Clay Parrish
11-04-2015, 8:55 PM
I posted something about this on another forum earlier this year, but since then, I joined the Creek and I thought I'd share.
Last Father's Day, my wife and son got me a Craftsman 3728 Combination Plane.
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Vintage Craftsman planes were made by several manufacturers, including Stanley, Millers Falls, and Sargent. The combination planes were, at one time, also manufactured by Sargent, as clones of their Sargent 1080 planes. Here's a nice blog over at Working By Hand (https://workingbyhand.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/provenance-of-a-clone-a-combination-plane/) showing one of the Sargent 1080 clones. My plane, on the other hand, is definitely a Stanley-made clone (early 1950s vintage) of the classic Stanley 45. In additional to all of the clues in the components of the plane, such as the cutter adjuster wheel, the smoking gun is a booklet included with the plane by Craftsman.
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These are photos of the booklet included with the Craftsman plane:
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And here is a booklet included with a Stanley 45:
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The plane itself is unused, NOS, as far as I can tell. No rust (well, maybe a smidge on some of the iron, but everything else is nickel plated, I believe). Everything looks pristine. I'm looking forward to making it a user. I took it out last night and plowed a few grooves and beads. It has a reputation as being a little finicky to use, and I can see why, but once I get everything sharpened better, I expect it will be a lot of fun to use.
Box of cutters:
324705
(I'm out of attachments for this post, so I'll continue in my next post)
Last Father's Day, my wife and son got me a Craftsman 3728 Combination Plane.
324696
324697
Vintage Craftsman planes were made by several manufacturers, including Stanley, Millers Falls, and Sargent. The combination planes were, at one time, also manufactured by Sargent, as clones of their Sargent 1080 planes. Here's a nice blog over at Working By Hand (https://workingbyhand.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/provenance-of-a-clone-a-combination-plane/) showing one of the Sargent 1080 clones. My plane, on the other hand, is definitely a Stanley-made clone (early 1950s vintage) of the classic Stanley 45. In additional to all of the clues in the components of the plane, such as the cutter adjuster wheel, the smoking gun is a booklet included with the plane by Craftsman.
324698
These are photos of the booklet included with the Craftsman plane:
324699
324700
And here is a booklet included with a Stanley 45:
324701
324702
The plane itself is unused, NOS, as far as I can tell. No rust (well, maybe a smidge on some of the iron, but everything else is nickel plated, I believe). Everything looks pristine. I'm looking forward to making it a user. I took it out last night and plowed a few grooves and beads. It has a reputation as being a little finicky to use, and I can see why, but once I get everything sharpened better, I expect it will be a lot of fun to use.
Box of cutters:
324705
(I'm out of attachments for this post, so I'll continue in my next post)