Thread: Canadian Stanley 41/2

Interesting that Canadian-made Stanleys would show up there - I've never seen a Canadian-made plane anywhere here in the U.S., and we share the world's longest border with the Canadians!

Sorry that I can't help with the wood used.

A couple of Canadian made Stanleys have passed through my hands and they all struck me as very well made planes. The ones I have seen have had rosewood handles and knobs. Cheers, Zac

Hi Rick. I have some Canadian made Disstons and they are supposed to be the equal of the USA ones. I have one Canadian Stanley waiting restoration, I can have a look at it's handle soon. Can you date your plane online? (blade may have come from another plane) because I think after WW2 a lot less rosewood was used.

I have two Canadian Stanleys - a 6 and a 7. Both are excellent planes as they have good balance and feel right when I use them.
I bought them secondhand so I don't know how they turned up in New Zealand.

Canadian Stanleys can be considered the equal of the US ones; they were produced along the same lines and followed the same “typing” although I believe their updates were one or two years after the US models.

If the blade is original to the plane then it would be the Canuck equivalent of the US type 16; which was the last model to be made before manufacturing tolerances began to decline. If the face of the frog has the ogee shoulders and recesses in the face it’s one of those. If it has the solid faced frog with the curved top it’s an earlier (and regarded as “better”) model. Can you post a photo?

The handle and knob are more than likely going to be rosewood; it’s a beautiful timber that often shows variations in the colouration. None of my US Stanleys have rosewood parts that are totally matching in colour; and my old 112 had a very obviously lighter “streak” running through it.

Enjoy it; no matter when it was made it will feel better in the hand than any UK or Aus made version.

Originally Posted by Bill Houghton

Interesting that Canadian-made Stanleys would show up there - I've never seen a Canadian-made plane anywhere here in the U.S., and we share the world's longest border with the Canadians!

Sorry that I can't help with the wood used.

You see a surprising number of Disston Canada saws too. I believe That the Dissston Canada operation was established with the sole purpose of evading import duties into countries in the British Empire, Canada coming under the umberella of the Empire.

There may well be a similar reason in the case of Stanley.

Originally Posted by goodvibes

....... I believe That the Dissston Canada operation was established with the sole purpose of evading import duties into countries in the British Empire, Canada coming under the umberella of the Empire......

That seems to be the commonly-accepted story, gv., but Disston liked to promote a more altruistic reason than crass commercial interest. A quote from one of their advertising blurbs early last century (from the Disstonian site):

"Disston Saws did not seek trade conquests on foreign shores, but were invited there by craftsmen who know Disston quality by experience or reputation.

Every country has its toolmakers who produce good tools, yet in every country you will find Disston Saws in the hands of many expert workmen."

Yeah.... maybe, but you probably didn't do it at a reduced profit-margin, Henry!

Stanley may have gone to Canada for trade reasons. I could not find when Disston started in Canada, but Stanley started there in 1916 according to their own available information, so they were in production during the heyday of hand tools. Given that, it's a wonder we don't see more Canadian-made Stanleys than their Connecticut brethren here, yet I've only come across one example to many US & English Stanleys myself. I was surprised so many of you put your hands up to say you had one in your possession, so obviously plenty did cross the Pacific...

BTW, I've got a Canadian Disston D8, but it was bought at a flea market in Ontario, not very far from where the factory (long since defunct) was located...

Cheers,

It is probably brazilian rosewood. You'd literally need to do a fluorescence test to be able to tell (you can look that up). it's not that important.

Until there was a restriction on brazilian rosewood, though, it was plentiful in the US and for use in planes in England.

No experience with the planes - they don't actually show up often in the middle of the united states even though Canada isn't far.

Originally Posted by D.W.

It is probably brazilian rosewood. You'd literally need to do a fluorescence test to be able to tell (you can look that up). it's not that important.

Until there was a restriction on brazilian rosewood, though, it was plentiful in the US and for use in planes in England....

While Brazilian rosewood was the wood of choice for North American tool makers, I understand that "Indian" rosewood (D. latifolia) was the wood used on British tools, since it was readily obtained from what were then British colonies.

Use of rosewood on planes virtually ceased during & immediately after WW2, long before the CITES ban on export of rosewood from Sth. America, which came into force in the late 70s/early 80s, iirc...

Edit: I checked & it was actually quite a bit later, 1992, that a complete ban on export was established. Prior to that the ban was on logs, but not sawn timber. I still have a few (very small) pieces left from some legally-purchased wood I bought in about 1980.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Bill Houghton

Interesting that Canadian-made Stanleys would show up there - I've never seen a Canadian-made plane anywhere here in the U.S., and we share the world's longest border with the Canadians!

Sorry that I can't help with the wood used.

Apparently more common than we believe here in Oz.

Checked two of my user Stanley #5's one is "Made in England" the other "Made in Canada. The "Made in Canada" #5 was my Dad's and is by far the better of the two. I fitted a genuine Stanley HSS tipped blade to it in the early 1980's (just saw the prices of them now -holy mackeral!). Though the other is a reasonable hand plane, not as nicely finished, thicker castings and significantly heavier which is an advantage at times.

The others are tucked away as spare parts units and for my son. One is definitely a "junker" with a pitted sole, the casting to receive the tote screw was damaged at some time and a helpful person has welded the tote screw to the body. Butcher!

Originally Posted by IanW

While Brazilian rosewood was the wood of choice for North American tool makers, I understand that "Indian" rosewood (D. latifolia) was the wood used on British tools, since it was readily obtained from what were then British colonies.

I have a US Stanley #4 with a corrugated sole that has a Record tote (blue oval sticker on top of the handle) and, I assume, Stanley knob. The tote has particularily obvious dark lines striped through it and matches the knob nicely. Is this indicative of the Indian Rosewood?

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

I have a US Stanley #4 with a corrugated sole that has a Record tote (blue oval sticker on top of the handle) and, I assume, Stanley knob. The tote has particularily obvious dark lines striped through it and matches the knob nicely. Is this indicative of the Indian Rosewood?

indian and brazilian rosewood can look pretty much identical to even someone who looks at them for a living. It depends on the era, where the tree grew and how.

Record stained a lot of handles really dark about the same color as rosewood.

Ian makes a good point I hadn't thought of - access to raw goods from india that the US didn't. There is indian rosewood here before brazilian went away in unlimited use, and there's khaya here from before honduran mahogany went away. If stanley sourced indian rosewood in the US due to cheap import, that could also have happened. I have a blacklight. At some point, I'll think about scraping a few different planes (infills and stanley handles/knobs) posting the results online.

Here's a photo.

20220722_090457.jpg

This one lives in the Ute, so not in as fettled state as most of my others

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Here's a photo.

20220722_090457.jpg

This one lives in the Ute, so not in as fettled state as most of my others

Both definitely some kind of rosewood. If I had to guess (it lightens with age if it's not dirty, which it isn't), I'd say that would show as brazilian - but there are old growth indian rosewood guitars that have the same lightness and brown as indian rosewood and even the current stuff from plantations can be an enormous array of colors, from light browns to purples and blacks.