Stanley 45 vs. 55

[Harlan Barnhart]

I have a perfectly useful 45 but a friend offered to sell me a 55. Is there any reason besides being a "tool pig", (as Mr. George Wilson would say) for owning both?

[harry strasil]

depends on how much complex molding you want to make, the 55 has 55 different blade configurations, while the 45 has anywhere from 19 to 23 depending on its age of production. I have 3 or 4 45's and 2 55's occassionally I have a different blade in each one so I don't have to end up continually changing blades, and a couple of times the 50 was in use also. LOL

[Bob Smalser]

Not unless you do so much work with them you need one set up for one task and the second set up for another. Some interior trim restoration specialists I know carry two along for exactly that reason.


Otherwise the 55 will do anything the 45 will and more, and also often better. Plus they ain't making 55's anymore and in the long run you won't lose money in the $500 range for a plane in good condition with all the accessories.

[David Keller NC]

I have a perfectly useful 45 but a friend offered to sell me a 55. Is there any reason besides being a "tool pig", (as Mr. George Wilson would say) for owning both?

My opinion only - I have both, and the 45 and 55 excel at different tasks. The 45 is a very respectable plow plane, and also works well as a T&G plane. The 55 is a better molding plane, but still far less capable than a wooden molding plane in good shape of the same profile. Because of the considerable extra metal hanging off of the sides, the 55 isn't as easy to use as a plow or a T&G plane as the 45 is.

[Jim Koepke]

I have a perfectly useful 45 but a friend offered to sell me a 55. Is there any reason besides being a "tool pig", (as Mr. George Wilson would say) for owning both?

The big difference is the skate on the 55 has adjustable height. On the 45, the skates will always be in the same plane. This requires that the cutters be symmetrical when using both skates. Some of the special cutters like fluting cutters are made to be used with a single skate.

Harry mentioned the blade counts with the two different planes. Those are the stock blades that came originally with the planes.

The 45 has something in the neighborhood of 40 blades that were available and the 55 had something like 95. The blades beyond the sets that came with the planes were special sets to be ordered separately.

Currently, the two boxes of cutters for the 45 will run a few hundred bucks. For the 55, the cheapest I have seen those go for was about $900 for the four boxes of blades.

They are not something one sees often.

On the 55, if the friend is offering a fairly complete plane, then it would be worth getting if they are not asking too much.
If it has broken parts and missing parts, then it can be expensive finding replacement parts.

Also, the 45 and 55 have different spacing on their rods. This is so people could not just buy the parts to convert a 45.

A 55 can do anything a 45 can do. A 55 can do a lot of things a 45 can not do.

jim