# Need Help Identifying A Hand Plane!



## BreakingBoardom (Dec 18, 2009)

OK, so my dad picked up an old hand plane for me from an antique store last weekend while he was at the coast. I picked it up today and was expecting maybe a Stanley. Instead I got what is pictured below and have no clue as to what kind it is or if it's been pieced together or what. Not many words or letters or numbers on it except for "Made In USA" on the body and "Worth" on the iron. I'm not expecting this to be some lost heirloom plane worth a fortune but rather something I can restore and use. Anyone know what it is or if it'll make a decent plane when cleaned up? Thanks in advance for the help.


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## lewis62 (Mar 6, 2011)

go to www.hansbrunnertools.gil.com.au should give you a site with all stanely planes by the numbers and with discriptions. Also check out ,patricks blood and gore planes at supertool .com sorry dont have exact address, but that should get you there.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

I don´t know what plane , but it doesn´t look too bad to clean up and make a good user
if not as a smoother then you can change it to bee a scrubplane 
but go for the smoother first

Dennis


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## Jack_T (Feb 6, 2010)

It is a hand plane. You hold the wooden part and push. The sharp part goes down. LOL. Sorry, I have just exhausted my entire knowledge base on old/antique planes; wait, I also jst exhausted my entire knowledge base on new planes as well. Looks like another area I need to learn a lot about. Oh well, looks like it is back to those things that we still make out of wood, you know we call them books.


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## DaleM (Feb 18, 2009)

It was definitely not a high-end plane for its time. You can tell because the frog is stamped rather than machined. Having said that, clean it up and see how well it works. It's probably better than some of the cheap planes that I have. I have better ones now, but still use the cheap Ace hardware plane and a few others that I've had for years, just for easing edges and other small jobs.


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## knotscott (Feb 27, 2009)

Definitely not a premium plane, but definitely fairly old….probably pre-WWII. It should be better than the majority of economy planes sold today. Put an edge on it, adjust it, and give it a go.


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## BreakingBoardom (Dec 18, 2009)

Thanks for the help so far guys. Yeah, I hadn't seen one like it or ever seen anything stamped "Worth" before. I'll have to get it cleaned up to see how it does. I noticed the frog was stamped too instead of machined. Anyone ever used one with a stamped frog before? Does it create any problems or challenges?


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## bent (May 9, 2008)

i have 2 that are nearly identical to that. they don't have "worth" stamped on them, but have a circled u above the "made in usa" marking. they may have different branding, but i bet they're the same planes as yours. i've looked and can't find any info on them. they preform just fine, but i doubt they're worth anything to a collector.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

I've seen or owned plane irons marked "Worth". They aren't
that uncommon. I think I've seen them in coffin planes.

The folded steel frog indicates it's a "handyman" grade plane.


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## marcfromny (Mar 15, 2009)

unfortunately the stamped frog planes are about the cheapest you can get. If you picked up a stanley no.4 at a flea market for $10 and tried both planes side by side you would throw that plane away . Not worth restoring or using. If anything, save the blade and chipbreaker. You can google "parplus planes", who I believe may have made the body of yours.


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## blackcherry (Dec 7, 2007)

These plane were mast production type plane. Most parts were stamp out which aren't he best of quality in doing hand planning. You can spend plenty of time turning it up , but in the end the lack of mass will cause vibration which will cause chatter marks when cutting. Although you could use on softer type woods like pine, poplar and others. Although the body has volume/weight the frog body is rather light weight and so the adjustment part as well and this is where the down sized of this unit begins. Hope this helps on this unit…BC


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## BreakingBoardom (Dec 18, 2009)

Thanks for all the help guys. Even though this may not be a great user plane due to the stamped frog, I'll probably clean it up to get a little more acquainted with hand planes and use it as a starter plane until I find one a more usable one with a machined frog. I'm pretty new to hand planes and I figure since I have it I might as well learn a few things and try using it. Thanks again everyone.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

Nothing that hasn't been said above, but I don't think you'll be happy with a plane that uses stamped components. The fit just can't ever really get there. If you ever get the chance to do a side-by-side with a Bedrock of similar size, go for it. This will highlight the worst frog/best frog argument. Whatever you do, don't give up! Once you get a vintage plane tuned to your liking, it'll be worth any time and investment you made. I promise.


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## Dcase (Jul 7, 2010)

I agree that this plane may not be the best for a heavy user plane but I would clean it up and like you said use as a starter. Also if you enjoy the process you can keep this one for parts. I have several planes just like this that I have used for parts.


