The wheelbarrow of Stanley Bailey planes.
This post is part of a series:
I found six Stanley Bailey planes for sale on TradeMe (our local amazon/ebay here in New Zealand), 4 of them have signs that indicates that they are from the early 1900’s (low knob, lever cap without the kidney-shapped hole, …). The auction is for two #7 planes, one #6, one #4-1/2 and 2 #4 planes. The two #7s are the only ones that look “modern”.
With a Starting price of 50NZD (25-30 USD/EUR), there has to be a catch, right? Yes, the catch is that they are all …. (c)rusty!
The auction had only 2 photos (see above). By luck, the seller is located in a neighborly village, 10 minutes drive from home. I contacted him and arranged for a visit.
This visit allowed me to confirm two things:
- Four of these planes are from the 1900-1920’s era (patents dates on the back of the frog.
- They are really rusty, one is particularly looking bad
When i came to pick them up, they got “delivered” in a wheel barrow! :~)
How often do you score a wheel barrow of Stanley Bailey planes? Hum? And please stop with your 45 and 55 stories!
First #4
| Type & year | Type 11 (1910-1918) |
| Body | Very rusty |
| Frog | Sound but a bit rusty. |
| Iron & caps | Blade has a modern Stanley logo. Overall rusty, but not too bad |
| Knob | Good condition, small, rosewood. |
| Tote | Good condition, rosewood. It has a crack near the bottom. I will have to break it completely and glue it back. |
Second #4
This one is the worst of all, it’s basically gone. I’m not even sure that it can be used as a part donor.
| Type & year | Type 9 or 10 (1902-1909) |
| Body | Very rusty |
| Frog | Broken, missing top part. |
| Iron & caps | Blade has a modern Stanley logo. The iron cap is missing and the lever cap is severely damaged by the rust. |
| Knob | Big knob, rosewoood. Severly damaged by water, it has multiple cracks. It is likely beyond repair. |
| Tote | Rosewood. Broken in two and missing the horn. The two parts don’t match anymore, likely due to water damaged. Might be beyong repair. |
The #4-1/2
| Type & year | Type 9 or 10 (1902-1909) |
| Body | Very russty |
| Frog | Rusty but not broken. No missing part. |
| Iron & caps | Lever cap is missing the spring and is damaged by rust. Blade has a modern Stanley logo. Blare and cap iron are quite rusty. |
| Knob | Good condition. Low profile. Rosewood. |
| Tote | Rosewood. Replacement. Has the remain of a Stanley sticker. Wrong size, it is too high and was carved to allow the lateral adjuster to move. Horn is chipped and the tote is broken in two. |
The #6
| Type & year | Type 12 (1919-1924) |
| Body | Very rusty. |
| Frog | Rusty and missing the lateral lever. The adjusting knob came with the screw and I couldn’t take them apart. I will try again after the derusting. |
| Iron & caps | No iron and no cap iron. The lever cap is rusty but doesn’t look too bad. |
| Knob | Large, rosewood. In good condition. |
| Tote | Rosewood, the horn is a bit damaged. |
First #7
| Type & year | Type 15 (1931-1932) |
| Body | Very rusty. |
| Frog | Rusty but no broken or missing parts. |
| Iron & caps | No iron & no cap iron. The lever cap is rusty with pitting in the chrome. “Modern” design with the kidney-shaped hole. |
| Knob | High knob, rosewood. In good condition. Has some varnish left. |
| Tote | Rosewood, In good condition with a small chip in the horn. Has some varnish left. |
Second #7
| Type & year | Maybe Type 17 (1946-1947). It’s painted black, has heavy ribs with a steel adjusting nut and aluminium tote/knob screw. |
| Body | Rusty, but not too bad. It was “painted” with some green and red. |
| Frog | A bit rusty, no broken or missing parts. The underneath is “painted” with 2 shades of greens |
| Iron & caps | The lever cap is missing. |
| Knob | Hard wood, tainted, in good condition. |
| Tote | Hard wood, tainted. It is broken in two and should be repairable. It features 2 small holes but doesn’t look like the work of borers. |
Next time
In part II, we’ll discuss the restoration of these planes. All but one are currently treated with Electrolytic Rust Removal. The #7 with the ribs and paint is the less rusty, and i will simply use sand paper to get rid of the rust. I’ll have to come with a plan to deal with this ugly painting “job”…
I would like to take this opportunity to let the reader knows that i made some cool “old tools” designs on RedBubble. You can buy gallot stickers, t-shirts, … My margin is currently ZERO so the price is as low as I can control. So far I’ve “sold” 12 items, all Stanley related, weird! If you buy something, please leave a feedback.
Ch'Gans random bits and bobs 
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