Record Plane dating

[mambo]

ive seen loads on dating Stanleys but what about Records? and what age makes a good one? :?

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

I dont think there is a site for dating Record planes. But i'm bound to be proven wrong!
The only tip I have picked up is one from BugBear.
Which is to look for planes with straight edged corners, instead of rounded corners ( not at the sharp end )

 

[Jake]

Wasn't it the other way around? (he says hopefully, having noticed a rounded edge blade the other day on a Record plane purchased years before reading the tip)

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

I just done a quick search, and found this, as said by BugBear
"I would recommend buying a Record #04 and #05. Look for planes where the blades have square (not round) corners, which is an easy to spot proxy for age, which is and easy to spot proxy for quality."

 

[Jake]

Oh well, that's that then. Restoration indefinitely postponed a bit longer...

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

I suppose it depends what you intend to use the plane for.
Ihave a 5 1/2 with a round cornered blade, but it happily shoots in doors and levels off joists and the edge seems to last very well considering it gets a beating!
and on the flip side, I have a stayset 4 with a sharp cornered blade, that seems to need sharpening everytime i pick the thing up or it meets a bit of resistance!

 

[Alf]

All iirc and subject to revision:

Earlier are darker blue
Rosewood handles pre-date stained beech
Older frogs look like this. (Anyone care to post a modern frog to compare?)
The disc at the bottom of the lateral adjust can turn on the older ones. Much later ones don't have a separate disc at all.
Earlier Y adjusters were cast in one piece.

There are other indicators listed in the notes at the front of the Record Catalogue reprint with dates but so far it's proved to be horribly unreliable.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Paul Chapman]

Older frogs look like this. (Anyone care to post a modern frog to compare?)
The disc at the bottom of the lateral adjust can turn on the older ones. Much later ones don't have a separate disc at all.
Earlier Y adjusters were cast in one piece.

I have three Records from the early 1970s and an earlier Stay-set #05. I can post some pictures later - the frogs are slightly different from yours on the 1970s models but the one on the Stay-set is similar. The 1970s planes have split 'Y' levers (although I changed these for Clifton ones when I fitted thicker blades and they are one-piece).

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[bugbear]

I suppose it depends what you intend to use the plane for.
Ihave a 5 1/2 with a round cornered blade, but it happily shoots in doors and levels off joists and the edge seems to last very well considering it gets a beating!
and on the flip side, I have a stayset 4 with a sharp cornered blade, that seems to need sharpening everytime i pick the thing up or it meets a bit of resistance!

Perhaps age isn't a completely reliable proxy for quality

BugBear

 

[Paul Chapman]

As promised, here are some pictures of two of my Record planes. The first picture shows my #04, which I bought in 1970, on the left and my #05 Stay-set (which Record stopped making in the late 1960s) on the right

The next picture shows the frogs, #04 on the left, #05 SS on the right

The third picture shows the Record Stay-set cap iron on the right and the present day equivalent made by Clifton on the left

My #05 SS has a one-piece 'Y' lever.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[mambo]

i`ll sort some photos tomorrow

 

[mambo]

here is my Record #03

 

[DaveL]

Mambo,

You need to give permission for us to view your picture.

 

[mambo]

ok thanks

hmmm thats not quite it is it

 

[DaveL]

I think there maybe gremlins out there tonight, you original link is now working and if I cut and past you new one that works, but it does doesn't inside the image tags. :twisted: :roll:

Never work with animals children or computers.

 

[Scrit]

Another dating indicator is the plating on the lever cap. Pre-WWII they appear to be nickel plate (not as shiny), during WWII they were either unplated or I've seen a few degraded cadmium ones (these were with beech handles and not always stained as rosewood was obviously unavailable until around 1947/48), whilst in the early postwar period the switched to the later chromium over nickel plating. There was also a peculiar period when they were making planes with rosewood knobs and beech handled :roll:

One other point of interest is that pre-WWII #05-1/2s were 2-1/4in rather than the later 2-3/8in width. This is not conjecture, my own #05-1/2 is a 2-1/4in one, NP cap and square top iron. I've seen a "War Finish" #05-1/2 which was 2-3/8in so I suspect that the change was made during WWII

Scrit

 

[Paul Chapman]

It's only a guess, but I would reckon that mambo's Record #03 (the picture of which has just disappeared from my screen :? ) dates from the late 1960s. It has the same sort of frog as my #04 which I bought new in 1970 but that came with a split 'Y' lever. The 'Y' lever on mambo's #3 looks like it is one-piece so I think that would make it pre-1970. Does anyone know when they stopped making the T5 Technical Jack plane? The later models of those had the skeletal-type frogs.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Alf]

Does anyone know when they stopped making the T5 Technical Jack plane?

De ja vu...

Cheers, Alf

 

[Paul Chapman]

De ja vu...

Now I remember :lol:

Your bookmarking is clearly better organised than my Random Access Filing System :roll: :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[mambo]

well thanks guys i was thinking it was a 60`s model so i wasnt too far out 8)