I know you said you didn’t want to do a overly done restoration, but dropping some parts in evaporust for 10 minutes may had saved you some time with getting the trust off. Thanks for the video.
I just found an old no.2. Not a Stanley and only marked "Made in Germany". That stamp was imposed on all German products after WWII so I think this one is from that era just after thet war. It was in a dirty condition but after a good clean up and a sharpening of the blade, it works very well indeed. A small plane, too small for my hands, but it will suit my grandson to a tee. (He's only 9 years old.) For him, it's like me using a no. 4. I'll do some more work on it before I give it to him.
Very interesting. I know some of the other U.S. plane manufacturers made an equivalent size plane to the No. 2. But I've never seen one marked Germany.
Yes, I couldn't believe my eyes when I picked it up! Even with the minor issues it had, I think it was a great deal. My daughter was with me at the time and she was surprised by it as well.
Not a WHOLE lot of info on the No.2 Any idea on why someone would have rather had it than the #3 or 4? ....maybe they were a cheaper option back in the day? Grabbing it’s like trying to put 20 pounds of potatoes in a 10 pound bag. Even for my wife! So I’m having a hard time grasping... Why it exists.
Great question, Andrew. I don't think the No. 2 was significantly cheaper than the No. 3 or 4 when they were new, so I'm not sure price would have been a driving factor. Some people have speculated that they were used in manual training schools, since they would be easier for a child to grasp than the larger planes. While this sounds plausible, if they had been widely used in schools, I would think they would be more common on the used tool market than they are. Patrick Leach says that they are good for smoothing over an isolated spot of unruly grain, or working on small workpieces. I've been using mine for that purpose lately (small areas of unruly grain) and I'd have to agree with him. The smaller footprint of this plane makes it easier to focus your attention on a given spot. But you're right... holding onto the plane is a bit of a challenge. For me, the No. 3 hits the sweet spot of being just big enough to offer a good grip, but still small enough to work in places where the larger planes can't.
The Tinkerer's Workshop well thank you very much for the info... I could see the “school theory” without doubt ESPECIALLY for the No.1 also young boys are pretty famous for being able to “mess up a cannon ball with a rubber hammer” explaining the rarity. I figure now that I have it I’ll try and make it useful somehow. Never actually expected to own one... just happened upon it at a flea market for $30.00 I bought it as a “wow,this is very rare and way underpriced” purchase. I’m now very interested in making it something to use and use well/correctly. Thanks again for all the input,and have a great day. 😁👍🏽
I believe many of these smaller planes were made for portability. There's a reason so many of them have paint spatters: they were owned by interior finishers working on home construction. Very frequently they used them to plane the tops and bottoms of interior doors during installation - and these doors may have been painted at the same time, just before installation. Having a very small plane meant a worker had less weight to haul around in his toolbox. This also accounts for how beat up so many of these planes are - broken totes, dings and dents on every high surface, etc. They were rattled around in toolboxes, dropped on the floor at job sites, and tossed in the backs of pickup trucks at days' end. The other idea I've heard is that Stanley/Bailey, having made planes down to #3, kept getting customers asking "well, where's the lower numbers" and felt obliged to fill out the line. That's an amusing idea, but I'm not sure I buy it.
