stanley vses record

[lurcher]

so men who was is your no1 the stanley corner or the record corner
i am a record fan i dont know why i just bought my 1st plane that was a record 4.1/2 30 odd years ago now i have alot of record planes and just 2 stanley a no7 made in usa that is going to be sold to whoever wants to buy it and a stanley premium blockplane that i am more than happy with .
i also have anice collection of woodies and a nice marples transitional no4 smoother and matheson infill smoother
would like to hea your views

 

[dm65]

Personally, I prefer a Stanley though I don't have a corner plane - I assume you mean that shooting plane of yours ?

Show us a piccie

 

[lanemaux]

Records do not come up much in my neck of the woods , so I cannot speak much to them . That is because shipping to Canuckia from GB could be a tad prohibitive for cast iron. It was my impression that Record were mostly rebadged Stanley type castings and wonder if there really is a significant difference. Not meaning to be rude mind you , just wondering. Not really an innovation as much as a re-release is what I see when viewing the 2 types side by side. Not a thing wrong with that either as my Stanleys work quite well and I never really thought I would need more for my modest uses.

 

[marcros]

Personally, I prefer a Stanley though I don't have a corner plane - I assume you mean that shooting plane of yours ?

Show us a piccie

I think he meant corner as in the boxing analogy- 2 fighters (stanley and record) rather than a corner plane!

 

[bugbear]

Both Stanley and Record made the basic Bailey design. In general, older examples are better, and Record examples are better than Stanley FROM THE SAME PERIOD.

The differences are the obvious ones - quality of material and manufacture.

I am taking the design differences (Bedrock, Stay Set) as too obvious to need discussion in this context.

BugBear

 

[Mike Wingate]

I have plenty of both brands. They all need some work doing to them to get them to work well. Record replacement blades from the '80's were poor.

 

[RossJarvis]

I bought my first plane in 1986, it was a Record 5 1/2, I tried to use it to make a workbench for my Dad and it ended up in the garage till about 2007. I then got interested in woodbutchering again and dug it out. I read some tips on fettling and sharpening and essentially just sharpened the blade. I can't remember if my younger self ever sharpened the blade when I got it. It's the best plane I've got and it even outperformed my Stanley Bedrock. If you can get one from the 80s I'd say they work well from the box, can't say I like the look of the new one's though. My money's on Record. All you need is a 5 1/2 and a block plane and 90% of standard carpentry's sorted. For finer work then you need to take out another mortgage

My Anant which cost £8 new about 10 years ago is very good too, however I did spend two days fettling the thing. And I don't like the plastic handles.

 

[baldpate]

If you subscribe to the "older is generally better" idea (and I do, on the whole), there's one rather pragmatic reason for preferring Records over 'Made in England' Stanleys - the time-line and feature changes of Record planes are better documented, and give more clues to age, than they do for UK Stanleys.

That said, it is quite possible to get a decent user plane from the 70's or 80's - I have a perfectly good Stanley No4 bought new in the late 70's/ early 80's. The point is, the later the plane, the more it became a matter of luck getting a decent one 'out of the box'. Perhaps the market for earlier planes was more discerning and less tolerant of gross imperfections, so the Quality Control was tighter?

 

[tobytools]

Record as im British, then again I have LN, LV and others.
But with the old planes I think record plane performance are superior. Thats my opinion,
TT

 

[RogerP]

I've had, and still have, a mixture of Record, Stanley and other makes. Once they've been fettled properly I can't honestly say there's any difference. Perhaps older planes and the very expensive ones need less "tuning-up" but that's about all I've noticed.