While looking at some planes on eBay with another Creeker, this lever cap caught my eye and so did the rest of the listing. If when you read this my posts are still appearing on SMC, feel free to ask my opinion about any plane you may be looking at on the internet. Or if you can send me pictures, send me a private message (PM). My current situation allows me to look at pictures and offer my opinions, free of charge or obligation. My wording is careful here in case my situation changes. I do reserve my right to withdraw this offer if it becomes overwhelming.
Hopefully, a piece on Stanley shoulder planes will be finished and posted soon.
This is mostly from a listing for a #4-1/2 Stanley/Bailey plane.
It amazes me a bit that this plane has 5 bidders. The price is low for a #4-1/2, but not that low.
This seller is practicing some honesty, "The body and frog have been nicely repainted and rust is removed from pitted areas of sole and blade."
Painted Lately?.jpg
Thoughts about my painting skills do not make the words "nicely repainted" pop into my head. But come on, at least I don't paint the blade bed on the frog. Mine are mostly painted because the original is really bad. Since the paint job is for me, not as much care is taken as is required to get a top notch paint job. For top notch work, a clean area is almost required for keeping dust off the work and a drying system is helpful. Most quality coatings require some heat to set up good and hard. Most of my paint jobs have a finger print of two from my finding out the paint hasn't dried yet. Then there is the experimenting with multiple coats and not allowing dry time, etc.
One of these days my goal is to try doing a high quality paint job, but that is another story in the future.
On To The Lever Caps
Nicely repainted seems like an over statement, but at least the rust was removed from the pitted areas. Pits were left behind. Around here, we have a road crew that comes around and fixes things that don't look that bad. Not sure if the lever cap also got a coat of paint, but it does sort of look that way.
The first thing that hit me about this lever cap is the transitional curve from the wide bottom to the narrow top. Stanley lever caps have rounded transitional curves on the early caps then starting with the SW planes, the edge of the curve gets sharper.
Front Wrong Cap.jpg
This one looks like a "facet" cut.
The backside is also revealing. First a Stanley cap.
Stanley LC.jpg
notice the round "finger" hollows at the top, the hollow areas leading down and curving around the screw do not have parallel sides.
The lever cap on this plane has parallel sides in that area.
Back Wrong Cap.jpg
The screw on the chip breaker also looks wrong for a Stanley plane of this era. It looks like it is smooth edged instead of knurled. The head also looks a little tall for a Stanley.
Of course, look at the pits in the blade and the cap iron in the pictures above. Some of the hardware on this also showed signs of pitting/cleaning. The picture of the sole was not real clear, but it also looked like pitting was present.
But hey, the wood looks good!
Here is another thing to watch for on the lever cap. Some sellers do not take extra pictures. Often the edge of the lever cap is hidden from view by the knob or the angle from which the picture was taken.
For some reason a lot of people did not carry screw drivers to the job site in days of old. The first thought was to use the cast lever cap for the screw driver when the blade had to be sharpened. Most people likely learned after the first big chip or maybe the second, maybe for this guy the third time was the charm. This is one of the later lever caps with the square corner transitional curve.
In the Chips.jpg
Until next time,
jim
Being retired is wonderful...
My wife asked me, "what are you going to do today?"
I said, "nothing."
She asked, "isn't that what you did yesterday?"
I said, "yeah, but I didn't get finished."