Keen Kutter 4 1/2 Planes

[Frank Filippone]

Looking for information...
I am trying to figure out if there are ANY K4 1/2 or 4 1/2C planes that have NO identification on the body/bed of the plane.
Of, for that matter ANY K body plane without any marking on the body....

Turns out I have a unmarked plane I am trying to ID... I only have the bed, and it has these identifying features:
4 1/2 overall length size. Corrugated with 12 grooves
11 inches long... not 10 like in Stanley Bailey planes. The Tote boss is 1 inch shy of the length of the plane... most 4 1/2 have the tote boss outside the body or barely inside it....
Has Bedrock style frog bed,,,, a single long ramp
Absolutely no identifying info in the bed.... number, patent, etc.

The present theory is that it is a Keen Kutter K series plane made by Stanley.
Note: NOT KK..... single K
Please post if you have anything that will assist in ID of this plane...
TIA
Frank

[Kent A Bathurst]

You want to light the Bat Alert signal lamp for Tom Bussey. Inhabits these environs

[Mike Manning]

A pic or pics of the plane would be far more helpful I'm guessing.

[Jim Koepke]

If my memory is working Sargent also made planes with the features of a Bedrock. They may have done it before Stanley.

jtk

[Tom Bussey]

If it is a Keen Kutter K series plane then it will have a K 4 1/2 on the body ahead of the knob. Also a Keen Kutter blade has the hole for the chip breaker screw at the top of the blade and the Keen Kutter logo above it. The Stanley's hole is at the bottom.

When Stanley first started the Bed Rock brand they weren't sure if they would give the design a new name so all that could be found on the real early ones was a #7 ahead of the front knob. But it kept the Stanley logoed blade.

Vaughn and Bushnell make a plane like you are describing. But it is has flat sides and V@B on the lever cap, but that could have been changed. My V@B has dropped forged right at the front of the body. If the lever cap has been changed it could be hard to tell.

Sargent planes are not high on my list as far as planes go so I do not have a clue about them.

[Frank Filippone]

Just figured out how to post a pic.... I think I did it correctly.....

[Frank Filippone]

There are NO Markings on the plane. I only have the bed. Comments about the frog details can not be verified.

[steven c newman]

Early Bedrocks were known as "Roundies".....since they are from BEFORE the "Flat top" sides came along...with all the extra screws and pins to move the frog without having to remove the lever cap, chipbreaker, and iron first.

[Tom Bussey]

I have never seen anything like that. it looks like you have an experimental model. The model one and then try it out. Then if need be they make changes until they work out all the bugs. Concepts and working planes are two different things. I would be interested in owning it if something can be worked out.

[Stew Denton]

I am with Tom. It looks like a BedRock prototype. The body looks exactly like the round side BedRocks to my eye. I haven't pulled out one of my early BedRocks to compare it with, but have worked on them enough to recognize the shape.

If you were experimenting with a prototype, it is no surprise that they would not cast in the logo, size, etc., or anything else that would make the mold for the prototype take longer to make, and subsequently cost more. On a test prototype there is no reason to cast in those extra things, because if you are just making a prototype to test, why add the needless details.

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

What causes me to wonder is the roughness around the boss for the knob.

The picture also looks almost like the frog's ramp isn't slanted, but flat. Not sure, but my memory tells me that was a feature of the Sargent planes so the blade wouldn't change adjustment when the frog was moved.

Another point that isn't clear is what is the thread pitch in the holes. Stanley used 12-20, other makers used a more common thread pitch.

jtk

[Dave Fitzgerald]

You have what is known on the street as a “Saturday morning special.” Tools like this, with all of the identifying markings removed, were favored by lowlife midcentury woodworkers to make their furniture untraceable.

[steven c newman]

Usually, when Stanley did "Made for" tools....they left off all the markings....letting the buyer company supply their own markings....Sears? Hardware Chains? Because Stanley also used the bare minimum of parts/features.....like an adjustor for the frog? Frog seat was flat, yes, but it was more of an incline plane/ramp sort of thing on the round side Bedrocks..