits in a display cabinet.
I too have a Wood River #1 plane. I find when I pick it up my grip just naturally falls exactly as you show. I find it quite delightful to use - in appropriate situations!
There is a store I shop at regularly. It is an old hardware store that turned into an antique woodworking paradise. He has a #1 on the shelf that isn't technically for sale. It's in pretty much perfect shape and he wants $1400 for it, if someone actually offered him money for it. It isn't technically for sale, as I said before, but its nice to visit it occassionally. Needless to say, I have been buying planes all around that #1, because I am a practical person and I use block planes!
I have a Bedrock 602 & haven't yet found a use for it, Great Grandpa must have used it for something & being it's worth $500 it will be on display in my case forever.. The #4 Stanley IMO is the handiest plane ever devised & my largest is a Bailey #6.
You obviously take the time to write the script for your videos and it's very enjoyable, especially the interjected humor (lean - one leg shorter, made me laugh). Keep up the great work!
In 1899 the age for compulsory education in the UK was 12 years old, they left on their 13th birthday. In most states in America it was a similar age but because of the geographical size of the country it was a lot harder to enforce. Also in both countries there was a frequent mixture of school and work as well, school days were for as long as they could pay a teacher for and the same teacher often taught in more than one school. In 1900 the U.K. spent a massive £800,000 on education which equated to about 2/- (2 shilling [10p] to you younger folk) per child a year. Then if you think of the changes in diet etc in the western world, and the size of the average 13 year old at that time, far fewer fatter kids than today. I think it’s a reasonable argument that it was for children to learn on during the early days of their seven year apprenticeship rather than at school.
My boss went to an estate sale, and purchased a LOT of planes. (And, 2 truck plus LONG trailer, full of other tools.) He ended up with 97? planes. One of them was a Lie Nielson #1. He also got that exact same workbench you have. Yes, I AM going to try to get the #1. I'm saying to the boss, that he now has the 5th largest air force, in the world. Another guy suggested that we name the display case, Timber International Airport. (The company I work at, Timber Woodworking,) I ended up getting a 5.5 Bedrock, in "good" condition, and one more, just to replace the broken frog. (Fred Flintstone would be proud. Don't know about Wilma.) Yabba Dabba Do! steve
Now that I am old I am not trying to get valuables - just looking for the right (family) person to transfer them to. Already having a Wood River 5, I am damn tempted to buy that little No 1. Glad the price is high to dissuade me.
I have a feeling that they were used as sales demo pieces, and carried to hardware stores, rather than a little 608 for example. I have a sales-demo Singer sewing machine, from the 40s, new, in the box, with instructions, for both the user, and salesmen. (8 inches wide, 6" high, about 5" deep)
I read that the Stanley No. 1 was preferred by old woodworkers with arthritic fingers who couldn't grip a block plane any more. It certainly looks easier to hold, since (unlike a block plane) you don't have to have a strong grip to push it through wood.
My understanding was that the #1 was intended for use on inlays & marquetry, or other fine detail work. Jobs where you would be bringing down a high piece of inlaid detail down to match a previously flattened surface, where a larger plane would be more likely to lift or damage the inlay, or gouge the ground.
@@johnagorman I was lucky enough to find one at a tool sale a guy was running in his back yard. Paid all of $5.00 for it. It's a long bed, last year of production with blue japanning in great condition.
I would think the lack of child labor laws of the 19th century would explain the production of the no 1 and 2 hand planes. Just a thought. Great video, keep it up
Leonard Lee, the founder of Lee Valley Tools once said that the No.1 were made mostly for schools as mentioned in the video. He said that the schools rounded up all of the No. 1s to donate to war effort.
I have for a long time subscribed to that idea too. But once you hold one in your hand, it becomes a little harder to believe that even a child's fingers could use this plane comfortably. Even a five-year-old would skin his knuckles on the adjustment knob. It's that tight. The slightly larger (though still small and rare) #2 would be a better bet for that use. But again, all we have are theories.
It wasn't about the amount of material in the individual items, it was in the size of the pile of all sorts of metal that your community could collect. Literally anything with metal went into those scrap piles. I just saw one in a museum, you'd be surprised at what disappeared into those scrap drive piles! It is well known among antique collectors that many of the tools and toys of the past were lost that way.
