Stanley "Made in England" planes – dating
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11 March 2015 at 10:21 am #125447
I’ve recently bought quite a few used Stanley planes and I’m wondering how old they are. A couple of them are US made and there’s a lot of information about dating those, but I can’t find anything about the English ones. Are there any resources regarding the English Stanleys, or does anyone here have information about the manufacturing timeline?
11 March 2015 at 4:15 pm #125450Rolf, I looked at the Hyperkitten site and did not see any information that it only deals with planes made in the USA. You said you have looked at plane dating sites and maybe this one is included, but if not, try this site: http://hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/start_flowchart.php
Good luck.
11 March 2015 at 4:27 pm #125456this site has some pictures and history of Stanley planes
http://www.patented-antiques.com/Tools_StanPlanes.htm11 March 2015 at 7:25 pm #125476Thanks for the replies 🙂 I’ve been able to date my US made planes using the Hyperkitten site, but it doesn’t look like it, or other sites, cover the English planes. I’ve found some information on other English planes like Record and Woden but nothing on the Stanleys. I’ve read that UK Stanleys and Record planes follow each other closely regarding changes and features, so that may give me a rough indication of the year.
15 September 2019 at 11:09 am #608730Hi Rolf,
I am in a similar situation. I bought a job lot of 23 Stanley planes, mostly No 4s and unfortunately they were all disassembled and the bits jumbled together. I now want to try and reassemble them without creating the so called “frankenstein” planes but i’m struggling to find any info to assist in this. Just wondered if you’d made any progress in dating your planes?
15 September 2019 at 11:58 pm #608893I don’t know that there fits a page particularly for English Stanley’s , but they should follow the USA type studied pretty closely.
Try this link:
https://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/If it doesnt show up , justgoogle hyperkitten type study Stanley and you’ll find a page that will tell you all the places to look.
First, I’d separate out the plane bodys by the patent marks and frog beds, then match the other parts to them.
A picture of the four frog beds is here: http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan1. the latest frog type starts around 1904 or so.
The big clues are the types eof fogs, adjuster nut, patent dates and whether they have high or low knobs.
And older planes have unchromed lever caps with no writing on them.
16 September 2019 at 9:18 am #608970Hi William,
I haven’t been able to date them, but my guess is that they’re 50’s and 60’s planes since they have wooden handles and brass hardware. I sort of gave up on the dating part and just started using them 🙂16 September 2019 at 11:10 pm #609142thanks for the info and links Larry and Rolf, I’ll follow up and if I make any progress worth sharing I’ll post to the appropriate area of the forum.
Hi Rolf,
For the majority of planes, you’re only going to be able to estimate their year of manufacture. Perhaps narrowed down to within a few decades. Indicators such as Logo colour/typeface, Wings square or rounded, Handle materials and shape… are only pointers.
Components varied over the years. Cast Yokes were changed for split Yokes. Then back to cast again. Customers swapped components over, swapped them back, or left them originial. You’ll never know its history. Occasionally there’s a definitive stamp in a casting, but that date can’t be assumed for the whole of the plane.‘Patrick’s Blood & Gore’ website is a good source of information regarding Stanleys.
Here’s the link to Patrick’s website:
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.htmlYou can also learn a lot by examining photos of planes for sale. E.g. on eBay. Start by looking at the boxed ones (assuming the boxes are for that plane). Those are the planes most likely to be complete and original. The seller may even know its date. You can identify features, and attribute them to specific time periods.
Soon you’ll be able to glance at a plane, on eBay or at a swap-meet, and spot a modern Lever-cap, with early Cutting iron, and low-angle rosewood Knob, and determine which parts are original, which are not, and what the era is most-likely to be.
Of course this isn’t exact. There was so much overlap during production. Stockpiles of components were used up. WWII restricted certain metals. Users replaced worn Irons, upgraded their Yokes, turned new handles…
Its not like finding a ‘matching numbers’ vintage car. Most of these planes were, and still are, a mixed bag.
To avoid that “Frankenstein Plane”, aim for components which are not too far apart in years. So you don’t have a 1980’s plastic Tote with a 1920’s low-profile rosewood Knob, or an early Stanley Tool & Level Cutting Iron with a modern plastic Depth Adjuster. Avoid a mix of Stanley, Record, and Marples. Whatever your combination, you’re still going to have a reliable, usable plane.I’m not an expert, this is not meant as a reference, but as a thumbnail sketch. You’ll see what you’re looking for. You can add your own time periods to each manufacturing change as you learn more about them.
Label Shape: Corners cut out, Square
Label Colour: Green, Yellow, White
Box Colour: Green, Buff, Yellow, Orange, Buff
Label Typeface: Scrolled, Rounded narrow, Rounded broad
Lever Caps: Steel, Nickel, Chrome
Lever Cap screw hole: Keyhole, Kidney-shaped
Lever-cap embossed Logo: None, Stanley narrow, Stanley broad
Background: None, Black, Dark Red, Bright Red, Orange, Yellow
Depth Adjuster: Brass thick, Brass thin, Aluminium, Plastic
Knurling: 1 groove, 2 grooves, Cross-hatched
Wings: Square thick, Square narrow, Rounded
Sole length No.4: Short, Long. (1/4″-1/2″ difference)
Lateral Lever embossing: None, Stanley vertical, Stanley horizontal
Lateral Lever style: Two-piece stamped, One-piece Folded
Handle/Tote: Rosewood Labelled, Rosewood, Beech, Painted, Plastic brown, Plastic yellow
Knobs Nuts: Nickel, Brass, Aluminium
Japanning: Black, Blue, Maroon (schools?), Black18 September 2019 at 7:56 am #609591Hi – I’m new to the forum & spotted this thread on dating UK Stanley planes. I recently came across the following site that I’ve used to date my UK Stanleys.
Hi Geoff,
That’s certainly one well-packed website!
(Looks like they threw a catalogue of articles at the web-designer and said “Do something”). It’s like going down a rabbit-hole. Every link leads to another page of more and more links. Well done for navigating it.Thanks for sharing this. I’ll enjoy burrowing my way through. There’s a lot of useful information on there that I haven’t seen anywhere else. E.g. Other manufacturers, and Block Planes. Pictures too. Very useful when you’re holding the actual plane you want to identify.
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