Stanley Bench Planes -- How late is okay?
I'm catching plane fever. I understand there's a point in time beyond which Stanley bench planes are no longer considered to be of high quality, or at least of noticably lesser quality. Fair to say? I wonder if there's a cutoff that can be described in terms of a date or in terms of Stanley plane types that's generally accepted. I'd love to hear opinions on this. And is it always the case that older is better (assuming equal condition)?
Thanks
If you're holding the plane
I look for these quick tests:
1. full oval tote - if you wrap your thumb and finger around the rear handle (commonly known as "the tote," as opposed to "the knob" at the front), you encounter curves everywhere.
2. "Bailey" marked on the body, or the presence at the bottom back of the frog (part the cutting iron rests on) of an adjusting screw. By the way, if you see THREE adjusting screws back there on a Stanley plane, you've got a Bedrock plane, and, if the price and condition are good, you should probably oughta grab onto it. Don't know - never been this lucky.
3. Things aren't bent or broken, no major rust. Surface rust fine, rust to the point that things won't turn, best to walk on by.
People are down on the "made in England" planes - well, fine, but my No. 78 rabbet plane was made there, and it's fine. I've also got a late (not sure of age, but it's got the dreaded kidney-hole lever cap) No. 5, and it's a great plane. So the later stuff may be OK in many cases, but, as others have said, quality can be erratic; and, until you have more of an idea of what you're looking for, determining quality from observation can be hard. Of course, if the tool is priced at $2 at a garage sale and there are no big chunks missing or other things making it clearly unusable, it's hard to go wrong; if it turns out to woof loudly when you try it out (no disrespect meant to actual dogs), you can just donate it to the next rummage sale.
Watch for "Wards Master" planes (there'll be a decal on the tote) - these are unrecognized gems made by one of the good makers and labeled for Wards, with, in my experience, very good steel on the cutting iron. Lateral adjustment levers not the best, but otherwise good tools. Because they're not collectible, they're usually cheap.
When you're starting out, if you're buying used, you should either touch the plane or use one of the trustworthy dealers. I wouldn't go to eBay until you know enough to know what questions to ask and do some analysis from the pictures.