A Groovy plane???

[steven c newman]

part of a three plane set i won today on the bay. It is a Sears Craftsman, about a #3 size. The weird part? Sole is smooth (rusty, but smooth) but them sides are grooved. :confused::confused: All bolts are Phillips headed. tote, knob, and the one for the lever cap. Old Red frog. But.....WHY groove the sides of a plane????:eek:



I will get a closer look at it in about a week or so, whenever UPS Ground meanders it's way from Ill. to Ohio. can't be THAT hard, can it?:eek: THEN I can provide pictures of this "Groovy Plane". :D

[Joe Bailey]

In an effort to distinguish their product, Sears touted the fact that the sides AND bottom of the plane were machined "true."
The sidewall corrugations probably were added to highlight this fact, and/or draw attention to them.
233700

[steven c newman]

Other than the shape of that logo, could be a dead ringer for mine. Logo on mine is an oval style. plastic handles? We can "fix' that....

Thanks, Joe!

[David Posey]

That is a rather interesting advertisement. It shows that people were obsessed with shaving thickness even before the advent of internet message boards. Thanks for posting it.

Also, Phillips screws just don't look right on a plane.

[steven c newman]

Might be a fixable item? IF, just if I can find the "proper" slotted bolts for this plane. Plastic handles? Phillips headed bolts? What's next? Grooved sides.....?

[Mike Hutchison]

I have a Craftsman jointer with corrugated sole and sides.
Have wondered about the design idea of the corrugated sides.
Should have dusted the plane off a little before taking shot of
oval logo (red background).

233760


233759

[Richard Verwoest]

Those are racing stripes. These help the plane move faster across a board, and less fatigue on the user.

Hoss

[Jim Koepke]

My recollection is that Miller's Falls used phillips head screws on their planes.

Steven, your assemblage of planes reminds me of my experience with buying planes. After a few years, a bunch of the extras/redundant planes and other tools were sold off to raise money to buy... wait for it... another plane. My high dollar plane was an LN #62.

Cleaning them up and using them was a lot of enjoyment. I still look for and buy old tools. Who knows, maybe in a few more years another fancy tool will catch my eye and desire getting me to sell off some of my extras.

jtk

[steven c newman]

Weelll, go look on the "Bay"... There is a Stanley S 5 up for auction. Right now @ $0.99 for the next five days. I would, but Jack plane number four will arrive tomorrow, got too many now.... ( NOW, where have you ever heard THAT one before....)

[Jim Koepke]

I would, but Jack plane number four will arrive tomorrow, got too many now.... ( NOW, where have you ever heard THAT one before....)

I have 4 Jack planes and all tend get used plus a #62 that is a bevel up Jack plane.

If need be, a couple of them could be sold without tears.

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

Sears was also doing stripes on their top end hand saws for a while - the effect was a little like the stripe you see on the ballfield that result from the direction the mower was going, and had about the same benefit.

[Tony Shea]

Weelll, go look on the "Bay"... There is a Stanley S 5 up for auction. Right now @ $0.99 for the next five days. I would, but Jack plane number four will arrive tomorrow, got too many now.... ( NOW, where have you ever heard THAT one before....)

When I first started woodworking I was also bit by the plane bug and stopped over at the local Tool Barn here in Bar Harbor. They have shelves of planes and other misc. older tools. I went through and bought a few planes to get me up and going. It turned out that the first plane I bought, a Stanley #5 jack, is the most used plane in my current arsenal. The only other Stanley plane I use is a #7 with a fairly heavy camber (heavy for a jointer) that I use when starting on rough edges or when I;m attempting to correct an out of square edge. The camber really helps in this case. I designate my LN #7 for final edge and face truing as well as panel glue ups. But my Stanley #5 gets used on every board that passes through the shop. Just an amazing fore plane that earns its' keep in my shop.

But most other Stanley's that I've picked up along the way have either been sold or given away to another poor fellow with more time than I have to rehab them to working condition. My interests lie in making things of wood with my planes, not bringing any more planes back from the dead. My fettling started off out of necessity but turned into more work than I wanted. But as Jim said the other planes I picked up that I found no interest in did fund my current arsenal of LN and LV bench and joinery planes.

Hopefully steven, you will come across some real beauties in your plane/tool fettling journey. But I'm not too sure that 99 cent Stanley will get you there.

