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Greg Marquis
04-25-2016, 5:29 PM
Hello, does anybody know or ever heard of "Companion" hand planes. I purchased a Stanley Handyman NO.4 on the weekend for $3.00 but when I brought it home and started to clean it up and removing the rust I noticed that only the lever cap says Stanley Handyman but the blade says "Companion" made in usa - 187.37053.
Has anyone ever heard of this company before?
Thanks,
Greg

steven c newman
04-25-2016, 5:42 PM
Companion is the Brand name used by sears. Secondary line of tools below Craftsman.

Otherwise, it is the same plane as a Handyman 1204. Just rebranded to be some at Sears.

Greg Marquis
04-25-2016, 7:07 PM
thanks for responding steve. So this plane has nothing to do with Stanley company?

Jim Koepke
04-25-2016, 7:18 PM
Howdy Greg and welcome to the Creek.

Stanley may have made the plane. The blade may be a replacement. Things get mixed in the world of planes.

This is when pictures can help.

The end of the lateral adjuster may indicate the maker. Stanley used what is called the tiller style end for a lot of their planes. Union and a few others used a twisted lever, Sargent used a folded on both side end and Miller Falls used a fold over on just one side of the lever. Stanley being the last one standing has used variations on some of the others.

Handyman was a second line of Stanley aimed at the home handyman who wasn't much of a woodworker but occasionally needed to work on some wood.

jtk

steven c newman
04-25-2016, 7:56 PM
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A Handyman #1204, and a Companion #4. Other than the lever caps....same plane
Both can be made into decent enough users..
336367
Does the OP's plane look like these?

Greg Marquis
04-25-2016, 10:48 PM
336373336374336376336380
Thanks for the pics. But now I'm starting to think that my plane might actually be a Stanley Handyman with the blade being a companion.I'm still not sure. I going to put up some pics of my plane now.

Greg Marquis
04-25-2016, 10:55 PM
336385336386336387336388336389

Here are some more pics. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

ken hatch
04-25-2016, 11:35 PM
Greg,

I very likely am wrong on this....My knowledge of metal planes stops around the Stanley type 13. After that, for someone with little time to waste re-habing planes, they are not worth the effort. What I could be wrong about is I do not know of a Stanley plane with a painted frog surface but again I'm not a rust hunter. Just last week I gave a box full of old Home Depot planes from my best guess the 70's to Habit for Humanity. Their frogs looked just like yours. BTW, I felt guilty doing so, the only place they should have gone was the trash or maybe to a collector of old bad tool shaped objects.

ken

steven c newman
04-26-2016, 12:40 AM
Maybe leave a subject like this to those who do know all about such things

Stanley did indeed paint that style of frog. Sears also requested a RED frog, later asking for a RED lever cap as well.


The crimped ends of the laterals came after 1962, when Stanley gave up on the "whale tail" design.

Stanley Handyman planes also has normal rear handles, then they went to those ugly things. Also about 1962, Stanley used a blue japanning/paint instead of black......the Codovan ( maroon) was for only a couple of years.

Because costs were to be kept as low as possible on these planes, the entire frog was painted, no extra effort was used to milled the face flat and shiny.
The same frog style was also used on the Sears Companion line, and the Stanley Victor line.....the Victor was gray painted on the base, red frog. Otherwise, same castings. This Victor line is not the same as Leonard's Victor line. Stanley brought the name back as a way to sell a few more. Model number for a #4 would be a #1104.

Irons for all three lines are the same, just were stamped as to which model went where. All were intended for use by the average homeowner to use around the house. Like a Stanley "Four Square" plane from the 1930s.

For a while, Stanley even painted the hump part of the chipbreaker RED. Why? have no real idea. The chipbreaker also had the crackle finish.

Never meant to be "Premium" planes, they were meant to be sold to the general public, who might need to fix a sticky door, drawer, or window. Then sit it back up on a shelf in the garage until the next time.

Greg Marquis
04-26-2016, 7:40 AM
Hi Steve, thanks for all the great info but now I'm more confused. All I need to know is if this plane is actually a Stanley Handyman with the incorrect blade in it.
Thanks

steven c newman
04-26-2016, 10:49 AM
Well, you can do one of two things....place an iron from a Handyman plane in it, or find a Companionlever cap either way would be fine.

