# Stanley Bailey #3 strange lever cap design



## SurfHunter (Oct 17, 2011)

Hello,
did a small roof repair and was paid in Hand planes !!!! Seriously…

On one of the 13 baileys I picked up today , one of them stuck out to me.. It was the #3.

I noticed that the Lever cap has "Striated" pattern to it, I've never seen that before, thought it was pretty cool looking. Looks factory, just because of how its well placed.

Has anyone fabricated, etched, or engraved any of yours?


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## albachippie (Feb 2, 2010)

Fairly standard Stanley design. Surprised the other 12 don't have it!! It aids the seating of the chip breaker and iron. It also stops the blade creeping or loosening when adjusting the lateral angle of the plane iron










Quite a good design which I am sure Stanley must have patented. Haven't seen it on any other planes I don't think.


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## dhazelton (Feb 11, 2012)

The O.P. is talking about the finish in the metal. I've never seen it either. Was it not polished at the factory, and did they even polish them? Was there a run of painted units with that finish under the paint?


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Those used to be nickle plated. Maybe someone had sanded of a flaking finish back to bare metal, with a beltsander.


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## albachippie (Feb 2, 2010)

> The O.P. is talking about the finish in the metal. I ve never seen it either. Was it not polished at the factory, and did they even polish them? Was there a run of painted units with that finish under the paint?
> 
> - dhazelton


My Mistake… Note to self… "Must Pay More Attention"


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## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

I tend to agree with bandit. Somebody took the finish off in a really rough way.


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## onoitsmatt (Mar 7, 2015)

I recently sold a Stanley 51 spokeshave on eBay with that exact pattern on the cap.


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## Johnny7 (Jun 1, 2015)

That finish is almost exclusively found on war era planes

Does the plane in question have any of the hallmarks of that era-rubber adjusting wheel, stained hardwood knobs, especially thick sidewalls?

Better yet do you have a 3-digit number stamped on the iron by any chance?


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## SurfHunter (Oct 17, 2011)

I was thinking same thing, as far as someone possibly sanding down like that, if so, they did a good job, because it shows around the hinge as well. 
I just thought it was different.

Matt, glad to see someone else with same pattern, yours appears smooth, mine is textured, Thanks for your posts and everyone's replies.


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## Johnny7 (Jun 1, 2015)

*Surf*

So, what is the answer to the Qs I posted?


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## SurfHunter (Oct 17, 2011)

Sorry Johnny,

I posted quickly, as I was running out the door. Yes the Iron has the numbers 341 stamped into it,
and although it doesn't have the plastic knob, its not brass either.


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## SurfHunter (Oct 17, 2011)

I see where they say the war plane lever caps where coarsely made

Type 17. Planes made by Stanley 1942-1945.

All of the features of the previous, except:
These are the war production planes, and all bets about what is and isn't proper on these examples, and those made in the years immediately following, are off. This is an area where the type study is very weak, in my opinion. But it's understandable since there are so many configurations of these planes. My observations tell me that any combination of the following features is possible for these planes. And, to make matters worse, some of the examples have the standard features (rosewood, brass) of the previous type in conjunction with some of the features of this type. This all is likely explained by the fact that Stanley was using stock on-hand, where parts made prior to the war were simply being used.
Handle and knob are hardwood stained red or painted black.
Depth adjustment now is smaller, made either of steel or hard rubber.
Oddly, the bottom castings are much thicker and heavier than other models.
The type study doesn't mention this, but my experience tells me that nickel plated lever caps went belly-up during the war. The lever cap have a rather coarsely machined surface.
The type study also fails to mention this-the normal two-piece construction of a brass cap and a threaded rod, used to secure the wooden parts (tote and knob) to the bottom casting, is now a one piece construction (like a long screw).
Some examples have no frog adjusting screw. It's strange that on the examples I've seen, the hole is tapped for the screw in the bottom casting, but the frog isn't. It's like they did half the work, but all for nothing. On other examples, neither hole is tapped.
Some examples have the old-style hole (keyhole-shaped) in the lever cap.


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## Johnny7 (Jun 1, 2015)

Exactly my point.

What you have is *not* the result of someone sanding it. The work-force during that time period consisted of mostly women, who were pressed into service and had to quickly learn the assembly line tasks previously done by seasoned employees. In addition to material scarcity (shipping embargoes made rosewood acquisition prohibitive; brass was used for munitions), other niceties like polishing and plating were foregone.

By the way, the "341" means that the iron, at least, (and probably the whole plane) was made in the third quarter of 1941.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

3rd Quarter of 41? US was NOT at war with anyone. No rationing in effect. Brass was still in the supply chain for stuff other than bullets.

Lever caps were still being plated with Nickle. Seen enough war planes come through my shop. Still have a Wards (Stanley) WWII #3 in the till. Lever cap was nickle plated. About 2/3s was flaked off, so I removed the rest. The adjuster wheel is the hard rubber version.

Number stamped into the iron is 444, 4 quarter of 1944. Wood is a stained hardwood. There is no patent date incised into the back of the lever cap. The steel handle bolts had been blued.

Lever cap has Wards Master cast in to in. Iron is stamped as a "Wards Master Quality" .
Toe has a "No." on one side of the tall knob's ring, and a "3" on the other side. Made in USA is behind the knob. There wasn't a frog adjust bolt, nor was it drilled for one.

Anything else?


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## Johnny7 (Jun 1, 2015)

^

swing and a miss

Dec 8th, 1941 (the day after Pearl Harbor) we declared war on the Empire of Japan

The third quarter of 1941 includes all of December

'nuff said


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Math is way of…Pearl Harbor was in the FOURTH quarter of the year. As in Oct.,Nov., DECEMBER.

12 divder by 4…right? 3 months is one fourth of a year. Try again?


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## Johnny7 (Jun 1, 2015)

I stand corrected

*Nevertheless* as I pointed out in my first post, and as the OP himself has reinforced in his re-quote from a type study, this cap is a war-era cap.

This point is reinforced by the presence of the stamped, 3 digit iron. These irons have only been documented as appearing on irons from war-era planes.

I think you're taking the "war" part of "war-era" too literally-the thing to focus on is the "era" part.
In the type study sense, it means a loosely defined period of time-one that can't be tied to a specific week, or month.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Sigh….....

Anyway, while I was removing the last of the flaked off nickle plate from that Wards #3's lever cap, that same pattern showed up. might have been there to add "bite" to the plating process? Also note, that my 1944 lever cap has a keyhole, and not the kidney shape. leftovers in the spares bin? Or, just what was left from the run of Wards branded parts.


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## Johnny7 (Jun 1, 2015)

.


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## jonoseph (Dec 13, 2015)

The answers here reflect the modern concentration on cosmetic finishes and less on the engineering concept .That would be the comparison between Kidney shaped holes and Straight Keyhole slots .
So here is a suggestion to make the straight keyhole more reliable and less likely to loosen . Measure the distance between screw edge and bottom of the hole. Now make a small steel block about 1/4 inch thick to drop into the gap. Drill a hole through that about 1/4 inch wide . Finally squeeze some Silicone sealant through the hole and fit that in the hole. The steel will sit between the screw and hole bottom , and the silicone will hold it in place. Fit a small steel keyring to pull it out when you need to sharpen the blade .
This occurred to me after I bought a plug socket but the rubber insert was too large to hold the plug as it was lowered down the tube.


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