Look whats on ebay

[DaveL]

Take a look at this, out of my range but it does look nice. Is that tote as shipped?

 

[Alf]

The Porch on "aluminum" totes here and here. And Blood & Gore:

Sometimes, you'll find a plane with a hard rubber tote with "B of E" embossed on each side. These were sold by Stanley to school systems as replacement totes for the poor planes that suffered the onslaught of destruction as wrought by the punks of yesteryear. "B of E" stands for Board of Education. These replacement totes were offered during the 1910's-1920's, when they were replaced with aluminum totes during the early 1930's. The replacement totes are most often found on the jack planes since they were the commonly used planes in the school systems across the USofA.

Fairly unusual to see one on a #51 I would have thought?

Cheers, Alf

 

[DaveL]

Alf,

Once again you come back with answers, thanks. I agree would seem unusual on the shooting plane, can't have been many of those in the school system.

 

[MikeW]

Well, not too unusual really. Replacement totes are for, well, totes that have been broke.

If you look at all the pictures of this plane, the one showing a close-up from the rear shows a brazed portion of the casting on the ribs.

Probably the result of an errant slip in moving the thing or just child's play.

Take care, Mike