Stanley 5 Irwin Plane 2In 1 12 005

Product Information

Again, a smoothing plane is a shorter handplane that’s tuned up go give the best finish possible on a board; a finish that is usually superior to what sandpaper will give you. The short hand plane length allows you to work the plane into smaller areas with reversing grain. For woodworkers that don’t have a large tool budget, I have a couple recommendations. Veritas (new) and Clifton (new and vintage) also apparently make good bench planes, but I just haven’t used their bench planes much. I did try out a student’s Veritas jointer plane, and though it worked nicely, I had one concern: the design would have prevented the jointer plane from being used on a shooting board. And in my opinion they aren’t as time consuming to rehab as metal planes; although I do occasionally run into puzzling problems that I need to solve with them. But usually adjusting the shape of the wedge and inlaying a tighter mouth is the most common improvement that people make on these hand planes. If you do buy a 9" plane, it's seriously worth considering a low-angle plane (lower bedding angle, higher angle on the blade). Among other things, that gives you a wider range available if you need to grind blades to other angles when handling special cases. These do tend to be a bit more expensive, though, largely because this design is mostly offered by the higher-end manufacturers. If the word STANLEY is on the lateral adjustment lever in a vertical script, the plane Type is 19 and dated between 1949 and 1961.

I have also found I never really touch the frog on my smoother planes, I always set it as open as i can get it, as close as I have the chip breaker set, it won’t work otherwise and clogs up the mouth. With the 5 and 7 it’s another matter. Most current and past hand-plane makers seem to follow the numbering system (and design details) popularized by Stanley (and invented by Leonard Bailey?). I personally found the 7 to be quite useful when I find I need it, which isn’t often, but when I do, I like having it. It’s a quite old Ohio Tools plane, might be pre-1900 even, brought home to Finland by someone returning from the US.

But to be honest, I’ve found that a Bailey-style smoothing plane works very well, without chatter if it’s highly-tuned and oiled or waxed. Here are some links to the planes I’ve talked about: Please get familiar with the names of the multiple parts of the tool using a Stanley diagram which I will summarise below. Look for the bed of the plane behind the frog. If you can see any patent dates cast into the bed, note how many are there.

I’ve spent a few more years scrounging and now I have the 3½ (wasn’t a 3), a swedish #4½ I spent a lot of time fettling and restoring, a #5 and a #7. I paid between 5-40 euros per plane. I own the WoodRiver No. 4-1/2 smoothing plane, and it works exceptionally well once it’s sharpened. Don’t expect any tool maker to deliver a handplane that is perfectly sharpened and honed to an acceptable level. Not even Lie-Nielsen. I started a document on one of my computers for notes I keep on plane information. My issue is I have several work laptops, a few personal laptops and travel a lot so keeping the notes in one place is a challenge. I figured this way, I could get to them from anywhere, including my phone when looking at buying a plane, and maybe others would find the information useful as well. I’ll try to break up the information into logical units as separate blogs in this series. As you examine the plane, look for a raised ring that works as a receiver of the knob cast into the bed. In some cases, there is one patent date, and no raised ring, meaning your plane is Type 13, and the dates range from 1925 to 1928. If there is one patent date and a raised ring, the plane type is Type 14, which dates between 1929 and 1930. If there are no patent dates and raised rings, you also have a plane Type 1 to 8.As you measure the depth-adjustment nut, note if it is 1-1/4inch in diameter. That means it has three dates cast into the bed, and the plane is Type 12, dating between 1919 and 1924. If not, that means it is a Type 11 and dates 1910 and 1918.