Bench&Brace

Stanley bench plane type study

Stanley Type 5 (1885–1888)

First type with a lateral adjustment lever. Lever is a plain one-piece lever without a roller.

  • 1885–1888
  • high confidence

Fastest way to spot one

  • First type with a lateral adjustment lever
  • Lever is a plain one-piece lever without a roller
Photograph needed: Stanley Type 5 - 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 Introduced. Everything from here on has a lateral lever; anything without one is 1884 or earlier. high
Lateral lever form One-piece, no roller on the end. medium

Notes

The lateral lever is the cleanest single dividing line in the whole study, and it is visible in a phone photo from across a table.

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