Stanley No. 5½ planes

[Vann]

http://www.rexmill.com/

Just looked on the latter (USA)no 6 and (England)no4, no numbers on either of them.

I couldn't see anything on the site about that. :?

The Stanley dating sites are all USA orientated. They're no good for UK or Aussie planes. I'm not sure about Canadian Stanleys. I suspect these were assembled in Canada using contemporary USA parts (but that's just a guess).

As for dating UK Stanleys, the best I've found was on a thread on the Aussie forum (way back in November 2004):

I'm sure we can make up a type study for these, I don't expect any Americans to do so any time soon. Howabout:

Type 1: 1937-1939
Type 2: WW2, hard rubber adjusting nuts..
Type 3: Postwar - steel bits
Type 4: Whenever those rib thingys appear on the beds (about 1972)
Type 5: Whenever the beds are marked 12-00X?
Type 6: 1983-present. The G12-00X planes

However this would need refining, as (for example) Type 3: it was a long time after WW2 that the steel bits showed up (like late 1960s or early 1970s) so there's room for a few additional "types" in there.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Dovetaildave]

Vann,
Thanks for the info and effort.
I was surprised by the 5 1/2 mark on the foot of the frog on the USA no 5 1/2.

I Haven't seen it on the other Stanley's I own (6 and 4 UK and USA).

Admiral,
I tried looking through http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanle ... ii.php/url and couldn't find anything about a size mark on the frog...

I'll stop now as I don't want to be accused of hijacking your post.

 

[GazPal]

...I do have a Sweetheart era 2-1/4" iron that came with it, but the iron was USA made and under-sized for the mouth width.

Gary, I think those narrow irons are a little more valuable than the standard ones, tho' probably not sufficiently so to bother selling and buying another at 2⅜”.

Cheers, Vann.

I think they might be a touch more valuable, but it's in really good condition (Clean and with enough real estate behind the edge to land a helicopter ) and I think I'll keep it safely tucked away until the day I possibly find myself with a #5-1/2 / #05-1/2 in need of a 2-1/4" iron