Stanley markings

[Matthew Curtis]

Do all Stanley planes have the word "Stanley" or "Bailey" on their bed somewhere?

I have seen many old planes with a Stanley Lever cap but no "Stanley" markings anywhere else, except maybe on the lateral adjustment lever.

[Jim Koepke]

The name Bailey started being cast into the base of the plane in 1902. Stanley made other lines of planes. The Bedrock planes did not have any branding on the base.

Before 1890, the bench planes did have the name Bailey with patent information stamped inside the depth adjuster and on the chip breaker.

One of myy #5-1/4 planes has the name Stanley in the casting of the base. It may have been a Stanley Four Square or other offering.

For more information on Stanley/Bailey bench planes visit > http://www.rexmill.com/planes101/typing/typing.htm

jtk

[Matthew Curtis]

So you are saying that they will all have a name on them if they are stanley, Baily, or bedrock.

[Matthew Curtis]

So many planes with Stanley lever caps imitating Stanley planes.

[Jim Koepke]

So you are saying that they will all have a name on them if they are stanley, Baily, or bedrock.

No, most of the planes made by Stanley before 1902 only had the name on the blades and lateral levers. A little rust will hide that. Some of the early planes had Bailey's name with patent dates stamped into them.

In 1902 the name Bailey was added to the plane's base in honor of Leonard Bailey the designer of the plane. That might have been something to satisfy him as it seems he was rather temperamental. Stanley Company and Bailey were often having a spat.

Bedrock only were identified by their lever caps, blades and lateral levers until ~1911 when it was added to the plane bed.

Stanley also made many planes for many other companies with or without markings to identify their manufacturing involvement.


So many planes with Stanley lever caps imitating Stanley planes.

After a while one gets to know which are actually made by Stanley and which ones merely have a replacement lever cap. It seems a lot of folks used the lever cap as a screwdriver to remove the chip breaker screw. Being the lever cap is cast iron, it is easy to break when misused. Hardware stores likely carried the replacement parts from the maker of the planes they sold. Stanley was one of the more popular makers of hand tools.

jtk