Stanley Plane Query

[Stanley Thigpen]

While looking over my planes, I pulled out my ‘modern’ Stanley plane. My dad gave it to me when I first started doing a little bit of carpentry in the early ‘70s. It is a US made item with plastic tote and knob, but relatively well constructed and has served me well, mostly in rough carpentry. Looking at it got me wondering when Stanley quit using numbers to identify their planes. The sole of this plane is 9 ¾” X 2 ½”, with a 2” iron. It compares closely with my old number 4 Stanley which has a 2” iron and sole 9 3/8 X 2 3/8.

[Bill Houghton]

Good luck. A lot of, maybe most of, maybe all of, the type studies tend to stop in the late 1960s, because people find the newer planes so disappointing.