I've been bitten by the "buying old rusty tools" bug. I'm going to try not to feel bad about it and assume many of you can relate!
I also just like restoring things. Restoring furniture is what sparked my interest in woodworking. And restoring old planes is pleasing in the same ways.
Now that I've got a few, in various stages of rehabilitation, I've definitely developed some opinions on which ones are the nicest aesthetically.
I have types 9, 13, and 16 in front of me right now. The appearance of the knob and tote get uglier as the planes get newer. The low knob fits the lines of a plane much more nicely than a high one (high knob works okay on the smaller planes, but the larger they are the more it makes them visually unbalanced). The shape of the tote gets less appealing and organic along the line- gentler curves on the sides of the 9 and 13, starting to be real flat and bulky on the type 16 (less ergonomic too, at least to my fingers.) The finish on the type 9 handle is thin and satin and highlights the rosewood grain. On the type 16 it's so thick and shiny it feels like waste of the nice wood. (I suppose the older ones could just be more worn with age though.)
The all iron lever cap on the 9 looks industrial but high quality. The 13 (at least mine) has the Stanley logo on it, but it's not japanned or plated, this looks nice too but a little busier. The 16 has a nickel plated lever cap with orange paint around the Stanley logo- the nickel plating, and the painted logo, really make the plane look cheap to me.
As the planes get newer I see more deep machining marks in the cheeks. The older ones just needed to be derusted and lightly polished to look nice, the 16 needed a whole lot sanding.
I actually think the smaller adjuster wheel is more visually appealing, I haven't noticed a difference in ergonomics to the bigger one personally yet.
Finally, on the type 16, they couldn't be bothered to stamp the logo on the iron in anything even resembling straight. (But maybe that's an anomaly.)
One day if I find some type 11s I'll probably make that "my plane" and sell these other guys off.
Agree? Disagree? What do you all like the looks of?