Thread: The Stanley 5 1/4

That's interesting. Lie-Nielsen have ditched that model - so you're right, none of the premium plane makers make one (currently). I have fondled an LN No.5 1/4 once, but decided against owning one (can't remember why - probably the weight - a problem a Stanley version won't have).

Seanz has a Stanley one - but I haven't seen him post here recently.

Cheers, Vann.

Luke, a better use for the #5 1/4 is as a scrub plane. Mike Wenzloff (saw maker) gave me his many years ago. All that is required is to camber the blade.

Personally, I find the handle too small. A #3 smoother is my preferred size, however I swap out the handles for a #4.

I suspect that the "Junior Jack" is not necessary a plane that was simply used by trade schools. That does not make sense to me (I know Patrick Leach's view). An alternative idea is that it was a "junior" to the full size jack plane, the #5: similar length but narrower (#3 narrow).

Lee Valley do sell a #5 1/4. Their's is an elongated #4, with a 2" wide blade.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I've often thought about what I could with one if I ever came across one; but came to the conclusion that really the only use I could put it to would be to pair it up with a 3 and use them as girls' equivalents of a 4 & 5. My daughter is 174cm-ish and very slightly built; they'd be perfect for her. If she was even remotely inerested . For that reason I have to say I agree with the spirit of the Blood & Gore explanation; but by going down that road you have to ask why there was never a 6-1/4?

If you try to cover a useful combination of "small smoother, smoother, jack and jointer" for three demographics based on physical size and strength you get the following:

3, 4, 5 & 7 cover "normal" men;
4, 4-1/2, 5-1/2 & 8 for the shaved gorillas amongst us;
But for the lightweights, although a 2, 3 & 5-1/4 cover the range of "small smoother, smoother and jack" they stop there. The next blade width needed is 2" but the 5 is too short; the 5-1/2 too wide and the 6 both too long and wide. A 2" wide 16"-ish long jointer would be the next logical step but Stanley declined to offer that size to the best of my knowledge.

Considering that to me 1 & 2's are only good for displaying I'd have to say that a 5-1/4 would be the most useless plane in my collection; it could be converted to a scrub as Derek says; but it would have to be seriously cheap to replace my $10 Aldi woody for that purpose!

I thought about using it as a scrub plane, but I think I've back burnered that idea for now at least. I already have a No. 40 with a standard 3" camber as well as a No. 5 with a more slight (9.25" radius) camber, so that would be a bit too redundant. Those planes are valuable, and see lots of use, but not enough to warrant a third, at least in my shop. I also wouldn't want to lose the width of the cambered 5 by replacing it with the 5 1/4.

So we'll see... maybe it gets some use. Maybe it doesn't. Either way, I'm going to have to rearrange my entire plane drawer to fit it

Cheers,
Luke

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

I've often thought about what I could with one if I ever came across one; but came to the conclusion that really the only use I could put it to would be to pair it up with a 3 and use them as girls' equivalents of a 4 & 5. My daughter is 174cm-ish and very slightly built; they'd be perfect for her. If she was even remotely inerested . For that reason I have to say I agree with the spirit of the Blood & Gore explanation; but by going down that road you have to ask why there was never a 6-1/4?

If you try to cover a useful combination of "small smoother, smoother, jack and jointer" for three demographics based on physical size and strength you get the following:

3, 4, 5 & 7 cover "normal" men;
4, 4-1/2, 5-1/2 & 8 for the shaved gorillas amongst us;
But for the lightweights, although a 2, 3 & 5-1/4 cover the range of "small smoother, smoother and jack" they stop there. The next blade width needed is 2" but the 5 is too short; the 5-1/2 too wide and the 6 both too long and wide. A 2" wide 16"-ish long jointer would be the next logical step but Stanley declined to offer that size to the best of my knowledge.

Considering that to me 1 & 2's are only good for displaying I'd have to say that a 5-1/4 would be the most useless plane in my collection; it could be converted to a scrub as Derek says

I have a different take.

I don't really but that the #5 is the "girlie" equivalent of a #7, and the #5-1/4 is the "girlie" equivalent of a #6 -- and I don't really like the term "girlie" as a plane's usefulness really depends on the scale of the work, not the stature or muscularity of the user. Accordingly, I'm not surprised that Stanley didn't make a narrow #6 or similar.

Typically, my pairings are #4-1/2 and #6 -- because in softwoods I like the additional width and mass.
my other pairing is #4 and #5.
I use a block plane when I want something around the #3 size or smaller -- though I'm continually tempted by LN's bronze #2

The one time that I've really "needed" to use a #8, the plane was secured upside down in a bench vice and the part pushed across the blade. The part was a laminated curved drawer front about 14" long, and the #8's long sole ensured that both ends of the curve were flattened prior to dovetailing the sides.


In respect to scrub planes, I find I use mine in two quite different ways.
when traversing a wide board I'll typically use a #5 with deeply curved blade
where I find the scrub plane excels is in quickly hogging a lot of material off a board when creating a taper or reducing the board's width.

If I owned a #5-1/4 I think I'd set it up as a less aggressive scrub than the #40, and reserve the #5 as a long smoother or short jointer depending on the scale of the work -- the #6 being a bit too long IMO for smaller boxes.

