Vintage hand planes
Work out what it is, when it was made, and what it is worth
A reference for people who buy, restore and use old tools. Dating and identification first, because that is the question you actually have when you are standing over a rusty plane at an estate sale with one bar of signal.
- 90 model pages
- 4 brands
- 20 type-study eras
- 12 guides
- every claim sourced
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Date it by its maker's own changes
A type study reconstructs one maker's design changes era by era. Stanley's runs to twenty; most makers have none, and this site says which is which rather than inventing precision.
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The model database
Filter 90 models by brand, tool type, era and size. Specs, identifying marks, completeness checklists and researched value ranges.
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What every maker called the same plane
Makers built the same sizes and numbered them completely differently. Indexed by sole length, so the translation works however many makers there are - and it is the cheapest way to buy a good plane.
The length is usually in the number
Millers Falls mostly numbered a bench plane by its sole length: a No. 14 is fourteen inches. Sargent put a 4 in front of the same idea. Record took an existing list and added a leading zero. Stanley is the odd one out, encoding nothing at all - which is why this site indexes by size rather than by anyone's catalogue.
That is more than trivia. A nine-inch smoother is a nine-inch smoother whether it says Stanley No. 4, Millers Falls No. 9, Sargent 409 or Record 04, and the four planes produce indistinguishable shavings at wildly different prices. The cross-brand table is the arbitrage.
Start with dating, not shopping
Almost every question about an old tool turns out to be a dating question underneath. What is it worth depends on when it was made. Whether the parts are right depends on when it was made. Whether that iron belongs in that plane depends on when both were made. So the dating guides come first here, and the model pages hang off them.
What you can rely on here
A page only gives you a date, a size or a value if there is a source behind it. Where the research is not finished the page says so at the top rather than guessing: 36 of the 126 models here are still marked unverified, and they are left visible so the gaps are not hidden from you. The sourcing policy sets out where the information comes from, how confidence is rated, and how to tell us something is wrong.
Guides worth reading first
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Bedrock vs Bailey — How to Tell Them Apart and Which to Buy
The frog seat is the whole difference. How to spot a Bedrock in a photo, how to date round-sided against flat-sided castings, and whether the premium is worth paying.
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How to Date a Stanley Plane in Five Minutes
A decision procedure for dating a Stanley bench plane from the castings, adjusters and handles, using the features that actually discriminate between eras.
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Which Block Plane Is This? A Field Identification Guide
Bed angle, mouth adjustment and lever cap type separate almost every Stanley block plane. A short decision tree that gets you to a model number.
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Reading Casting Marks and Numbers on Old Iron
What the raised letters, numbers and symbols cast into a tool actually mean — model numbers, foundry marks, pattern numbers and patent dates — and which ones can date a tool.