American and English Vintage Stanley planes - some advice ?

[markturner]

Hi, do the same dating features apply equally to these, or are they two entirely separate beasts?

Another E bay foundling has just arrived at my door ( £10 - bargain!!) , but the body is clearly stamped made in England behind the frog. I think it will restore nicely, and its certainly very old, but all the sites I have been on, finding out about the old planes seem to refer to American stanleys.

Can anyone enlighten on the English versions and their relative merits etc ?

Cheers,Mark

 

[bugbear]

Hi, do the same dating features apply equally to these, or are they two entirely separate beasts?

Another E bay foundling has just arrived at my door ( £10 - bargain!!) , but the body is clearly stamped made in England behind the frog. I think it will restore nicely, and its certainly very old, but all the sites I have been on, finding out about the old planes seem to refer to American stanleys.

Can anyone enlighten on the English versions and their relative merits etc ?

Cheers,Mark

In general, the English ones are not as good. Nothing to do with (inverse) nationalism, it's just that the English ones are newer, and there's been a pretty consistent trend downhill with time.

The dating sites apply to the American planes, and are not applicable to the English ones at all.

Stanley started manufacture in the England circa 1936, while some USA Stanleys can date from1867. "very old" is a strictly relative term.

BugBear