Thread: Stanley plane date

According to THIS page from the HTPAA yours would date between 1963 and 1971 as the box is marked "Stanley/Titan"

Ah, thanks. I'll tell him when he comes over to start on getting it into shape.

60s/70s

Not made in the same place as the US planes of the time, but those with rounded top corners on the plane blade are generally a bit soft.

I rehardened a progression of stanley irons (from early 1900s to that era) and found that they also don't have much hardness potential - again, may not be true for irons in australia, but if you find that the iron doesn't seem like it takes an edge or holds it well comparatively, you can put it in the box and save it to keep with the plane and use a different one.

"hardness potential" meaning that they're not hard, and the steel itself is part of it - a lower carbon steel.. The earlier irons were reasonably hard for cabinetmaking use but they also had some left in the tank, so to speak, and when I rehardened them and tempered them, they end up more like boutique tool hardness.

Strangely enough, only that era is really softer in american planes as far as stanley's iron hardness. The later crop of planes in the US with sheffield-made irons has blades back to early mid 1900s spec.

...

revise that thought slightly - some of the really early transitionals also had very thin laminated irons that were also soft, but I think that was a nod to assuming many would be sharpening entirely by hand, and also with marginal stones in many cases.

Too...unused planes, even of later types before the plastic handled kind, are sometimes worth a lot more to collectors than they are to use as users. Especially when the entire get-up (box and all) is complete and everything is unused.

E.g., a type 19 plane here may have an established sale price of $60 on ebay, but boxed unused, could be three times that.

Originally Posted by D.W.

Too...unused planes, even of later types before the plastic handled kind, are sometimes worth a lot more to collectors than they are to use as users. Especially when the entire get-up (box and all) is complete and everything is unused.

E.g., a type 19 plane here may have an established sale price of $60 on ebay, but boxed unused, could be three times that.

I’ll pass all that on. This bloke is just getting into woodwork and the plane is probably one that a relative had. I’ll help him get it in shape and he’ll use it. He used a few of my planes when he was here and enjoyed himself. Planes are the tool I like using most.