Stanley No. 4 Bench Plane

[silentC]

Here's some pics of a Stanley No. 4 plane that I spent the weekend cleaning up. Unfortunately the lever cap is a new one that I bought shortly after I found the plane lying in a heap of dirt under our house. Hopefully I can find an old one at the monthly markets.

It's in pretty good condition considering. There's a bit of pitting on the sole that I couldn't lap out. One side was out of square with the sole, which took a bit of fixing. Otherwise the body and handles are crack-free. The body is marked "Made In Can.".

Patrick Leach of "The Superior Works" has this to say about the number 4:


The standard smoothing plane. This, along with the #5, are what made Stanley a fortune. This plane will out-smooth any sanding, scraping, or whatever on most woods. There are woods that present themselves as problems for this plane, and the rest of the Stanley bench planes for that matter, but this shouldn't deter you from owning one. The planes were designed to be general purpose and affordable, not to conquer any wood tossed their way. Many modern woodworkers have their first plane epiphany with this little tool as the curls come spilling out its mouth.

I love this plane, it's a pleasure to use and to my eye it's a beautiful thing.

[Driver]

Very nice! You've done a great job on cleaning it up. There's no doubt about it - the old planes are better than the new ones.

I bought a new Stanley No 4 a couple of years ago. Didn't use it for a while and was disappointed when I did. However, I've become a bit more interested in hand planing recently and - with some encouragement from posters on this BB - including Derek Cohen - I've retro-fitted the plane with a wooden tote and front knob to replace the crappy plastic ones, lapped the sole and sides, sharpened the blade and it works quite well. Last night I fitted it with a two-piece Clifton cap iron. Now I'll need to spend a bit of time re-tuning it (!).

Interesting thought that you've been through the restoration process with an old plane and I've had to do almost the same job to make a new one work.

Col

[silentC]

Col,

Thanks. Yes I enjoyed working on it. From what I've read, to get the best out of a plane you need to go through this process no matter how old it is. It's certainly rewarding to take a lump of rusting metal and turn it into something nice.

How did you go about finding a wooden tote? I have a Marples smoothing plane (similar to a Stanley #5 1/2) that has a replacement plastic tote that I'd like to replace with a wooden one. It still has the original wooden knob.

Cheers,
Darren

[Driver]

Darren

You can buy the wooden replacement handles from Timbecon, Mik and (probably) Carbatec. They're made from Indian Rosewood by Crown in England. I bought a set (tote plus front knob) at the Perth Wood Show recently. Paid around $50, I think.

A word of caution: the replacement totes and knobs are pretty good - certainly a huge improvement on the plastic ones. However, the ones I've seen so far will only fit planes that don't have a hold-down screw at the front end of the tote base. This means that they'll fit Stanley #4s and #5s but they won't fit old Record #5s and the bigger Stanleys (I've got a new #6 and a lovely old #4½). To fit these sizes, you'd have to do some re-shaping and drilling.

Regards

Col

[silentC]

Col,

Thanks for the info. I've also got a #6 but the tote and knob are in good nick. The Marples doesn't have a hold down screw, so no problems there.

Will try the sources you listed and will also check the local market. There's an old fella there who drags out the same old tools every month and maybe I can pick up some bits and pieces from him.

Cheers,
Darren

[DonN]

Gents

You can buy new and use totes and front knobsin the tool section of ebay available to Aust.

DonN