Stanley 51 shooting plane and 52 board

[homey]

Nothing to do with me but I see there is a Stanley 51 & 52 set on ebay.com.au at present. Bid at the time of this post is $255. Coupleof bits missing by the look of it - the hold-down and the backing fence it attaches to.

Rare Antique Stanley No# 51 Shooting Plane & No# 52 Base ca1910-30s | eBay

Brian

[homey]

Just seen that this set sold for $1,000. Not for me as I'm not a collector. I'm off to have another look at the Veritas 51 at half the price

Brian

[Luke Maddux]

Yeah, unfortunately that's one that never goes cheap. You'd have to score one out of an estate lot or some kind of inheritance that the kids don't understand in order to get it at a decent "user" price. I think that they were prone to breaking, so few have survived.

I have the Veritas and it's great. I think the Lie Nielsen is pretty much the same quality, just a different shape.

Cheers,
Luke

[homey]

Thanks, Luke. I actually did miss this in an estate auction in Melbourne a few weeks ago - had a reserve of $50 but was passed in unwanted. I'm on holiday in the UK and missed the auction. The lot was bought post-auction for a song and resold on eBay.

Ah well, I do like Veritas

Brian

[Luke Maddux]

Yep, that sounds like the way you've gotta find it. Someone selling it who doesn't know what they have.

Selling it kind of becomes a moral dilemma at that point though... People just lost a family member, so you have to ask yourself how you feel about taking an item from them that is worth twenty times their asking price and then flipping it for a bunch of money that, in a sense, should've been theirs, but was lost because they simply didn't have the time to have every item appraised.

Guess that's the world though... Buying it at a song to keep for yourself to appreciate for many years, on the other hand, seems far more ethical.

Anyway, sorry to get all philosphical. I just always think in those terms at estate sales

Cheers,
Luke

[derekcohen]

I purchased a #51/52 about a decade ago. I recall I paid around $500 for it on eBay (Oz). tahe plane had a brazed frog, which is not uncommon, and this may account for the low price. It was not a collector's item.

I spend some time fixing the frog and restoring the plane and chute board, which included re-japanning everything: Restoring a Stanley #51/52



Several years later, LN brought out their #51 plane, and my wife purchased this for me for a birthday. it looks right at home here ..





I wrote a review here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...tingPlane.html


A couple of years went by. I have been fortunate to have been one of the testers of tools for Lee Valley/Veritas for the past decade. I get to test some of the planes, chisels, and some of the saws. Often this goes from early drawings of concepts through to pre-production versions. My involvement with their shooting plane was to use it and determine if it worked in all department before it went to production. This led to my acquiring the Veritas shooting plane ...





The review is here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...tingPlane.html


While I love the classic looks of the LN, the Veritas is a much better plane, and its BU configuration blows away the opposition with edge holding. It is the Veritas that lives on my shooting board.

At the end of the day, the Stanley #51 is not durable enough to be a frequent user. The shooting board, on the other hand, is built like a brick dunny. See if you can pick up one of these if it is sold alone.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[homey]

Thanks, Derek. Looks like it's going to be the Veritas. Thanks for all the info and review.

Brian

[pjr]

Derek, the hold down came out nicely. It's hard to believe that was 10 yrs ago.

[clear out]

Derek,
Do you have the early(heavy) board or the later light one?
Had a few of these over the years, was getting frogs and holdowns cast at one stage.
One of the sellers at my sales rang up all the IA departments around Sydney saying he was after bits for one. He scored a few complete units for his trouble.
I swapped a Record compass plane for the early one from Patternmaking at Ultimo TAFE when I worked for Stanley in 81. That unit went to the Melbourne Stanley collection started by Bill Moss.
I don't know what happened to that stuff when Stanley quit Oz.
H.

[derekcohen]

My #51/52 is dated 1898 (or there abouts), is cast iron and bloody heavy! I assume that must make it the early model. I was not aware that there was another, light, model made.

I did look into getting a frog cast at one stage. Do you still have any?

Regards from Perth

Derek