[Joshua Byrd]

My recollection is that Miller's Falls used phillips head screws on their planes.

jtk

Indeed they did, on their Type 5s. I'm not familiar enough with any other manufacturer to know if they used them or not. One look at the lateral adjuster will quickly tell if it was an MF-manufactured plane or not.

[steven c newman]

Oh I have found a few:233810A Bailey #8c behind Defiance #3233811M-F #700233812Stanley #9-1/2233813Stanley #80233814Union #5A and233815Union #4G

[steven c newman]

I'll find out tomorrow pm after Buster Brown drops off the 11 pounds of package. Three planes, a Craftsman #3-#4 ( M-F type 5??) a Millers falls #9 type 4, and a Stanley H1203 at almost a dollar a pound. I seem to be getting a few early Unions, and some late M-F planes lately. May be on my way to getting a set???? ( Hey, I can stop anytime I want to....)

[steven c newman]

Well, well Mail carriers were very nice today233857So... here is a few looks at that Craftsman plane. While it is a #3 size in width, it is a bit longer, about the same as a #4 in length. 233858233859233860 This is also the one with all those phillips headed bolts. Ideas about who made this for sears???

[Joshua Byrd]

Ideas about who made this for sears???

That's certainly not a Miller's Falls item. I have a Ward's Lakeside that I am almost through refinishing and it has a similar frog, adjuster knob and lateral lever. I am almost positive that mine is a Stanley, owing to the fact that it has the telltale kidney-shaped lever cap hole. Based on the nearly (if not totally) identical depth adjustment knob, I'd bet yours is as well.

[steven c newman]

Went back out with a tape measure: Length= 9-3/4", width=2-1/4", blade width= just blond hair under 1-3/4" Bolts for the frog are slotted, everything else is phillips. Looks like a steel ( nickel plated??) wheel. Reddish brown plastic/bakelite handles. iron is stamped: CRAFTSMAN Made in USA. Also has a high front knob. Everything else looks good, no pits at all. lots of surface rust. should clean up nicely.


Now, about them handles..... time to make some more????233868233869

[Joshua Byrd]

Went back out with a tape measure: Length= 9-3/4", width=2-1/4", blade width= just blond hair under 1-3/4" Bolts for the frog are slotted, everything else is phillips. Looks like a steel ( nickel plated??) wheel. Reddish brown plastic/bakelite handles. iron is stamped: CRAFTSMAN Made in USA. Also has a high front knob. Everything else looks good, no pits at all. lots of surface rust. should clean up nicely.

Sorry about the misinformation earlier, but I mentally switched up two of my planes that I'm refurbing. While the depth adjustment knob is most certainly very similar to my Ward's Lakeside, it is EXACTLY like my Craftsman No. 9-sized plane (sorry, but I'm an MF guy. Makes more sense to me than the Stanley system. ;) ). I also took a look at the lateral adjuster for further confirmation. Yours has the U-shaped end, with a slightly rounded-over shank. My Ward's Lakeside has the U-shaped end, but the shank is perfectly flat. A glance at Walt's lateral ID page (http://www.brasscityrecords.com/toolworks/graphics/plane%20id.html) confirms my thoughts that it is, most-likely, a Sargent-manufactured plane. Again, very sorry for the misinformation.

Now, about that knob - She's a beauty. Seeing the great stuff people turn really makes me want to get a lathe.

[steven c newman]

More views of the Craftsman LONG 3 ( might be called a 3-1/2??)233924233925233926Yep, plastic handles. Might have to get the lathe fired up, again. Iron was sharpened, and it made some nice curly things233927Took a couple swipes on some 3/4 oak i had. Plane is easy to set up. Lines are a result of the camera not liking those grooves....

[Maurice Ungaro]

I would just clean it up and use it. Don't change anything on it, as it seems to work for you.

[Bob Stroupe]

That plane was made by Sargent. It's their Hercules model, which was their budget model of the time period. Stanley showed up later on providing a plane based of off their maroon model.
Don't copy one of those patterns for a Stanley tote. The Sargent Hercules tote is more upright with less forward slant, and the hole that is drilled and tapped in the bed also reflects this so the long screw they used runs more upright through the tote with less forward slant as well.