As for using it for small jobs, and putting it in a pocket, that was what the dozens of different block planes were for. Those fit in the apron a LOT better than the #1 which is small, but awkwardly tall because of the long blade and tote. But, like I said, we only have theories, and one is as good as another.
man those are some Beauties you got there!.look at that Stanley 98!😮 that's sad if they did scrap a bunch of them I would love to have ONE..ONE of these days. ;)
I need to find a #99 to go with my #98. One was for cutting in one direction, the other was for the opposite direction. (They are side-rabbet planes) The medium sized plane in the video is actually a 4 1/4, not the standard #4 smoother. I was going to use a #4 for size comparison (since the #4 is the most common bench plane) but I couldn't resist using the much wider, and beefier looking 4 1/4 to make the #1 appear even smaller. :) That's why I also threw the #7 jointer in there- to REALLY show the size difference!
Stumpy Nubs very clever kind of like trick photography I like that idea either way I'm sure it's a little tiny thing number 99 the number of likes the video has maybe we'll get lucky and find one
Stumpy Nubs Not the #99 on it's own but the pair - www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pr-Antique-1895-No-98-99-Stanley-Woodwork-Planes-/302150639405?hash=item465994df2d:g:mikAAOSwA3dYOz3L
If you are going to use a big plane to make the #1 look small why not go the full hog and use the Stanley #8 now that is a monster :). Must confess I'm a bit of a hand plane snob and have a cabinet holding #3; 4; 41/2; 5; 51/2; 6; 7 and an 8 bench/jointer planes as well as block and other planes. Including a Russian #4 bench plane.
I've read read the theory that the no. 1 was made as a tool sample for the larger versions. This little guy is easier to ship around than a bunch of no. 7s! I don't know how much weight I put into that theory.
My grandad passed 46 years ago and he was a master carpenter he left all his tools to my father he's now 95 years young 3 years ago he left all my grandad tools to me and there is 7 number 1 stanly plains in mint condition
Stanley #1 and #2 serve the same purpose as a block plane and indeed are usually held the same way as a block plane with fingers along the plane rather than through the grip as on the larger plane. I have read that the HO Studley #1 was one of the few that was observed to be well used or worn. He made pianos and othe musical instruments. Try it in place of your block plane and for certain purposes it might well earn a place in your tool box. I have a Lie nielsen $225.00. Much more reasonable than an original.
The #2 is much too large to hold like a block plane (as the #1 can be). It's tote room is not that much smaller than the #3, and most hands will fit in it with a three fingered grip.
My dad mentioned at one point he wanted a No 1 plane. That's when looked into getting him one. Yikes. Instead, I got him the much more affordable Lie Nielsen No 1.
Interesting theories - cute little plane. Speaking of planes does anyone know what happened to The Plane Collector (Keith Bradfield)? Gone from TH-cam and ebay overnight.
@@StumpyNubs really? Hmm. I guess I remember the gothic shrine for the no.1. I bet he wouldn't make a place for it if he didn't use it. Would it have been rare in his day?
I want that millers falls! I go to a wooden boat building school in rhode island and I am the guy that is weird with all the millers falls hand planes.
The buck rogers are good looking. Very expensive though. I love millers falls planes. Everybody makes fun of me though because they think they are no name planes because they arnt stanleys
Looks like you need to revamp your hand plane shelf speaking of which, it is beginning to sag in a few places. Or you could reduce weight can carefully package up those extras and send them to me :P
are Stanley no1 planes actually that rare? my old school had a few, probably 6 or 7 at least and that was only 7 years ago some where in bad condition but some where really good might have a to go visit them
They are rare compared to the other bench planes. You can usually find a handful of them on eBay at any given time for about $1000-1500 each. Go back to your school and get them!
I have a Stanley #1 that I found in the food pantry of a job where I was working about 30 years ago. When I inquired about purchasing it the homeowner said “Oh, that old thing...take it.” (It took about 1/2 second to not argue the point and I’m probably going to hell for that). Anyway, I tuned it up and still use it to this day, partly for the guilty pleasure of doing so and partly because it works so well. My hands are large and they envelop it just as they do many of my block planes. Maybe one day I’ll drop it on the concrete floor and regret using it but I have a negative mindset about tools being used as display items/trophies.
I find planes are quite personal and my arsenal of them is quite mongrel. I have both old and new wooden, metal, foreign and US made from many different makers. For example, one favorite is a #4 1/2C Union with a chunk knocked off the corner up by the front knob (probably from being dropped on concrete 🤦♂️). My only criteria is, do they work well, which usually translates into their being high quality from the get go.
