# Eclipse hand plane



## PAchemist (Jun 17, 2015)

I recently bought a hand plane at an estate sale. Probably a No. 5C. The only markings on it are "Eclipse" stamped on the iron. I haven't looked under the frog yet to see if there's anything there.




























To me the most interesting aspect of it are the "squared off" sides of the plane bed, different from a usual hand plane, more like a plane I found on the Wood River site.










Anyone have any experience with this type of plane design?


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## Marn64 (Apr 1, 2016)

Try cleaning it off and disassembling it and looking for any other markings, the squared off sides remind me of a stanley Bedrock more than anything. I am unsure if eclipse ever made a plane with squared off cheeks, so I can't say for sure if this is a stanley with a replaced blade or if it is some knock off.


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## PAchemist (Jun 17, 2015)

The only markings are a "76" cast into the frog, which fits very snugly into a channel machined in the bed.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I'm pretty sure you have a Vaughan & Bushnell plane. I would guess the blade is a replacement. They are great planes.

Edit: eclipse were sold by Montgomery Ward's. I think they were all basically a Defiance made Stanley. I don't beleive Wards sold any V&B.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

Yep, I agree with Don, you have a V&B 905 with incorrect iron and lever cap. If you clean off the toe, it will have "Drop Forged" in front of the knob. The 900 series have drop forged steel bodies instead of cast iron. The gray japanning on the body is also characteristic of those models. I've never seen that color on any other planes. It's weird to me that they did the gray body with a black japanned frog, but that's the way they were.


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## PAchemist (Jun 17, 2015)

Thanks guys. It definitely has gray japanning on the body and black japanning on the frog. I don't see anything on the toe in front of the knob. But it also looks like the toe was repainted with some kind of reddish paint.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

Hmm, you can see where it should have been. Don't know why it's not there. Almost looks like someone ground off the lettering for som reason. I just finished working over a 905 today. You can look at it for comparison

http://lumberjocks.com/replies/3006834


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## PAchemist (Jun 17, 2015)

After clean up you can see the "DROP FORGED" was definitely ground off. But looking closely the "D" still remains somewhat.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

That's an odd modification.


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