# Hand Plane Age



## Rich Aldrich (Apr 26, 2008)

A friend of mine gave me a hand plane a few years ago in exchange for making a new stock for his father's muzzle loader pistol. I had agreed to make it for free, but he gave me this hand plane. It needs some work, but is reasonably functional. I read a post this morning which got me thinking.

The plane is a Stanley Bailey No. 5. It was his grandfather's plane. Is there any way to tell the approximate age of the plane?


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## Handyman (Jan 2, 2008)

you can find a lot on info on this site about your hand plane www.datamp.org/


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

There's a lot of different details on this site to give info.


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## steve mackay (Oct 5, 2008)

If it might be pre-WWII try Patrick's Blood & Gore. If nothing else B & G is a good pick-me-up for an otherwise "bad day". Informative and entertaining. I also ran across another one. Chart form and awfully tricky to understand. Something like "Stanley Plane Dateing Chart". Found it by Google. It was just too complicated for my simple mind.


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## Admiral (Nov 9, 2007)

A few detailed pictures would help.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

The http://rexmill.com/ type study is another good source.


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## TheRecklessOne (Jul 22, 2008)

generally if it's pre-war there is a date behind the frog and in front of the handle...not the knob, but the handle.:tank:


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## steve mackay (Oct 5, 2008)

There should also be a casting mark / number under the tote. While I've never found any listings of these numbers you might get lucky ( I have a couple times ) and someone that has dated, fer' sure, their's can match the number. Ya' never know.


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## Maintenance 6 (May 9, 2008)

You can't always go by patent dates. Some Bailey/Stanley planes carried patent dates that were much older than the manufacturing date. 

Try this link for a dating flowchart.

http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/dating/start_flowchart.html


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## steve mackay (Oct 5, 2008)

That one is certinly user freindly ! Gotta save it. You gotta take your hat off to folks who compile that kind of stuff. LOTs of hours and dedication to a pasion. Of course to the average citizen it would appear to be madness.


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