My brain resides in my hands and at the age of 73 am still at it in the shop. I often marvel at the level of personal and emotional attachment I feel towards my collection of tools many of which I’ve had since childhood.
I have a Stanley no 1. I've used it since I was a child and I believe it belonged to my grandfather. I have larger than average hands but I still use it regularly in guitar repair. I don't find it hard to adjust at all. I wrap my whole hand around it and find it perfectly comfortable and well weighted in use. Yes I use it one-handed, but I often hold the knob with my left thumb and one or two finger tips to guide it. I really can't imagine this was designed for children. Perhaps a toddler's hands would be small enough, but there's no way an 8 or 9 year old's hand would fit around the handle. Until recently I honestly had no idea of its value! Thanks for the video.
I am a history buff which made this video extra enjoyable! For some reason, it brought me back to the time that you could not convince a viewer that the wall behind you was not a picture. I think I could spend hours just taking those planes down, looking at them, and putting them back. I love old timey stuff because of the history.
I love hand planes. Hardly ever use one. I was about 4 years old when a visiting carpenter, planing the edge of a door for our landlord, handed me a fresh shaving to play with. Magic.
I just bought a no 2 and I cant stop I need to have the number 1 now to complete my collection
Been watching you for a long time now, and usually get a laugh or a small chuckle, but your lean - one leg shorter crack made me laugh quite loud, and the missus asked was I alright.......... great video James
The #1 is just so pretty. I found mine in a lot of ~6 planes I bought on eBay 20 years ago. All good planes. But the #1 was hiding in the pictures. I was so nervous bidding on the set, praying no one else would notice it. I won the set for about $100.
I haven't been brave enough to use it. So it sits in a display cabinet.
I too have a Wood River #1 plane. I find when I pick it up my grip just naturally falls exactly as you show. I find it quite delightful to use - in appropriate situations!
There is a store I shop at regularly. It is an old hardware store that turned into an antique woodworking paradise. He has a #1 on the shelf that isn't technically for sale. It's in pretty much perfect shape and he wants $1400 for it, if someone actually offered him money for it. It isn't technically for sale, as I said before, but its nice to visit it occassionally. Needless to say, I have been buying planes all around that #1, because I am a practical person and I use block planes!
Yes, I would like to have one on my shelf. 'To Look At'
I have a Bedrock 602 & haven't yet found a use for it, Great Grandpa must have used it for something & being it's worth $500 it will be on display in my case forever.. The #4 Stanley IMO is the handiest plane ever devised & my largest is a Bailey #6.
You obviously take the time to write the script for your videos and it's very enjoyable, especially the interjected humor (lean - one leg shorter, made me laugh). Keep up the great work!
I like to slip little bits of nonsense in from time to time and see who catches it. :)
I caught that at birth. Fortunately my other leg is plainly not overly longer, as 99.99% of people never notice my shortcomings.
Because the difference is only 7 millimeters. So "my other leg is plainly not overly longer", is true, albeit stretching the truth about 7mm.
I use a no1 instead of a block plane. Love it.
In 1899 the age for compulsory education in the UK was 12 years old, they left on their 13th birthday. In most states in America it was a similar age but because of the geographical size of the country it was a lot harder to enforce. Also in both countries there was a frequent mixture of school and work as well, school days were for as long as they could pay a teacher for and the same teacher often taught in more than one school. In 1900 the U.K. spent a massive £800,000 on education which equated to about 2/- (2 shilling [10p] to you younger folk) per child a year. Then if you think of the changes in diet etc in the western world, and the size of the average 13 year old at that time, far fewer fatter kids than today. I think it’s a reasonable argument that it was for children to learn on during the early days of their seven year apprenticeship rather than at school.
and not just because one leg is shorter than the other. Your delivery is so smooth that it took about 4 seconds for this to register.
The Wood River No. 1is a great ,very usable plane for medium-sized hands!!
My boss went to an estate sale, and purchased a LOT of planes.
(And, 2 truck plus LONG trailer, full of other tools.)
He ended up with 97? planes. One of them was a Lie Nielson #1.
He also got that exact same workbench you have. Yes, I AM going
to try to get the #1.
I'm saying to the boss, that he now has the 5th largest air force, in
the world. Another guy suggested that we name the display case,
Timber International Airport. (The company I work at, Timber
Woodworking,)
I ended up getting a 5.5 Bedrock, in "good" condition, and one
more, just to replace the broken frog. (Fred Flintstone would
be proud. Don't know about Wilma.) Yabba Dabba Do!
steve
Thanks James!! Really appreciate your videos!!
