Stanley no 10 - Made in England?

[Daniel Jansson]

Hello everyone! New to the forum here, but somewhat avid woodworker, whenever I get the chance. You can see some of my attempts at http://www.youtube.com/c/switchandlever

Anyway, I recently picked up this Stanley no 10 rabbet plane from a flea market with the intention of restoring it, however in my attempts to find more information about it it's been very hard. At first, Stanley planes seem fairly easy to date, and this would likely be a Type 15 plane, putting it somewhere in the early 1930s. But some things are off, and this plane is made in England and as far as I've found they didn't start making Stanley planes in England until 1937, so that makes the whole quest quite a bit harder.

Does anyone have any inkling of an idea how old this plane may be? I will restore it and use it regardless, but I would very much appreciate knowing a bit about its history.

I'm also considering that the lever cap may have been replaced, considering it seems to be in much better condition than the rest of the plane.

Cheers!

[Frederick Skelly]

Looks like a nice tool. Sorry that I can't help you date it. But I wanted to say welcome to SMC - we're glad to have you with us!
Fred

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Daniel and welcome to the Creek.

The lateral lever and the blade adjusting fork/yoke may be the indicators. In 1948, type 19, the lateral adjuster was changed with the STANLEY letters reading vertical. This is also when the curved top blades appeared. According to the John Walter states (in 1962, type 20), "the forked lever adjustment is now pressed steel of two pieces."

The John Walter type study information is for American made planes so it may be a touch off for the English production.

Here is another type study that pretty much follows the same information:

http://www.rexmill.com/planes101/typing/typing.htm

I picked up a #10-1/2 and rarely find a use for it. Guess I need to start making a few carriages or something. I haven't bothered trying to figure the type or date.

[Mike Brady]

That plane is much newer than you think it is. It has a rounded iron and the wood appears to be stained hardwood. My guess is that the plane you have was made in the 1970's in England. This was well after the Stanley quality began to slide down the slippery slope of modern business management. Think 1970's era American cars, and you will know what I mean.

[Daniel Jansson]

Interesting replies, thanks all!

Jim, thank you, it seems like you're right, taking into account that it may not hold entirely true for English made planes.

Mike, in a way that's even better, not quality wise of course, but value wise. I would have even less qualms about using it if it was worth less.

I'll strip the plane down, refinish the wood and metal and lap the sole and we'll see how she turns out. As long as it's a serviceable plane in the end it was well worth the $8 I spent on it.

[Jim Koepke]

lap the sole and we'll see how she turns out.

Just my two cents.jpg... Don't lap the sole if there isn't some blatant indication of it needing a lapping. There are probably more planes that have been made worse by lapping in the average shop than have been made better.

jtk

[Daniel Jansson]

There's definite need for lapping, holding a ruler against it I can see much more than just a sliver of light shining between the ruler and the sole. I haven't lapped a plane before, but I've lapped plenty of other things in the past, so I'm not worried about messing it up. We have a good shop where I work, with a good surface plate, so I wouldn't worry. Will probably end up putting a sheet of glass on top of the surface plate and wet-sand it into shape slow by slow.

Cheers!

[Dennis Ryan]

When testing for flatness and flattening, be sure you have a blade in the plane with the blade retracted. The tension from the lever cap slightly distorts the plane, so it should be lapped with the plane set up as closely as possible to how you will be using it.

[Daniel Jansson]

That's a great tip Dennis. It's not really bad from front to back, but it has a decent amount of wear from side to side, so that's what I will focus on correcting.