Stanley #5 tote without front screw hole?

[Todd Ferrante]

Last weekend I took some pictures of my spare plane parts to post them as offered for trade. I have a #4 plane with a broken base which, upon close examination, has had the knob and tote replaced. The knob is a high style #5 knob that fits into the raised ring. The tote profile matches all the other #5 totes I have, except that there is no hole for the front screw. None of the type studies mentions #5 planes that don't have the front screw. Anyone ever seen a #5 tote without one?

At a garage sale this morning I found a Stanley #5 1/5, type 15 plane in lovely shape except for the ubiquitous broken tote horn. I'm considering replacing the broken tote with the one pictured. But, I don't want to drill a front hole in the tote if there is a chance that I'm messing up something special. There may be someone out there who would really like this undrilled tote.
Todd F.

[Johnny Kleso]

Yes I have seen No5s with out a hole but I doubt it came from Stanley that way as they had a tapped hole in the base..

The No5 tote is bigger than a No4 and you can add a hole to fit it on a No5 but it will not look correct..

No5 totes are more often broken than No4 tote in my experience...

Also T14 horns (top part) are longer than T15...