Luke, somewhere way back (possibly on this Forum, but the search engine doesn't want to deal with "5 1/4", so drew a blank there), I read a post/article lauding the virtues of the 5 1/4. It was enough to make me file an entry in the neuron I use for memory to grab one & give it a try if I ever stumbled on one at a sensible price.

I reckon we each find that certain sizes suit us physically, but I think it's just as important the plane suits the scale of work being done, as ian implied. For example, I inherited my dad's 5 1/2 about 8 years ago, a size I'd had no real experience of prior to that, but I found the size & heft suited me much better than my hitherto indispensable 5 for most jobs, so I returned the "good" 5 to my brother, who was getting back into woodwork after a (very!) long absence. I have a 5 that has had a very rough life before I rescued it, which has a heavily-cambered blade and is used fr roughing down, but there were occasions when I wished I still had the 'finer' 5, so when I saw a reasonably good older Record at the right sort of price, I grabbed it. There isn't any space left for it in the main tool cupboard, so it has to live with some other rarely-needed gear, but every month or two I dig it out because it's more suited size-wise to what I'm doing. It's not essential, & I could live well-enough without it, but as long as I have a bit of room to store it, it stays.

And while I don't have a huge number of planes, what could loosely be termed 'smoothers' overlaps quite a bit, & it is often the size of the job to be done that influences what I'll reach for. I was cleaning up an applied moulding on a small picture frame a couple of days ago, & my new little chariot plane was just the bees' knees - it handled the wild burl impressively well, and allowed me to see exactly what was going on. However, I don't think I'd like to use it to smooth an entire table top! At work.jpg

(Yeah, ok, you can tell I'm pretty pleased with this plane & just taking every opportunity to show it off. )

Getting to where I am now has involved owning quite a few planes. Those I found I rarely used have mostly gone to new homes, except for the couple I keep because their special talents are needed often enough to justify their board & lodging. I reckon you can (should) listen to other opinions on what's good for what, and use them as a guide, but the only way to discover the planes you really can't live without is to own & use them for a while. So I'll be as interested as any in whether or not this little jack finds a niche in your shop, Luke. After a year or so I think you'll know if it's a keeper or needs to find someone who'll love it better......

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

...I inherited my dad's 5 1/2 about 8 years ago...

I know the one... It ended up costing me about a hundred bucks! But it was a hundred well spent. I would never in a million years be caught without the 5 1/2 I bought via Gumtree after using yours to make the workbench. I think it's easily the most oft used tool I own.

I'm definitely excited about the 5 1/4. I wish the thread you reference was still around, but I'll try to write one some day when I've formed a proper opinion on the matter. I'm sure Ron Hock will get another eighty bucks or so out of me for a blade and chip breaker. It's reached a point where I struggle to justify not using his blades.

I'm going to start out with a straight iron, close cap iron configuration and go from there.

More to come, I'm sure.

Cheers,
Luke

Originally Posted by ian

I have a different take.

I don't really but that the #5 is the "girlie" equivalent of a #7, and the #5-1/4 is the "girlie" equivalent of a #6 -- and I don't really like the term "girlie" as a plane's usefulness really depends on the scale of the work, not the stature or muscularity of the user. Accordingly, I'm not surprised that Stanley didn't make a narrow #6 or similar.

Typically, my pairings are #4-1/2 and #6 -- because in softwoods I like the additional width and mass.
my other pairing is #4 and #5.
I use a block plane when I want something around the #3 size or smaller -- though I'm continually tempted by LN's bronze #2

The one time that I've really "needed" to use a #8, the plane was secured upside down in a bench vice and the part pushed across the blade. The part was a laminated curved drawer front about 14" long, and the #8's long sole ensured that both ends of the curve were flattened prior to dovetailing the sides.


In respect to scrub planes, I find I use mine in two quite different ways.
when traversing a wide board I'll typically use a #5 with deeply curved blade
where I find the scrub plane excels is in quickly hogging a lot of material off a board when creating a taper or reducing the board's width.

If I owned a #5-1/4 I think I'd set it up as a less aggressive scrub than the #40, and reserve the #5 as a long smoother or short jointer depending on the scale of the work -- the #6 being a bit too long IMO for smaller boxes.

Hi Ian

I think that this nicely illustrates how personal size/mass/length/handle are when choosing a plane. Some will reach for a #3, others a #4, and yet others a #4 1/2 or #5 1/2 as a smoother. Chris Schwarz spend a year playing with a #2 (but abandoned it at the end). Who is to say which is "correct"?

Where then does a #5 1/4 fit in? Somewhere, no doubt, for someone .. Personally, I could not find a niche for one - simply because that spot goes to other planes already, planes that have evolved to fit with my hand/methods/preference. Probably why Stanley made so many planes.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

......Probably why Stanley made so many planes.......

And Henry sooo many saws......

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

I know the one... It ended up costing me about a hundred bucks! ......

You got yours cheap!

Hate to think how many rows of peanuts I hoed & how many fence-posts I had to split, for mine....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

You got yours cheap!

Hate to think how many rows of peanuts I hoed & how many fence-posts I had to split, for mine....

Cheers,

A lot [emoji12]

Originally Posted by Simplicity

A lot [emoji12]

Even more than that, Matt.

But I think it done me good.......