Bench&Brace

Stanley bench plane type study

Stanley Type 1 (1867–1869)

No lateral adjustment lever. Solid, unrelieved lever cap. Made by Bailey in Boston, not by Stanley.

  • 1867–1869
  • medium confidence

Fastest way to spot one

  • No lateral adjustment lever
  • Solid, unrelieved lever cap
  • Made by Bailey in Boston, not by Stanley
Photograph needed: Stanley Type 1 - bed casting behind the frog, toe marking and knob
No image is published here until its rights are cleared. Sourcing policy.

Features in detail

Lateral adjustment None. The iron is squared in the mouth by tapping it. high
Maker Leonard Bailey's own Boston production, pre-dating Stanley's purchase of the patents. high
Frog receiver Solid, with no separate frog adjusting arrangement. medium

Notes

Genuine Type 1 planes are collector items with prices to match, and are outside the range of anything you will find at a flea market by accident. Treat any cheap 'Type 1' as misidentified until proven otherwise.

Before you trust this

Type dates are approximate and adjacent types overlap. Stanley emptied parts bins before opening new ones, so a plane can legitimately carry features from two types at once. Date the body casting, treat the iron and hardware separately, and expect a window rather than a year.

Go back to the full type study, or read the dating marks table.

Sources

Models this type applies to