Marples M Hand Planes

[hlvd]

I fancy getting one of these to try out as I’ve never seen one for sale except on eBay and didn’t even know Marples made cast iron hand planes up until last year. I’ve many Record and Stanley hand planes but haven’t got a Marples.

Does anyone know if the castings are thicker on these Marples M planes?

Any advantage over the Stanley and Record variants?

 

[okeydokey]

I had a marples a while back from memory no better or worse than a record/stanley. Dont recall thickness as being unusual

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The old red Marples planes are usually excellent, the newer blue Record Marples very ordinary. I sold a red No.7 for £150, it was a lovely plane but I had to shed a few as I had a No.6 and a No.8 as well.

 

[hlvd]

The old red Marples planes are usually excellent, the newer blue Record Marples very ordinary. I sold a red No.7 for £150, it was a lovely plane but I had to shed a few as I had a No.6 and a No.8 as well.

The new light blue Record planes with the threaded lever cap are junk, however I prefer the older dark blue versions to the Stanleys. I’m not sure why, just feels nicer

Ideally the Marples would have nice thick castings so I could justify buying an M5 I’ve seen, if they don’t then making a case for buying one’s difficult

 

[Orraloon]

I have an old red No4. The casting is a bit thicker than a Stanley. It is a good worker and at least as good as a stanley. The handle is nicely rounded and well made.
Regards
John