Now that I am old I am not trying to get valuables - just looking for the right (family) person to transfer them to. Already having a Wood River 5, I am damn tempted to buy that little No 1. Glad the price is high to dissuade me.
I have a feeling that they were used as sales demo pieces, and carried to hardware stores, rather than a little 608 for example. I have a sales-demo Singer sewing machine, from the 40s, new, in the box, with instructions, for both the user, and salesmen. (8 inches wide, 6" high, about 5" deep)
I read that the Stanley No. 1 was preferred by old woodworkers with arthritic fingers who couldn't grip a block plane any more. It certainly looks easier to hold, since (unlike a block plane) you don't have to have a strong grip to push it through wood.
My understanding was that the #1 was intended for use on inlays & marquetry, or other fine detail work. Jobs where you would be bringing down a high piece of inlaid detail down to match a previously flattened surface, where a larger plane would be more likely to lift or damage the inlay, or gouge the ground.
Great video. Would love to see you do a vid on Stanley's 212 scraper plane.
I love the juxtaposition of the number 7 onto the number 1. There seems to be a bit of a size difference
I have a beautiful number 2, its tuned and I use it from time to time works amazing I can barely hold it not sure how a number 1 would be
I would love to find a #2. It's the only one I am missing in the series.
@@johnagorman I was lucky enough to find one at a tool sale a guy was running in his back yard. Paid all of $5.00 for it. It's a long bed, last year of production with blue japanning in great condition.
i was referred to you from one of my subs... absolutely loving it man. Your relief carving video was especially helpful. Thanks :D
Glad you're on board!
I would think the lack of child labor laws of the 19th century would explain the production of the no 1 and 2 hand planes. Just a thought. Great video, keep it up
when you said it's too big for adult hands, i thought well back then children were employed by factories soo makes sense to have their own planes
I want to know all about your millers falls ❤❤❤❤
Leonard Lee, the founder of Lee Valley Tools once said that the No.1 were made mostly for schools as mentioned in the video. He said that the schools rounded up all of the No. 1s to donate to war effort.
I have for a long time subscribed to that idea too. But once you hold one in your hand, it becomes a little harder to believe that even a child's fingers could use this plane comfortably. Even a five-year-old would skin his knuckles on the adjustment knob. It's that tight. The slightly larger (though still small and rare) #2 would be a better bet for that use. But again, all we have are theories.
It wasn't about the amount of material in the individual items, it was in the size of the pile of all sorts of metal that your community could collect. Literally anything with metal went into those scrap piles. I just saw one in a museum, you'd be surprised at what disappeared into those scrap drive piles! It is well known among antique collectors that many of the tools and toys of the past were lost that way.
As for using it for small jobs, and putting it in a pocket, that was what the dozens of different block planes were for. Those fit in the apron a LOT better than the #1 which is small, but awkwardly tall because of the long blade and tote. But, like I said, we only have theories, and one is as good as another.
It was a recreation based on first hand accounts. And before you ask, no, there wasn't a Stanley #1 in it :)
Belas ferramentas.
Maravilhosas.
I think you can find a lot of these planes at the North Pole. Santa's workers I've been told have very small hands.
man those are some Beauties you got there!.look at that Stanley 98!😮 that's sad if they did scrap a bunch of them I would love to have ONE..ONE of these days. ;)
I need to find a #99 to go with my #98. One was for cutting in one direction, the other was for the opposite direction. (They are side-rabbet planes) The medium sized plane in the video is actually a 4 1/4, not the standard #4 smoother. I was going to use a #4 for size comparison (since the #4 is the most common bench plane) but I couldn't resist using the much wider, and beefier looking 4 1/4 to make the #1 appear even smaller. :) That's why I also threw the #7 jointer in there- to REALLY show the size difference!
Stumpy Nubs very clever kind of like trick photography I like that idea either way I'm sure it's a little tiny thing number 99 the number of likes the video has maybe we'll get lucky and find one
Stumpy Nubs Not the #99 on it's own but the pair - www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pr-Antique-1895-No-98-99-Stanley-Woodwork-Planes-/302150639405?hash=item465994df2d:g:mikAAOSwA3dYOz3L
If you are going to use a big plane to make the #1 look small why not go the full hog and use the Stanley #8 now that is a monster :). Must confess I'm a bit of a hand plane snob and have a cabinet holding #3; 4; 41/2; 5; 51/2; 6; 7 and an 8 bench/jointer planes as well as block and other planes. Including a Russian #4 bench plane.
