Can anyone help please Acorn plane

[Chip22]

Acorn made in Sheffield England 4,1/2 frount nobb calmp screw Hello I have a very old plane Acorn my front nobb screw is counter sunk but back is brass head. Please anyone know the history of my old plane and how can I tell its age please. Please what is right counter sunk or like me very old key hole stanleys ? When did stanley take over Acorn ? How did the change happon that we make Stanley in England I understand stanley is USA. I want to learn more obout my Grandfathers planes thank you, Graham

 

[Ttrees]

Guessing this a Bailey pattern plane since you said its a no.4 1/2.
I don't know of any countersink screws on any Bailey pattern planes.
Are you sure the screws are original?

I could not make out what your looking for...
Is it the front knob, or rear tote brass screw heads ?
Or is it a part of the frog assembly ?
Screws on this would include ...

Two screws for securing the frog to the casting.
On later models, there is a screw behind the frog with a tab for advancing the frog to close up the gap for a tight mouth.
The last being the lever cap screw, and from what brief information I have read they are interchangeable.

Hope this helps
Oh and, welcome to the forum
You might get the information a bit more readily in the hand tools section, as its plane madness over there

Good luck
Tom

 

[ED65]

We might need to see photos to try to gauge age more accurately but a plain countersunk screw holding the front knob gives a useful starting point as later on Acorns had threaded rods plus nuts both front and back. So yours is earlier rather than later.

Does an approximate date of the late 30s fit in with your grandfather's age?

Presume the castings are painted black? A very quick age separation on Acorns can also be provided by the body's paint colour with red being later and black being earlier and possibly from before Chapman's acquisition by Stanley around 1937.

Obviously any plane could be repainted by a later owner, those originally black in colour tended to have handles 'lacquered' with a rose or coloured varnish or lacquer, although over time this could wear away to nothing. Red-painted Acorns tend to have plain varnished beech handles. In the earlier period I don't know whether they used a variety of woods but some are something other than beech, possibly apple.

Black ones I believe are generally superior in terms of fit, finish and performance to the red ones, but over many years of production the quality varied up and down alongside changes in design details.

 

[ED65]

Since this is a family heirloom this probably won't matter but there is a fairly widely held view that Acorn planes are not really worth spending much time on as they aren't up to much and can never be made to perform at the level of even a typical or average Record or Stanley plane, much less a particularly good one. But I don't think this is a fair assessment from the two I've fettled into working shape.

The better of the two (black) was really quite nice quality and after proper tuning performed as well as any plane I've had, the other (red) was clearly a step down but still perfectly capable and would do what many users would require from a no. 4.

 

[Trafalgar]

I wouldn't know whether to plane wood with it or leave it outside for the squirrels.