Stanley No. 1 Tote and Knobs

[Harold Burrell]

the mystique of owning one these planes is fleeting...

I would be WAY more interested in the cash I could get for selling one.

[Moses Yoder]

I was poking around and found this (Stanley totes & knobs) they have #1 size for various prices. For a #1 it would be worth it, and you would have matched wood.

[Ralph Boumenot]

Nobody mentioned Bill Rittner. He makes replacement knobs and totes for the stanley line.

[Mike Brady]

I was poking around and found this (Stanley totes & knobs) they have #1 size for various prices. For a #1 it would be worth it, and you would have matched wood.

The Droz wood parts are fantastic. I didn't know he was still in business.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Nicholas,

You asked about the type of wood, and I did not see an answer, so.....

The wood used in the original type of rosewood knobs and totes was Brazilian rosewood. However, it is on the cities list and it cannot be exported from Brazil even as completed projects.

I have seen it on Ebay from folks who bought it before the ban, but have not seen any stock thick enough for a knob, but only looked a little a couple of years ago. The lumber I saw was only small pieces, and it was pretty pricy, in fact I figured up what the guy wanted for the pieces he had listed, and it amounted to $300 a board foot. That doesn't mean that all of it is that high, but that was the price of the one guy who had some listed. He owned a business that had a number of old ratty sheds on his property, and found that one of that had some Brazilian rosewood in it.

The other main source of Brazilian rosewood is old furniture and lumber in finished house trim, that can be salvaged for the lumber. In some cases the rosewood is worth more than the old furniture.

At any rate, I would go for Jim's suggestion if I could. Those other types of old planes may also have Brazilian rosewood knobs. This isn't a certainty, though, because a lot of the old Stanley 71s like mine have knobs that are not rosewood.

The above assumes that the #1 you have is a very old one. Stanley used Brazilian rosewood mostly up to about WW2 for their Bailey and Bedrock planes, to the best of my knowledge. They did stop using it a little during the war, but started again for a short time after that.

If your plane is a type 16 (give a or take a type number or two) or earlier it very likely used Brazilian rosewood, but if it is a later one, a war model, or one of the odd ones while they were using something else, it is likely some other type of wood. You will need to know what type number you have. You may know that, but if you don't, then you can post pictures and one of us on this forum can figure that out.

Stew

[Stew Denton]

Hi Nicholas,

I looked on Ebay last night, and found several pieces of Brazilian rosewood for sale, primarily for guitar work. I did see a couple of turning blanks that should work for a knob. They were 2X2X6 inches for about $30, and that doesn't include shipping.

I did not read the information to see if the pieces were pre-ban, or what. At any rate, for the time being Brazilian rosewood is listed on Ebay in a size that would work for a Stanley #1 knob. I think I saw 2 such pieces listed, but don't recall for certain.

Whether it is genuine Brazilian rosewood or not, who knows.

Stew

[Nicholas Lingg]

I just want to thank everyone who helped get this plane back in working order. Especially Greg Drozdowski for working with me to get tote with the right screw angle the new knob, and Tom Christensen for making the correct length screws. The first is the before and the second is the after.