by Paul Van Pernis After a series of ever more contentious disputes, Leonard Bailey left The Stanley Rule & Level Company in 1874 to strike out on his own in the tool-making business. Within weeks, he set up shop in Hartford, Connecticut, as Leonard Bailey & Co. and started to produce his Victor line of …
A Field Guide For Leonard Bailey’s Victor Block Planes Read More »
In an April 2017 blog entitled “Justus Traut’s Bull-Nose Plane” I discussed a delightful little bull-nose plane from the Stanley Model Shop that was the product of Justus Traut’s inventive prowess (See Figure 1). The plane is based on patent No. 291,815 granted to Traut on January 8th, 1884(See Figure 2). I wrote at that …
Justus Traut’s “Bull-nozed” Convertible Block Plane Read More »
Brown’s 51st International Antique Tool Auction was held on October 28th, 2017, at the Radisson Hotel in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. There was active bidding in the room as well as from absentee bidders. The prices realized that are listed in this post include a 13% buyer’s premium. Prices shown below enclosed in square brackets are …
This post is a bit longer than those I’ve written in the past, but I hope you’ll enjoy the story that’s in here about another interesting plane from the Stanley Model Shop. 1873 to 1879 were tough years for the Stanley Rule & Level Company as well as the rest of the U.S. economy. The …
It’s late in the year 1875, and Justus Traut and the men in his shop at Stanley Rule & Level Company are still diligently working on a cutter adjustment mechanism for the Stanley #110 block plane. Traut and Henry Richards, one of the “mechanics” working in Traut’s shop, produced the block plane prototype shown in …
#120 Model Shop Prototype Block Plane; From Evolution to Production Read More »
As I told you in my last post, Stanley Rule & Level Company introduced the #110 non-adjustable block plane sometime in 1874. The plane was derived from Justus Traut’s patent No. 159,865 granted on February 16, 1875. Traut had sent in his patent application on November 13, 1874 at about the time Stanley started advertising …
Justus Traut’s Early Adjustable #110 Block Planes Read More »
On July 6, 1852, Birdsill Holly was granted Patent No. 9,094 for a cast iron bench plane. In addition to his cast iron bench planes he produced and sold two models of a cast iron block plane. There are no individual patents for these block planes and they were manufactured for only about 8 years …
October 29th, 2016, Radisson Hotel, Camp Hill, PA By: John G Wells Prices realized in this article include a 13% buyer’s premium. A 3% discount is available for cash or a good check. Prices enclosed in square brackets are pre-auction estimates taken from the Brown auction catalog No. 49. The condition of all items was …
Aluminum Block Planes from the Stanley Model Shop In the first couple of decades of the 20th century, aluminum became available to manufacturers at a reasonable cost. Although aluminum comprises 8.2% of the earth’s crust, making it the most abundant metal in nature, it never occurs in its free form. In 1825, Hans Christian Oersted, …
In my last blog post I talked about two Stanley block planes with rosewood buttons on their knuckle joint lever caps. In this post I’m going to discuss two more block planes from the Stanley Model Shop that are variations on that theme. And these two planes appear to have been made at least a …