I've read read the theory that the no. 1 was made as a tool sample for the larger versions. This little guy is easier to ship around than a bunch of no. 7s! I don't know how much weight I put into that theory.
I've read that they were made for travelling salesmen, as samples.
There were far too many made for it to have been for that purpose.
I've read that that was the case for some of the antique toy sewing machines too.
I would like to get one of these to teach my son how to use a plane
My grandad passed 46 years ago and he was a master carpenter he left all his tools to my father he's now 95 years young 3 years ago he left all my grandad tools to me and there is 7 number 1 stanly plains in mint condition
Trick Adee can I have one please?
If you want i can adopt one.
Lucky bugger
Stanley #1 and #2 serve the same purpose as a block plane and indeed are usually held the same way as a block plane with fingers along the plane rather than through the grip as on the larger plane. I have read that the HO Studley #1 was one of the few that was observed to be well used or worn. He made pianos and othe musical instruments. Try it in place of your block plane and for certain purposes it might well earn a place in your tool box. I have a Lie nielsen $225.00. Much more reasonable than an original.
The #2 is much too large to hold like a block plane (as the #1 can be). It's tote room is not that much smaller than the #3, and most hands will fit in it with a three fingered grip.
Whatever works best for you, isprobably what you should do.
saw a few on Ebay for 900 to 1200 dollars. i will have to get one from a long lost relative.
My dad mentioned at one point he wanted a No 1 plane. That's when looked into getting him one. Yikes. Instead, I got him the much more affordable Lie Nielsen No 1.
Interesting theories - cute little plane. Speaking of planes does anyone know what happened to The Plane Collector (Keith Bradfield)? Gone from TH-cam and ebay overnight.
I always assumed the no. 1 was favored by Piano Makers, since the Studley Toolbox had a special place for it and no other plane
There are seven planes in the Studley tool chest, and one could argue that every tool in there has it's special place :)
@@StumpyNubs really? Hmm. I guess I remember the gothic shrine for the no.1. I bet he wouldn't make a place for it if he didn't use it. Would it have been rare in his day?
I want that millers falls! I go to a wooden boat building school in rhode island and I am the guy that is weird with all the millers falls hand planes.
I have a couple. Fabulous planes.
I like the Buck Rogers style Millers Falls planes
The buck rogers are good looking. Very expensive though. I love millers falls planes. Everybody makes fun of me though because they think they are no name planes because they arnt stanleys
Those people don't know what they are talking about. Millers Falls made great planes. Their bench planes were every bit as good as Stanleys.
That is what I said! Thanks james. I have stumpy on my side! lol
One very sought after Stanley plane is the 91/2. most bamboo flyrod builders want these to make their strips to glue together to make a bamboo rod.
the 9 1/2 block plane? Those seem pretty common. I have one. They run about $50 in good condition on ebay it seems.
I use my veritas (sp) plane cant beat the quality
Great video.
Looks like you need to revamp your hand plane shelf speaking of which, it is beginning to sag in a few places. Or you could reduce weight can carefully package up those extras and send them to me :P
It's the angle of the camera that makes it look like it isn't level.
Stumpy Nubs I thought I saw bowing in areas, not tilt per say.
I found a Stanley no 1 SW for $20 😂
Ill buy it offa ya for $30
How many ended up in the World War 2 scrap metal drive?
They were for Santa's elves Stumpy! Duh!
It’s basically a block plane that looks like a bench plane
Not at all. Block planes are usually bevel up, this is bevel down. And the iron is much narrower than most block planes.
are Stanley no1 planes actually that rare?
my old school had a few, probably 6 or 7 at least
and that was only 7 years ago
some where in bad condition but some where really good
might have a to go visit them
They are rare compared to the other bench planes. You can usually find a handful of them on eBay at any given time for about $1000-1500 each. Go back to your school and get them!
Did u ever get a genuine no 1 ?
Nope
Stumpy Nubs do u want one tho ?
May be able to help but be in uk ?
@@StumpyNubs I know someone that has 1 still I’m sure he would ship it 👍🏻
@@woodturninguk6134 How much?
@@StumpyNubs do u have a contact email ? Your happy to give out on here ?
Patrick's Blood and Gore site is the bible of accurate information about Stanley planes.
Tend to lean in another direction ha ha ha .
Patrick Leach of blood n gore fame makes bedrock no1's for US$695. Stanley never made bedrock no1 considering the tooling too painful to make.
K