Tool type

Vintage bench planes

Bench planes are the metal planes with a tote at the back, a knob up front and an iron bedded bevel down under a cap iron. Stanley numbered its Bailey line by size, from the 5½-inch No. 1 to the 24-inch No. 8, and used fractions like No. 4½ and No. 5½ for wider versions. The smoothers (Nos. 1 to 4½) take the final shavings, the jack and fore planes (Nos. 5 to 6) flatten rough boards, and the jointers (Nos. 7 and 8) true long edges and faces. Stanley changed the design every few years from 1869 into the 1960s, and the collectors' Type Study turns those changes into a way to date a plane from listing photos.

10 models we cover.