Thread: English made Stanley-Bailey Planes

AHEM! "seppo" ? I think the appropriate term is "bloody yank"

Originally Posted by ryanarcher

AHEM! "seppo" ? I think the appropriate term is "bloody yank"

Now that you spilled the beans and let your fellow Seppos know what it means we'll have to go back to the original term of Septic tanks.


Peter.

Thats some shiny brass you've got the Zitan...........the cleanliness of that plane leads me to think that its never been used?

Hi Pat.
Try Mik International in Adelaide.
www.mik.com.au.
They have good selection of plane blades.
Stanley blades. They also had a jap plane blade. That would fit your stanley plane. It was about twice the price but holds it's edge alot longer.
Happy Planing
Moses

Originally Posted by LineLefty

Thats some shiny brass you've got the Zitan...........the cleanliness of that plane leads me to think that its never been used?

Don't know why it's so shiny, that plane gets used almost everyday and been through countless boards of rimu, kauri, and pine. It is my 'newest' english plane (2002) and used it to compare it with a "type 15" that I've got in one of my other posts. I do dust them off after use though.

I'm sure we can make up a type study for these, I don't expect any Americans to do so any time soon. Howabout:

Type 1: 1937-1939
Type 2: WW2, hard rubber adjusting nuts..
Type 3: Postwar - steel bits
Type 4: Whenever those rib thingys appear on the beds (about 1972)
Type 5: Whenever the beds are marked 12-00X?
Type 6: 1983-present. The G12-00X planes

Zitan.Thanks for info. From the information I am estimating that it a type 1. I have posted some pics to see if you or someone else can confirm.

Hi Pat;

Yep; I think that's the earliest English 6 I've seen. Look at how fat that casting is!

The handles are without a doubt stained beech (maybe they never used rosewood), brass handle nuts, "STANLEY" stamped horizontally on the 3 piece lateral lever, a type 16 frog, no raised ribs at the toe and heel (these didn't appear on sizes 5 1/2, 6, 7 or 8 till after the war) or on the bed, angular shaped blade and cap iron, fully finished lever cap.

Is the adjusting nut brass?

And just to be absolutely sure, could you snap a pic of the main casting with the frog removed? Just want to take a look at the casting here.

Yes it is a brass adjusting nut and you had to ask for the only photo that I did not think of taking Does this help? If not I'll get a photo next week.

Hi Pat;

Actually I meant something like the picture below. On the left is a late (1938) "type 16" 5 1/2, on right is an early (1948-49) "type 19" 7, both American.

These two types cause the most confusion since all other things look the same except for the frog area. I see lots of 5s advertised as prewar when actually they're postwar.

Which does yours look like?

LineLefty - clean and shiny, no these ones don't get used

Zitan, photo as requested. Hope it helps, apologies for the poor photography.

Hi Pat;

First time I've seen an English Bailey with that frog style. Looks just like the "type 16" so unless anyone else has some better info, I'd say your 6 is pre- WW2 (assuming they actually had time to make planes before the war). Is the part just behind the mouth machined?

The "type 18 or 19+" style looks like it was done to make it easier to drill and tap the hole for the frog adjustment screw - obviously easier to do a through hole than a blind one.

There's a couple of other minor details if anyone really cares about this stuff ;-)

I don't have a question or a problem. But I do have an old Bailey no 7 jointer plane that is clearly marked made in England. I will try to get some numbers off it so I can find out when it was made. The man I got it from told me it was about 45 or 50 years old. Even though I have a 6 inch jointer to straighten edges quickly this old plane is a joy to use and I often will use it in preference to the machine. It is quiet and does not require a dust extractor. It leaves a nice clean edge. When you get a long, uniform shaving from one end of the board to the other that indicates a jointed edge there is a fair bit of satisfaction too.

Apologies for thread necromancy, but every time I search for information to date an english plane, this thread comes up!

Now, there appears to have been images in this thread at one point, just wondering if I must speak an incarnation to see them? Of if they were lost in a dreaded forum upgrade or migration?

Like kenour I realise this thread is very old but I too keep finding it on Google searches!

This is the best info I have found so far:

Stanley English Type Study Draft | TimeTestedTools

Has anyone found anything else? I have a few Stanley planes that I would like to date, but there's not much info out there.

Thanks

Darren.