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A few months ago I started a thread about a vintage block plane I found in my late grandfathers toolbox. I wanted to restore it, but it was missing the blade and the level cap so I never really did anything. Well I was looking through his box of tools again I found the lever cap so I decided to start to restore it. I wanted to get rid of all the dirt, grime, rust, and get everything oiled up and working properly. That meant leveling the bottom of the plane, but leaving some of the scratches and original wear. I think I was able to accomplish this, but I still have no idea what model plane this is and I don't know what size and type of blade to get (I'm thinking of a hock blade). I found a few markings on it (C and 1820) on different parts of the plane, does this mean anything? Can anyone tell me what size and type of blade I need as well as what model plane this is? Thanks

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Pretty sure it's a Stanley 9 1/2 block plane, probably from the 40s or early 50s. The c and the 1820 are just casting numbers and letters, and they don't correspond to when it was built though someone with more knowledge of stanley planes could probably tell you more about what the casting numbers and letters mean.

You should get a 1 5/8 inch wide blade for this block plane. I actually have a bunch of these original blades from going to local flea markets, so if you want one let me know, but I think your better off going with a hock or lee valley/lie nielsen blade if the cost isn't such an issue. The newer replacement blades take less work to get sharp, and I feel they stay sharp longer. Also, a toothing blade is useful for working in difficult grained wood. I think www.toolsforwoodworking.com sells toothed blades for this plane.

Jonas

There is a great site on Stanley planes with the wierd name "Patricks blood and gore". I kid you not, thats the name. The following is the url for the block plane section.
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan2.htm

This site is a treasure trove of historical info on Stanley planes.
Good luck with it.

Len

It looks a lot like the old 62 1/2 low angle Stanley I have but is a higher angle so is probably a 9 1/2. The old guy I got mine from bought it used in the early 50's. There are a lot of these adjustable mouth block planes and they are a cool find. I payed $20.00 for mine and only needed a couple hours to get it into usable shape. The original iron needed some work to reshape the angle and sharpen. I love this little plane and use it for lots of tasks in the shop. I was going to upgrade the iron to a Hock but the original holds an edge so well so I just stayed with it.

Woodcraft has the 1 5/8 Hock blades for these planes.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Nice plane. It looks like a #9 1/2 to me, too. Possibly, it's a #15, which is very similar except for being ~7" long, vs. ~6" for the #9 1/2. So, easy to check.

For age, it has the newer appointments except the sides are smooth (no thumb depressions / Hand-y grip). So it's probably WWII era.

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David Malicky

Hope you get lots of uses for it in luthiery .cheers