Craftsman 3728 Combination Plane by Stanley

[Clay Parrish]

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:
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(I'm out of attachments for this post, so I'll continue in my next post)

[Clay Parrish]

Some more photos:

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[Clay Parrish]

Last post:

Ad from the 1952 Craftsman Catalog. $23.95 in 1952 dollars is equivalent to $212.21 in 2015 dollars. The only thing I'm missing is one long rod and the screwdriver. I can pick up a pair of replacement rods for $14 on ebay.

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[Peter Widders]

Nice gift Clay. 'Good to have the instructions to go with the tool.
I have a Stanley 45 that I have refurbished; now to find a few more cutters to go with it.
Peter Widders
Sydney, Australia

[Barry Dima]

Thanks for this. I have one in the mail as I type, so that manual will be super handy. Your combi plane is a lot shiner than mine though!

[Bill Houghton]

The rods, I believe, are 3/8" rod. You might even be able to pick up some long bolts at the hardware store, saw off the threaded part and the head, and have long rods for less than $14.

There are various scans of the Stanley 45 manual on the interweb, for those who don't have one.

Nice get.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice shiny plane.

It is a bit of a tricky plane to use. The main points are sharp blades and the grain of the wood being worked. Straight grain helps especially with the bead cutters. Until you get used to the plane, do not try to take off large amounts of wood in a single pass.


The rods, I believe, are 3/8" rod.

Like so many other things Stanley made you will likely find the rods are not exactly 3/8". Anything other than the Stanley made rods may be a poor fit.

Here is a post of mine from a few years ago:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?121761-Specialty-Planes-for-quot-Neanderthal-Wisdom-quot&p=1239963#post1239963

It includes a link for the instructions for those who may need them. There may be more recent instructions available on line. This copy was originally printed in 1913 and doesn't include the micro adjustment on the fence.

jtk