# No Logo Lever Caps



## BustedClock (Jun 30, 2011)

I just acquired a type 5/6 Stanley Bedrock 605 1/2 jack plane. While I was cleaning it up, I began to wonder both about the type, and more generally about the lever-caps. One of the diagnostic transitions from the type 5 to the type 6 is that the logo on the lever-cap went from "STANLEY BEDROCK," to, "BEDROCK." On my plane, however, the lever-cap had no logo whatsoever, nor did it have a patent date, a foundry mark, or anything else that would help in identifying the age. I then looked back at my collection, and two or three of the higher number Stanley planes also have lever-caps with no logo.

Is it fair to assume that these lever-caps were after-market replacements; perhaps for when the original lever-cap failed? Or, in the alternative, did some of these planes come new with lever-caps that did not have a logo?

I'm looking forward to this plane being my no. 1 all-purpose user, so the answer, one way or the other, doesn't ruin my day. But, I'd really like some understanding of these logo-less caps.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Mark or no mark, Stanley did make some lever
caps with no logos. Just look on ebay and 
you'll see them for sale. I have some
planes with no-logo lever caps. They are
far too common for them all to be aftermarket
replacements I think.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

It's probably a replacement. Stanley Bailey planes came with caps without logos, it's most likely from one of those.


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## bridgerberdel (Dec 31, 2014)

I prefer lever caps without logos. Stanley wasn't the only one who made them that way, and it can be pretty hard to tell a logo-less Sargent lever Cap from a logo-less Stanley or Miller's falls or union. And since bench planes are standardized sizes they can easily get swapped around.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

> I prefer lever caps without logos. Stanley wasn t the only one who made them that way, and it can be pretty hard to tell a logo-less Sargent lever Cap from a logo-less Stanley or Miller s falls or union. And since bench planes are standardized sizes they can easily get swapped around.
> - bridgerberdel


Actually telling the difference between Sargent and Stanley plain/logo-less lever caps is straight forward. The rivet that holds the flat spring is located closer to the key hole on the Stanley caps, plus that rivet nearly always shows through the top of the cap. There are very rare occasions that a Sargent cap's rivet shows through the top.










While I understand that the OP is mostly interested in Stanley planes, please note that Don, Casey, and I recently published a Sargent Bench Plane Identification Guide. That guide can be found on eBay and Amazon.


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