Stanley 5 Irwin Plane 2In 1 12 005

Product Information

I own the WoodRiver No. 4-1/2 smoothing plane, and it works exceptionally well once it’s sharpened. Don’t expect any tool maker to deliver a handplane that is perfectly sharpened and honed to an acceptable level. Not even Lie-Nielsen. Stanley Type 7 (Stanley no 7 plane identification) Handplanes date from 893-1899. The number designation is spaced farther apart. Bailey’s name and patent dates are no longer on the brass adjustment nut and cap iron. I started a document on one of my computers for notes I keep on plane information. My issue is I have several work laptops, a few personal laptops and travel a lot so keeping the notes in one place is a challenge. I figured this way, I could get to them from anywhere, including my phone when looking at buying a plane, and maybe others would find the information useful as well. I’ll try to break up the information into logical units as separate blogs in this series. Stanley Type 15 Handplanes date 1931-1932. They remove all patent info on the bottom casting. “BAILEY” is now cast behind the knob toward the rib, and the number is directly in front of the knob.

If the word STANLEY is on the lateral adjustment lever in a vertical script, the plane Type is 19 and dated between 1949 and 1961.

1. Buying Bench Planes

Stanley Type 14 Handplanes date 1929-1930. It is from the USA and is now cast into the bed at the toe. A raised ring is cast into the bed to act as a receiver for the knob, and it prevents the splitting of the knob. The chances of splitting are high due to the raised ring and greater leverage capable of being placed on them than on the low knobs. Stanley Type 12 Handplanes date 1919-1924. The knob is taller than the previous style. The taller knob is called a “high knob.” The brass depth adjustment nut is measured at 1.25″ in diameter, which is larger than the previous one. There are logo changes. T5 Side Handle 1/4” 20 tpi BSW For later models. Earlier models are supposed to be 7/32” 20tpi Whitworth

Look for the depth-adjustment nut, and you should be able to tell if it has a diagonal knurling pattern on the outside or not. If it has, the plane is Type 18 and dates between 1946 and 1947. But you can also buy a second iron and sharpen it at around 35 degrees, and it’ll give you an effective planing angle of around 45 degrees, which is the same as a traditional bench plane. This is great for general purpose handplaning. And if you planned on handplaning figured wood, you could buy a third iron and sharpen it at around 50 degrees, which would give you an effective high angle of around 62 degrees. The lateral adjustment lever is now two-piece construction. It has a circular disk replacing the straight portion where it engages the slot in the iron. The brass adjusting nut has a left-hand thread. “7-24-88” is also stamped into the lever. And in my opinion they aren’t as time consuming to rehab as metal planes; although I do occasionally run into puzzling problems that I need to solve with them. But usually adjusting the shape of the wedge and inlaying a tighter mouth is the most common improvement that people make on these hand planes.Stanley Type 9 Handplanes date from 1902-1907. No patent date on the lateral lever. “B” casting marks are eliminated. The number designation is now cast just behind the knob. A smaller bearing surface is cast into the bed. The frog has a slot at its bottom to fit over the ribbed cast in the bed. I personally found the 7 to be quite useful when I find I need it, which isn’t often, but when I do, I like having it. It’s a quite old Ohio Tools plane, might be pre-1900 even, brought home to Finland by someone returning from the US. The rod diameter is 7/32 with a 20 tpi thread. A 1/4” rod diameter is usually associated with 20 tpi (1/4-20) and a 7/32 rod. I do not know if I will acquire more planes after this, I have one of each and I don’t know if I would be served by acquiring more. I have as much as I use and don’t like collecting. Lie-Nielsen also sells exceptional smoothing planes, also in the No. 4 size (pictured above) and the No. 4-1/2 size. And while their smoothing planes have a bit more attention to manufacturing detail, in my side-by-side test of a brand new Lie-Nielsen smoothing plane with a brand new WoodRiver smoothing plane I didn’t find the Lie-Nielsen smoothing plane to give superior results on the wood. Neither brand gave great results right out of the box, but after I honed the two planes’ irons at the same time, I did a side-by-side comparison and found them to both cut nice shavings and leave a very smooth surface. The Lie-Nielsen planes seem to have a smoother depth adjuster wheel.

