What kind of plane is this

[Bill Sutherland]

376599376600
Ive has this plane for decades and can’t even remember exactly when I got it. What type of plane is it?
Its in great shape and since I’m going to be using my planes more in preparing wood I want to make sure I utilize it properly.

[steven c newman]

Sears, made by Stanley, same as Stanley's Handyman line up.

[Bill Sutherland]

It says made in USA but is it a Jack or Block or Smoother or what?

[steven c newman]

A #4 smoother.

[Phil Mueller]

i can’t tell how long or wide it is from your picture, but appears to be a #3 or 4...so trraditionally would be used as a smoother. However, for small stock, it could be set up as a scrub. I have a #3. I put a pretty good camber on the iron and use it help flatten boards up to a 3-4” wide range (going across the grain to remove cupping).

[Bill Sutherland]

It is 9 Inches long on the sole. Seems to work fine. I already have a Scrub plane. Any suggestions to upgrade it?

[Jim Koepke]

It is 9 Inches long on the sole. Seems to work fine. I already have a Scrub plane. Any suggestions to upgrade it?

Upgrade as in tuning it up? You might find either of these helpful:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?5867-Rehabilitating-Old-Planes-(Big-File)

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373-Fettling-A-Plane-from-Junker-to-Jointer

Otherwise your best upgrade option might be to look for a better plane with which to start.

Yours was made at a time when the market was mostly for the use it once and put it on a shelf home handy man.

It is a rough casting and my guess is the frog seat is painted as is the entire frog.

It may be useful as a roughing plane on wood you do not want to start off with a better plane.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

I have diamond hones that I keep out on the bench with a wood block mounted rawhide strop. The strop is loaded with stropping compound.

While planing a board if the plane iron needs to be sharpened, it only takes a moment.

[steven c newman]

BTDT....Face of the frog: sand or file it smooth and flat. Remove any paint where the frog will sit.

Iron: will need it's back flattened. Sharpen the bevel @25degrees...no need for fancy bevels.
Chipbreaker: back bevel the mating edge, until it is a knife's edge. Make sure there is no gaps where it meets the back of the iron. Set it back from the edge about 1mm.

Sole: Make a lot of lines across the sole with a black sharpie pen. Then sand the sole until all the lines are gone.
Rest is just for looks...(lose that red paint...for one)
376619
Basically this is the same plane
376620
Left one is a Sears Companion line, and the right one is a Stanley Handyman #1204
376621
What you will see "under the hood"

[Matt Lau]

check the sole for true. If it's not a laminated iron, consider getting a hock or LV replacement iron/chipbreaker.

FWIW, the Lee Valley support people really know your stuff.
You could probably post a picture (with a ruler) of the blade to know.

[steven c newman]

This planes were from the late 1960s-early 70s era....The irons are really quite good, and usually have not been abused. No need to buy an iron that will cost more than that plane did...

[Stew Denton]

Bill,

Note the last photo that Steven posted. The bottom of the frog where it mates against the bed, and the corresponding bed on a high quality plane should both be milled dead flat, so that they can be adjusted smoothly and precisely against each other. Cheaper planes sometimes had these same two areas on the planes just cast and then painted. Such surfaces will make the plane hard to adjust precisely.

If such is the case with your plane, and you intend to use it for fine work, such as smoothing, you may have to address that issue. One of the guys on this site had such a situation, and he used a file on the rough cast iron bed and bottom of the frog, and said it improved the performance of his plane drastically. One thing with this approach, however, is that the frog and bed must seat precisely, however. You don't want to create a situation where frog rocks slightly on the bed. To make sure this does not happen, you may have to mark the bed with something like perhaps lay out blue, and rub the frog back and forth on it to see if you are removing metal evenly and in the correct locations so that you end up with flat surfaces mating flat against each other so that the frog does not rock on the bed.

The other option is to convert the plane to a scrub plane where fine control does not matter much. I know you already have a scrub plane, but such is one use for such a plane. I have a plane with such a bed and frog, and my intent is that it will end up as a scrub plane so I can get good use from it.

Regards,

Stew

[Bill Sutherland]

376671
I’m “heading under the hood” to check it out. Pretty certain it’s like Stevens last photo. This has hardly ever been used. It looks like under the frog is painted.

[steven c newman]

Couple of things I found out while using these planes for a few years. Forget about a "tight mouth" they were never designed for such a thing. IF you do move the frog forward to try to close the mouth...all you will get is chatter. These were made and sold to the Average Joe Homeowner, to fix things around the house, like a sticky door.

I usually use a wire cup style brush, to clean the seat for the frog. Nice flat and shiny. Bottom of the frog...will sit on a belt sander while the sander is running, until things are clean and shiny evenly across it's base. The face of the frog also gets a ride. I make sure I am not hitting the depth adjust tab, nor the lateral tab.

I use a metal straight edge, to make sure the face of the frog is coplanar with that little ramp at the back of the mouth's opening.

There are three areas on the sole that must be coplanar with each other....toe, heel, and the area right around the mouth....Get these set, and it really does not matter if there is a slight hollow in the sole elsewhere.

[steven c newman]

And...the frog is too far back. Sometimes, this will cause a bend in the iron.