Block plane gloat or no?

[David Tiell]

I bought a block plane at an antique shop today that I think is quite old. Won't be able to post pics until I get home Saturday, but thought I'd ask about it. It looks like a Stanley 9 1/2, as far as the blade adjuster goes. No lateral adjuster. No oval depressions on the sides. The lever cap cam is on the bottom of the lever cap. It has an adjustable throat, with a brass knob for the adjustment, but no lever to adjust the mouth. The blade is marked with "L. BAILEY'S PATENT AUG.6.67 AUG 31.58 EXD.". Most of the japanning is gone, a little minor pitting on the sides and bottom but no rust and no cracks. Definitely needs cleaned up, but overall in good shape. I'm guessing it's worth the $12 I spent, but was hoping somebody here may know more about it.

In all, got 4 block planes, a couple spokeshaves, and a Yankee 41 for a total of $86. Will try to remember to post pics on Saturday.

Thanks,

Dave

[Clint Jones]

Is it an excelsior style block plane??? A picture would help. The earlier excelsior style has the humps on the sides pushed towards the rear of the plane. Sounds like a gloat to me.

[David Tiell]

Is it an excelsior style block plane??? A picture would help. The earlier excelsior style has the humps on the sides pushed towards the rear of the plane. Sounds like a gloat to me.
Clint, yes, the humps are pushed toward the back. I found a pic of an excelsior style online, and it looks like that, but the lever cap is smooth instead of dimpled, and at the lower end of the lever cap the embossing is straight across instead of the three half moons on the one I found. Again, thanks, and I will post pics when I get home.

[Clint Jones]

Yes it is an earlier 9 1/2 block plane. It should have a lateral adjustment no big deal though. If it is chip and crack free it is worth around $30 to $50. Sounds like you made a great find.

[David Tiell]

Yes it is an earlier 9 1/2 block plane. It should have a lateral adjustment no big deal though. If it is chip and crack free it is worth around $30 to $50. Sounds like you made a great find.
Clint,
I finally looked at "Patrick's Blood and Gore". It does appear to be an excelsior model, however, Patrick says the lateral adjustment wasn't added until the early 1890's. And I can detect nowhere a lateral adjuster would have been attached. So it looks like this is pre-lateral. But I'll give everyone the chance to check it over when I post pics.

Thanks again!

[David Tiell]

OK, I got home and was able to take some pics. Can't promise the quality is the best, but hopefully someone can tell me a little more about this plane.

Here is the plane assembled:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v137/dtnq90yr/Woodworking/IMG_3245.jpg

Broken down:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v137/dtnq90yr/Woodworking/IMG_3250.jpg

Body:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v137/dtnq90yr/Woodworking/IMG_3252.jpg

I can't find anyplace a lateral adjuster might have been attached, so I'm assming it's pre-lateral vice missing the adjuster.

Thanks for anything anybody can tell me.

Dave

[Bill Houghton]

On my Stanley planes with lateral adjusters, the adjuster is threaded into the screw on which the lever cap operates - so there's no obvious attachment point.

[David Tiell]

On my Stanley planes with lateral adjusters, the adjuster is threaded into the screw on which the lever cap operates - so there's no obvious attachment point.
That never occurred to me. Good point.