Sorry guys, another plane question

[Kevin Blunt]

How do the plane manufactureres come up with the model #. A stanley No.5 or Stanley block plane 9 1/2 etc etc. What generates that the reason for that # ? Again, thanks in advance.

Kevin

[George Sanders]

Go to Patrick's Blood and Gore at Supertool.com He lists more info than you'll ever want to know.

[Jeff Horton]

One of the greatest mysteries out their is "What was Stanley Thinking??" Not much rhyme or reason to the numbering system.

[James Mittlefehldt]

How do the plane manufactureres come up with the model #. A stanley No.5 or Stanley block plane 9 1/2 etc etc. What generates that the reason for that # ? Again, thanks in advance.

Kevin

Not an expert and willing to be corrected, but ..... the 1 through 8 indicate standard bench planes, 1 being the smallest 8 the largest, this system started I believe by Mr Bailey while he worked for Stanley though that may be wrong. Beyond that the numbers reflect I assume new introductions by Stanley ie the 9 would have been the first plane introduced after the bench plane series and so on.

As to say a 5 1/4 well it is a wider version or is that narrower, anyway it is a variant on the 5 but since 6 was already taken it became that instead.

Many companies adhered to the Stanley numbering system, I suspect to try and get some sort of sales advantage as these numbers were familiar. One of the most famous being the Ohio Tool Company who when the Bailey patents expired tried to duplicate every Stanley model preceeding the number with a 0 so a 5 became a 05, in their system. they had some variants but not many and went broke eventually.

I think it was Sargent, who introduced a completey different numbering system based on what looks like the size of the plane but I may be wrong there.

Anyone else feel free to correct me, but I would suggest you go to Patrickès Blood and Gore I do not have the link handy, however, or get Garret Hacks handplane book, it is a wealth of information.

Hope that helps and someone else should be along directly to help out as well. Always ask questions no one here will complain about it, and are usually happy to answer, you should hear some of the stuff I have asked.