Hand Tools doings #21: Plane refurbishing job

Nice job. From the pics, it appears that you have a type 17 Stanley (WWII era). If you haven’t yet been to Patrick’s Blood and Gore page, there’s a wealth of info there on Stanley planes & their history. I’d add a link if I knew how, but you can just google it by that name.
I started by cleaning up one, and now I own about a dozen. (I am not a collector…I am not a collector, he said over & over again as they put him in the rubber room) -SST

-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you

thats a nice find. those old planes are very nice and unlike a lot of the big box store hand tools they were made to last. I think that this one is in the right hands and once you tune it up some more and get some more work with it it will perform as good or better that any other planes that you can get out there. One of my friends has an old Stanley (not sure if its a bedrock I thought it was) Jointer Plane. and i have got to say that it is a beauty. all the parts except for the handles are cast Iron or metal. it is a beautiful plane and works great. thanks for the post.

SST is all over the differential diagnosis. (the bakelite knob is a dead giveaway for WWII era Stanleys -Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition we’ll be using that brass for other purposes!).

Patrick Leach’s Blood and Gore page lives here (right after you promise not to rip off his research to sell your plane on eBay).

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Thanks guys.

Doug – I promise!

I’ve gone to the site—- but can’t find the one you are thinking this plane is. The plane body says Bailey, the lever cap says Stanley. It is marked as a 5 1/4. I don’t see a casting date on it.

-- Like a bad penny, I keep coming back!

There’s another site that might help. Again, I’m not savvy on adding links, but the site is www.hyperkitten.com
Click on old tools and then plane type study. You can use it to type your plane.
It’s not a perfect system as there were variants and sometimes previous owners just mixed up parts, but regardless, the Stanley/Bailey planes are hard to beat. Enjoy! -SST

-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you

Betsy, nice work. I’ve got a few ebay specials that are waiting in the corner and one of mine happens to be WWII era with the bakelite knob. I learned something about the planes from that era. Although they kept the brass for bullets they didn’t skimp on the casting. Often, the shoulders of these planes are thicker than their predecessors. Thus, making them a little heavier which can help with chatter on the trickier species.

Have fun in your class at Mehler’s school! I look forward to a report. :)

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Well done. Glad to see you put it to use.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Oooh, Betsy it’s a junior jack...

Good score!

Here is the flowchart, that may make things easier to scope out (attributed to Roger K. Smith, Thom Trail and others).

Dandling that picture even managed to draw WayneC into a post. Good work. We haven’t seen enough of him around here of late.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Thanks Wayne—- glad to see on the site again!

Thanks for the website Doug—- very interesting reading. I really had no idea what I have. Now that I’ve got it sharpened up I’m sure I’ll use it more.

Thanks again.

-- Like a bad penny, I keep coming back!

Betsy,
Looks like I bought almost the same plane as you (albeight accidentally). I was bidding on a #7 and the seller was also offering a #5. I picked it up at the same time because the shipping for an additional plane was free. I’m a bit disappointed because the front knob has a crack. I was also a bit disappointed because the very confusing research I’ve done seemed to indicate the WWII planes (mine has a bakelight knob too which also was hard to tell from the photos) were the start of Stanley’s decline, but everything here seems to indicate that it should still be awfully good. I think the best evidence is the photo of the board you cleaned up. Thanks for posting this thread. Its already a help for me.