Jim Koepke
04-26-2016, 11:38 AM
All I need to know is if this plane is actually a Stanley Handyman with the incorrect blade in it.

The fog of history often obscures the lineage of planes and many other things.

All that is really important is if the plane will work well for you. Everything else is just window dressing.

The most likely scenario is a previous owner ground down the blade and went to Sears for a replacement blade.

jtk

Greg Marquis
04-26-2016, 12:53 PM
Steve, is the body and frog a Stanley Handyman? That's all I want to know.

mark kosse
04-26-2016, 1:47 PM
the tote has handyman written all over it. 187 on the blade means stanley made that companion blade. whether it is a handyman or companion nobody will ever know.

steven c newman
04-26-2016, 2:32 PM
Yep...that it be. Can also be a Companion.....or a Victor...

Greg Marquis
04-26-2016, 2:48 PM
Hi Mark, how can you tell by the 187 number on the blade that it is stanley made?

steven c newman
04-26-2016, 5:45 PM
Sears had a code, for each supplier. Sears never made a single tool, they simply sold tools made for them.

BTW. I happen to have both a stamped Handyman #1204, and a plain, un-marked iron as spares. The plain iron was sold at Home depot for a few years. I just got the Handyman one, because I was rebuilding a plane from a pile of parts. There was enough parts to build a Handyman #4, and a Stanley #5 along with quite a few other parts.

Glen Canaday
04-26-2016, 10:21 PM
Sears OEM codes for the three big plane makers were 187 for Stanley, 619 for Sargent, and 107 for Millers Falls.

mark kosse
04-26-2016, 10:29 PM
You will find planes that were formally Sargent with a 619 but I don't believe sargents had a prefix from Sears.

Chris Hachet
04-27-2016, 7:28 AM
In any case, it should clean up to be a good user. David Weaver, who used to post here a lot, has You Tube video where he says that he actually prefers later Stanley planes because they are available cheaper.

My smoothest working adjustment of any of my vintage lanes is actually a Type 17 (WW I ) era Stanley. But anything can be made to work well. Steven C Newman, who posted earlier has a plane collection that is pretty much a who's who of vintage plane. You can pull any plane out of his tool box and go against the grain in quarter sawn white oak or curly maple, and read the New York Times through the shavings...including the fine print....

Pics when this is fixed up and in use would be great. My advice would be to use it and spend some time tuning it to your liking. My #3 Stanley was one of my less favorite planes until I got it tuned just the way I wanted. Now I find it indispensable.

Good luck!

Regards,

Chris

Glen Canaday
04-27-2016, 9:32 AM
You will find planes that were formally Sargent with a 619 but I don't believe sargents had a prefix from Sears.

You'll see it all the time on the irons.

Incidentally, older than that were the two-letter codes. DD for Stanley, BL for Sargent, and BB for Millers Falls. You'll see that on very early Craftsman planes, and on the Fulton line.

Jim Koepke
04-27-2016, 1:28 PM
BB for Millers Falls. You'll see that on very early Craftsman planes, and on the Fulton line.

And the Dunlaps.

jtk

Greg Marquis
04-27-2016, 6:23 PM
Yeah......I just cleaned something that had "DD" on it. Oh yeah, its the iron thats in this plane that were talking about. It's a companion iron and at the end it says "DD"

Tom Stenzel
04-27-2016, 8:39 PM
Incidentally, older than that were the two-letter codes. DD for Stanley, BL for Sargent, and BB for Millers Falls. You'll see that on very early Craftsman planes, and on the Fulton line.

Thanks Glen. I always thought my Craftsman 5C was made by Stanley, now know the blame needs to be placed on Sargent. The cheeks aren't anywhere close to perpendicular to the sole. The plane works fine as is but it makes shooting a pain.

Greg, there's lots of reasons the plane would have mismatched parts. The most likely one- a previous owner had to replace the iron. Another- someone had two planes and took them both apart. And mixed up the parts on assembly. It happens (guys, why are you all looking at me in that tone of voice? ).

The thing to do is to not worry about it and make it into a good user. Odd are that it can be.

-Tom