Bench&Brace

Stanley bench plane type study

Stanley Type 4 (1874–1884)

No lateral adjustment lever. Ten-year run, so the most findable of the pre-lateral types.

  • 1874–1884
  • medium confidence

Fastest way to spot one

  • No lateral adjustment lever
  • Ten-year run, so the most findable of the pre-lateral types
Photograph needed: Stanley Type 4 - 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 - this is the last group without it, and the absence of a lateral lever is the single most useful thing you can observe on an early plane. high

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