But to be honest, I’ve found that a Bailey-style smoothing plane works very well, without chatter if it’s highly-tuned and oiled or waxed. Here are some links to the planes I’ve talked about:Like many a passionate woodworker, I have for years been inflicted with a sentimental love for the Stanley Bailey hand planes. As a result, I own a few and these good old Leonard Bailey designs are the seed of many hand plane designs today. So many manufacturers have based their own designs on the Bailey hand plane. Sadly some manufacturers have plagiarized the Leonard Bailey patents and with varying degrees of success. For this, you may need a Stanley wood plane parts diagram and a tape measure. As for the records, Stanley made tools starting in 1843, including a bench plane. When Record went into plane production in the early 1930s they copied Stanley planes of the period, right down to the threads. Stanley Type 5 Handplanes dates 1885-1888. It has two patent dates, “2-8-76” and “10-21-84”, stamped with the word “STANLEY.” It has the same trademark stamped into the iron, except that “STANLEY” is in a straight line, in large letters. The lateral lever is one-piece construction and engages the slot straight across the iron. The frog top is no longer rounded but flattened into an arch shape. The rest of the logo is in small letters. And if that isn’t enough you can lastly buy a toothed iron dedicated for scrubbing. These toothed irons are especially designed for flattening difficult, figured wood.

Again, a smoothing plane is a shorter handplane that’s tuned up go give the best finish possible on a board; a finish that is usually superior to what sandpaper will give you. The short hand plane length allows you to work the plane into smaller areas with reversing grain. For woodworkers that don’t have a large tool budget, I have a couple recommendations. Overall Stanley Plane Sizes (measured off my set. Slight differences may occur according to type, the sizes changed from time to time) I have also found I never really touch the frog on my smoother planes, I always set it as open as i can get it, as close as I have the chip breaker set, it won’t work otherwise and clogs up the mouth. With the 5 and 7 it’s another matter. If you do buy a 9" plane, it's seriously worth considering a low-angle plane (lower bedding angle, higher angle on the blade). Among other things, that gives you a wider range available if you need to grind blades to other angles when handling special cases. These do tend to be a bit more expensive, though, largely because this design is mostly offered by the higher-end manufacturers. With regard to longer planes, these planes have a place in the workshop of any enthusiast. In fact, this week I have been prototyping a new bar stool design which will be made from hardwood for a book I am working on. The No 6 plane was the plane I used mostly because I needed elements to be trued as perfectly as possible. I use my components from the prototypes I make as reference pieces to develop the pieces for actual production whether this is for single production or batch production by machine methods.I had a question about weights of different type planes, so I weighed a few I had. I thought it would be interesting. Here is what I found. The are all Bailey #4’s of different vintages. I wouldn’t recommend buying the more modern Record No. 7 jointer planes. I’ve got one of them, and the quality just isn’t as great as vintage Record No. 7 jointer planes. The iron doesn’t sharpen well, the edges of the plane body are sharp, and the parts are pretty cheaply made. Is there any other physical difference that makes a No.4 more useful for smoothing, other than it's smaller size and weight making it easier to handle? So, on the one hand, no we don’t need longer planes for our general needs, but I do own every plane in the bench plane category and those by different makers like Stanley and Record. Because at the Castle workshop I don’t use machines normally associated with the conversion process, I tend to use longer planes. Mostly I can rely on my No5 and No 5 1/2. I can do everything with a No4, but sometimes I like the extra length and the extra weight too. As you measure the depth-adjustment nut, note if it is 1-1/4inch in diameter. That means it has three dates cast into the bed, and the plane is Type 12, dating between 1919 and 1924. If not, that means it is a Type 11 and dates 1910 and 1918.