# WEIRD STANLEY! Plane!!



## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

Hey guys.. Need help knowing what this is.. It's a stanley with 7 removable bottoms and 5 different blades... Is this common? How much would it be worth? It's for sale around here


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## mveach (Jul 3, 2010)

never seen one like that but will be following this for more info.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*That's easy...*

It's the first multi-function tool center.... OR a plane for a guy who hits lots of nail and has to "reload" in a hurry. Cool idea whatever it is. I think they call those Transitional, because part is metal, part is wood, but I donno? :blink:


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## jigs-n-fixtures (Apr 28, 2012)

Transitional pattern makers plane.


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

The one that is all together is a transitional plane - metal working parts and wood bottom. The rest of the bottoms look like something the original owner made. I'm not sure the metal parts from the transitional would fit in any of the other bottoms (look at the shape of the metal).


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## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

trc65 said:


> The one that is all together is a transitional plane - metal working parts and wood bottom. The rest of the bottoms look like something the original owner made. I'm not sure the metal parts from the transitional would fit in any of the other bottoms (look at the shape of the metal).


The point you brought up really confused me... However after looking into it some more.. It appears as though alot of them were set on one peice of wood and then to change them ud put the top base on top of another.. This one is that way. In this picture you can see where the wood is split. Also look at the wood. Looks like a big dovetail.


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

Do some measurements amongst the different soles, and see if there are any differences. It appears all the blades are the same, so it's not a matter of being molding planes. I wondered if the soles had different throat sizes, for different kinds of wood or depth of cut. This is done on modern steel planes by having adjustable throats. I've never seen or heard of a plane like that, but that's the only thing I can think of.


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

I also don't see why someone would want 5 identical irons. Perhaps this was a modification made by a specialist craftsman who wanted these different soles for his own reasons.


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## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

Woodwart said:



> Do some measurements amongst the different soles, and see if there are any differences. It appears all the blades are the same, so it's not a matter of being molding planes. I wondered if the soles had different throat sizes, for different kinds of wood or depth of cut. This is done on modern steel planes by having adjustable throats. I've never seen or heard of a plane like that, but that's the only thing I can think of.


I would but its not mine.. All the soles are different concave tho.. If you look you can see some are more circular and bent up or down.


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## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

Woodwart said:


> I also don't see why someone would want 5 identical irons. Perhaps this was a modification made by a specialist craftsman who wanted these different soles for his own reasons.


Blades are All curved.. Some slightly more then others. Also comes with an old case... Not mine. It's for sale tho.


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

Look what I found!

You might stumble across a transitional that has a bottom made of a wood other than beech. These planes were retrofitted by later day owners who decided to make another bottom. I've seen a laminated maple and mahogany one that looked rather cool. Since scribbling this description (1997), three very rare 'custom' transitionals have surfaced where the body is a composite of rosewood and boxwood; the rosewood, which acts as the sole, is dovetailed into a chunk of boxwood. These planes are definitely Stanley-made as the early company logo (the crude eagle logo) is stamped into the endgrain of both the rosewood and boxwood. The totes and knobs of these planes are also fashioned from rosewood. These planes may have been a custom order or were purposely made for display at an exhibition of some sort. Regardless of why they are made, they are striking looking. 

-Patrick Leach's Blood & Gore page


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## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

Wow!!! How much would u pay??


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

OK, this is above my pay grade, but if the bottoms are curved (I think you mean convex) to match the blades, It may be that this functioned as a scrub plane for rough flattening of wood, then the carpenter would progress to less aggressively curved blades until he could smooth the wood with a flat bladed smooth plane.


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

jjboozel said:


> Wow!!! How much would u pay??


I wouldn't. I'm on a semi fixed income, and I have no need for such a plane. I wouldn't be surprised to see it priced into the hundreds of dollars, but it all depends on how much a collector is willing to pay. If nobody wants one, it could go for $35.


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## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

Woodwart said:


> I wouldn't. I'm on a semi fixed income, and I have no need for such a plane. I wouldn't be surprised to see it priced into the hundreds of dollars, but it all depends on how much a collector is willing to pay. If nobody wants one, it could go for $35.


A man wants $120 for it.. He's been trying to sell it for a while I might wait and see if it comes down in price..


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

jigs-n-fixtures said:


> Transitional pattern makers plane.


I'm unfamiliar with what kind of work you'd do with them, care to elaborate?


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## gideon (May 26, 2010)

I wouldn't pay $120 for that set. The actual plane assembled goes anywhere in the $20 to $45 range tops. Unless you intend to use it, why buy it? I mean its cool, yeah, and its interesting but it'll just sit doing nothing. 

I can't imagine that the metal assembly is interoperable with the other bases. It would have to screwed on to each base for use. This would wear out the screw holes and require plugging and gluing to tighten them back up.

If you really want it for the cool factor, offer him $65-75.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Ok, to put this all at rest. 

No, this isn't some rare amazing find. It was NOT made by Stanley either. 

This was likely the product of either some craftsman with a small shop, one needing to pack light or one so damn cheap he decided he could make do with his own combination plane of sorts. 

A scrub plane's and a Fore Plane's soles are both flat but have a cambered - or curved - iron. 

A plane with a rounded sole and iron is more like a gutter plane. 

Someone mentioned them being "Pettern Maker's" planes. This could very well be the case. There may have been some recurring cast parts in a particular industry that required these.

As for price - without a story it's anyone's guess therefore only a novelty. I wouldn't give $75 for em. Ha they come from the collection of some president who dabbled in crafts then $5,000 wouldn't get em. With items like this its all about the story and documentation.


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

JMHO I think jigs-and-fixtures has it right a pattern makers plane and as fire medic says probably crafts man made.

The soles are fastened not with screws but a sliding dovetail joint and each sole having its own passing iron.Interesting how the irons are laid out almost as if the guy is trying to hide the fact that there is a lot less meat on the irons that are underneath than the one on top.


In the corners of my mind I could remember that Record made a plane with detachable soles so I went looking and found this.

http://www.recordhandplanes.com/Images/catalogue_large_20.jpg

What would a pattern maker do with this plane?Well just think of anything cast in steel and a pattern maker first had to make a pattern out of wood. If more than a one off the wooden pattern would be used to make a metal pattern and this would be used over and over again.

Here`s a link using a metal pattern to produce something that we are all familiar with. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MdH43wiB0IA


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

I agree with firemedic and Billy D. I'm not sure I wouldn't pay $120 if it was in front of me. The value of these would be for its uniqueness, even being hand crafted one of a kind. Its a pretty cool innovative idea for its time. As users today they probably don't have much value, but to tell a historical story, then its in the eye of the beholder. I've never seen a set like this, and to me, that makes them unique.


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## Thomas Eaves (Nov 10, 2012)

It was called a core box plane, the different radius irons and soles were made to fit the size of the core box they were making at the time. It was a very good tool design for its time. A journeyman pattern maker had to lug his tool box from job to job. So it was all about the number of tools and weight they had to move around. What are they worth to the right collector? Hundreds, but you have to take the time to document it as said before. Tom


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## strippedscrew (Oct 28, 2012)

I saw a plane sort of like this once in Woodenboat Magazine.
It was a Millers-Falls #4 which some one had made several bolt-on wooden soles and irons of different convexity.
It was for planing spars.


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