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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

A couple of options come to mind:
a) Camber the blade heavily and it will function as a decent scrub plane.

b) Secondary planes like this are handy for cleaning up wood that is too "dirty" to use your good plane on.

c) If you have a child, remove the blade and let them use it as a toy.

d) grind some kind of profile in the blade (not too deep) that you like for creating beading or a curved indentation and use along a clamped on fence to create that profile in your creations. (not a perfect solution for a beading plane, but it will work.

e) Use the blade and chipbreaker to make a wood bodied hand plane to suit your style. (there are a bunch here on LJ's)

f) Use it as a paperweight in your office. It will ignite some interesting conversation with co-workers.

g) If you really want to make other LJ's drool, remove the frog and do some work to make it infilled with some beautiful piece of exotic wood.


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## BreakingBoardom (Dec 18, 2009)

Haha. Thanks Swirt. I do have some Koa I could put in it. Don't know if that'd make other LJ's jealous or just think I'm crazy. lol.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

One quick note regarding Swirt's comment: on C) make sure you give them the PLANE, not the BLADE to play with . Those are all excellent ideas, particularly the one about using it on dirty wood. I've got a "less desirable" plane that I hack off glue lines with. I tried the camber on a similar plane & it couldn't hold up to the forces. I've got an old No.8 that's missing about everything. Once I cobble it together, I was going to install a cambered blade to make the scrub on steroids. Can you imagine the hogging damage you could do with that plane?


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

just look at some of the infill planes on here 
there was one who …. .... yes now I remember it was Adam who made an infill like that

here is the link
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/33880
and there is other who had made something simular

good luck with it 
Dennis


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## marcfromny (Mar 15, 2009)

The reason I know how sucky those planes are is because a few years ago I bought one. I did what swirt said,,tried to turn it into an infill. I ground out the raise frog screw section and the handle bosses to make a flat inside. I have a nice piece of walnut ready to slap in. I just got to lazy and never finished it.


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## biforanger (Aug 8, 2015)

Don't dis the plane. My late father gave me one just like it, except it has a Stanley cap and iron. The best thing about it was he personalized it with his name on the side. One of the few things I have from him as the evil step-mother disposed of all of his tools and other stuff that would have been nice to pass down. ANYHOW I got after this plane the other day. I cleaned up the sides and sole of the body and flattened them on abrasive belt glued up on a tool I built out of plywood and some recycled float glass mirrors. I flattened the face of the frog by filing carefully until the blade and cap sat solid. I had to file the top of the lateral lever button slightly as well, and the blade was rocking on thatl. I did a little filing on the back of the mouth for a more solid blade bed. The adjustment screw, that horrible stamped steel star, was loose, with the screw flopping in the holes that it was staked into in the frog. I tightened that up with a few judicious taps on the staking. After tuning up the cap, grinding and honing the blade, I was able to pull a nice shaving off of cured Siberian elm that was 0.002" thick. You actually can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!


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## jonah (May 15, 2009)

I'd echo what everyone else has already said. A stamped frog is going to make that thing a bear to get adjusted to fit right, and it won't hold settings since the frog is so flimsy.

Hit up ebay and find a Stanley #4 that is in half decent shape. Even a post WW2 Stanley will blow that thing out of the water.

This site will help you determine the age and manufacture date of Stanley planes. Expect to pay between $15-$30 depending on condition and shipping cost.


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## biforanger (Aug 8, 2015)

I agree with jonah on this, don't BUY one of these planes unless you want to work extra hard to tune it up. I did just finish tuning a Stanley #4C and a Stanley #5 I bought off of the 'Bay because I despaired ever getting the stamped frog plane to work. (Who actually manufactured these stamped frog jobs anyhow? They did not seem to be proud enough of them to put their name on them!)

The #4C turned out to be more work that I though it would. The photos looked good, showing little use, but missing the cap and iron, and I got for $11.00 plus shipping. I figured a replacement cap and iron would bring it up to the current typical sale price. When I detail stripped the plane, it turned out to be missing the right rear frog pad on the plane body. The defect was due to a void in the casting that should have been caught in the foundry, grinding shop, or paint shop, but QC must have had the day off and the problem was just japanned over, and the thing was shipped. I am sure the reason the plane showed little use was that nobody could get it to cut right with the missing pad, and just put the tool aside. After the cussing was over, I decided to see if I could remedy the problem.

I stripped the area around the missing pad down to bare metal, built up a form out of masking tape, and filled it with JB-Weld Steel epoxy. Once the epoxy was cured I trimmed and filed it until the frog sat solid and level with no rocking. Once that was done, the frog was replaced, the iron ground and honed, and it passed the thin shaving test. No more cussing, and the plane will outlast me!


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## kacybro (Feb 4, 2017)

A U-circle logo is a craftsman tool producer Plomb/Penens from 1944-48


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