Stanley's cute little #1 hand plane- What was it for, and why's it so rare?

hi I'm James Hamilton from stampin up's world working Journal and today I'm going to try to solve the mystery of the stanley number one bench plane I love cute things kittens puppies those little cubes of cheese I can't get enough but while the herd of kittens in my neighborhood seems to double in size every few weeks other cute things aren't as easy to come by to the woodworker nothing is as adorable as a Stanley number one bench plane I use the term bench plane loosely because the thing is so small it's likely to be lost in the shavings it produces and if you're lucky enough to own one it probably wouldn't be on your bench anyway it'd be in a display case protected by lasers this actually isn't a Stanley version it's made by Wood River it's just as adorable but it's about a thousand dollars less expensive the original Stanley's are darn near impossible to find and far too expensive to risk actually using yet there is evidence to suggest that Stanley produced quite a lot of these things between 1869 to 1943 so why are they so rare and what was such a small plane used for anyway well legend has it that these pint-sized planes were made for a specific purpose you see at just over five inches long and an inch and a half wide the tote or handle to the layperson is so close to the adjustment wheel the adult hand simply couldn't hold it in the same way as a larger bench plane but could a child's finger slip in there some believe that Stanley designs these planes to teach school kids about maintaining and caring for bench planes while they were sold to the general public as well it was the once common school house shop class that you are more likely to find them at least that's one theory I tend to lean in another direction and not just because one of my legs are shorter than the other you see not all hand planes are designed to be held by the handle in the way that you might think most obvious take this stanley number 98 for example it has an adorable little knob on it that looks like a mini version of the ones on the bench planes or even the handle on these router planes but the knob on the number 98 is not used in the same way as the other ones here rather than putting your hand over top of the knob you slip it into the palm so that you can use the plane on its edge I believe the stanley number one was intended to be used in much the same way rather than wrapping your fingers around the tote as with larger bench planes you could wrap your and around the body of the plane itself and use it much like a block plane to smooth small areas is it the most comfortable plane to use in this fashion nope which is why Stanley made a lot more block planes than they did number one bench planes at least that's my theory either way Stanley did make a lot of these between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War two so if they were reasonably common around the turn of the century where they'll go then with the way of the penny farthing you know those bicycles that had the giant front wheel and the tiny back one those used to be pretty common too but try finding one in an antique shop today for less than the price of a bottle of good scotch and the liver to run it through the scrap drives of two world wars claimed huge numbers of one's common metal items from bicycles to you guessed it hand planes stanley number one bench planes may have been hit particularly hard for the simple reasons that there were fewer of them than the larger planes and their awkward size made them more likely to collect dust on the shelf and eventually be taken down and end up in the scrap bins of history so if you come across to stanley number one plane what should you do package it carefully and ship it fully insured to my shop or you could sharpen it up and give it a try you may like it but if you do decide to put it on the mantel next to the delicate kitty cat figurines i wouldn't blame you some woodworkers claim to favor them for certain tasks but the only benefit to it as compared to say a block plane is maybe the added weight which may or may not account for much plus you'll always be calling a child into your shop to get his fingers in there to adjust the blade depth god help you if you only have a chubby kid with thick fingers I think I'll put my wood River number one on the shelf with my other bench planes and pull it out whenever I'm going to be making something particularly adorable be sure to check out the latest issue of stuffing ups woodworking journal full of tips tricks techniques and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker you can read and subscribe for free its stuffing ups calm happy hand planing

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 68,199

Rating: 4.9025211 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, stanley #1, woodworking plane, hand plane, handplane

Id: VjDZQXfgquY

Length: 4min 41sec (281 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2016