Tool type
Specialty Plane
Everything with one job: router planes, chamfer planes, edge trimmers, side rabbets, circular planes and the rest of Stanley's long tail.
- 7 models
History
Stanley's catalogue in 1910 offered a plane for jobs most workshops now do with a router or a bandsaw. Some of these - the 71 router plane, the 79 side rabbet, the 095 edge trimmer - remain genuinely better at their job than the power alternative and have been reissued by modern makers. Others were commercial failures when new, which is exactly why they are expensive now.
How to choose one
Ask whether you have the job before you buy the tool. Scarcity in this group tracks how badly the tool sold, not how well it works.
Sources
- reference-site
Patrick Leach's Blood & Gore (Stanley plane model-by-model commentary) — Patrick Leach
Models
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Record No. 020C Circular Plane
A plane with a springy steel sole that bends to follow a curve, set by a wheel on top.
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Record No. 071 Router Plane
The Record router plane, functionally the same tool as the Stanley 71 and usually cheaper.
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Stanley No. 95 Edge Trimming Block Plane
A block plane with a fixed right-angle side that acts as its own fence, and a skewed iron.
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Stanley No. 113 Circular Plane
A plane with a springy steel sole that bends to a convex or concave curve, set by a knob on top.
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Stanley No. 71 Router Plane
The 'old woman's tooth' in iron: a cutter on a vertical post between two handles, used to cut a dado, hinge mortise or inlay recess to an exact and repeatable depth.
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Stanley No. 71-1/2 Router Plane
The closed-throat router plane.
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Stanley No. 271 Small Router Plane
A miniature router plane for inlay and small hinge work, no bigger than a matchbox.