Canadian Stanley 41/2

[Chief Tiff]

I believe the original HSS tipped blades were made by an Aussie called John Shaw; then Titan started making them and when Stanley absorbed Titan and Turner they continued making them as there was clearly a sustained demand for them. No other Stanley manufacturing plant made them but some other firms did; I have a “Diamic” HSS plane blade made in Sheffield but can’t date it…

As for MA’s blade; I can’t say for certain if it’s laminated or not! The first pic is of a pre-WW2 type 16 blade where the high carbon steel is clearly visible; the second pic is of a 1911 type 11 blade where you can’t see the join. The third pic is of the 1911 blade where you can just see the two metals differing just before the primary and secondary bevels meet. It looks like there are three bevels; that is an optical illusion caused by the different colours of the steels.

8917FB73-1285-439F-B080-42FA1110C8D4.jpeg 06B3DCCC-2F6E-4076-8457-C4EEC4EC4610.jpeg 3F6540A7-E020-42C4-872B-AFDFB71BAACE.jpeg

The blade has been ground with a 15 degree primary bevel which is why there appears to be much more high-carbon steel than the mild steel backing…. again this is an illusion.

[raffo]

Here are three irons from my workshop. The one on top is a Chinese HSS tipped cutting iron. The braising is visible below the slot, I don't like it very much. The middle one is a later Stanley iron, likely not laminated. The one at the bottom is a 20s or 30s iron. This one is likely laminated. In both Stanley irons, the hardened steel is below the slot. On the back/bevel side the steel has a different shade as well. In many older irons, when honing, the lamination is clear on the bevel, similar to what you see when honing a tapered plane iron or one of those magical Japanese chisels.

20220802_084930.jpg

The hardened causes the polish the steel takes, less matte in the hardened bottom. Here's an O1 iron I made (heat treatment courtesy of D.W.). What you see is the back, the transition from annealed to tempered steel is clear below the slot.

20220802_085336.jpg

If an iron is laminated, it'll be more effective to determine by looking at the bevel, not so much at the sides.

Raf

[Mobyturns]

Photos of my "Stanley Australia" HSS tipped #5 plane blade. I purchased this circa 1981 when we built our first house. It was fitted into my Dad's Canadian Stanley #5.

The join can be clearly seen both sides.

[Jackhov]

I have finished cleaning up both planes and reassembling them, sharpened and tried them out.
They both finished up nice, I think the timber on the Canadian 41/2 is defiantly rosewood and the timber on the Aussie 51/2 would probably be best described as some sort of Tasmanium gum tree, but it came up nice with some walnut stain and a couple of coats of shellac and some wax applied with oooo grade steel wool.
The blade on the 41/2 is laminated and sharpened up better than the other. The machining on the Canadian plane is much better than the Aussie one, when I fitted the frog over the spine on the base I can get a 2th feeler in each side and on the Aussie one I can get 45th one side and 50th the other.
Both planes were ok on some cranky old dry red iron bark, the Canadian with the laminated blade was the best.

Cheers Rick.

Hi Rick,

I wanted to revive your thread as it appears to have been side tracked.

I have a couple of Canadian Stanley's here which I'd like to try to date and make period correct. Your 4 1/2 sounds like it's original and complete. Are you able to post some pic's of it disassembled to show some detail, and of course some pic's of the finished product to see how your handywork turned out. It'd be good to see how the walnut stain on the Aussie 5 1/2 turned out too as I have some hardwood totes in need of a refirb.

Cheers

[Rick47]

Hi Jackhov

My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, my Canadian has the ogee mouldings in the frog, I think that makes it pre war which fits in with number stamped in the blade, 436 which makes it 4th quarter (oct-dec) 1936. Google Canadian Stanley wood planes and select The mystery of Stanley Canadian planes there is a bit of good info there.
I hope this helps.

Cheers. Rick

[Jackhov]

Thanks Rick,

I've been trying to work out if the earliest Canadian planes had rosewood handles and the early arch top frog (pre ogive).

I have No 4&1/2 Can plane with handles that look to be stained hardwood like the 1945 No 4 in the link you suggested. Mine looks to be complete and original. It has the ogive top frog and SW Heart blade with no date stamp on the back. It has a kidney lever cap with the patent date on the back which the US Stanleys had on Type 16 & Type 17 so it's probably from just after the war.

I have a No 3 Can with a 1937 date stamp blade which has rosewood handles so it looks like the pre war Canadian planes had rosewood if yours is the same.

What got me asking is a No 4&1/2 Can I bought online some time back. It showed rosewood handles and an early arch top frog but when it showed up I could see the handles were early rosewood Record handles and the plane was cobbled together from different parts, so the arch top frog is probably from an early US Stanley.

I'm thinking that the Canadian planes only ever had the ogive top frogs.

Here's a link to some blade stamps for you.

trademark stamps | Search Results | Virginia Toolworks