“Practically indestructible.” That’s how Stanley advertised the bench planes S4 (smoother) and S5 (jack) (this one), both of which had bodies made from steel rather than the usual cast iron (the frogs were still cast iron). The idea with using steel wasn’t necessarily improved performance but more improved ability to withstand the hazards of job sites and wood shops. According to our research, Stanley started making these steel planes in 1926. So look who’s having a 100-year birthday this year! Stick around. Cake’s coming.
To celebrate the 100-year birthday of the Stanley S5, and have some good old-fashioned fun at the same time, we devised a little experiment to test the plane’s toughness. The question we aimed to answer: Is the S5 as tough and indestructible now as it was 100 years ago? To find out, we threw this one at a brick wall at least a dozen times, really hard. (Yes, the same one we’re selling in this listing). The results are conclusive. Still indestructible! Just look at the photos! You’d never know we launched it at a brick wall with everything we had, a bunch of times!
Okay, so the bit above about brick-wall testing the toughness of this plane was made up. Not true. Would be interesting, though, right?
This is a cool, different plane with a distinct look from the usual cast-iron plane. The flat(ish) sides are reminiscent of Bed Rocks, while the gentle curves whisper in a pillowy soft voice “no, no, this is not a Bed Rock.”
Dare to be different. Dare to go steel.
Ships to you excessively well-packed and insured. But now that we think about it, we might not worry so much about packing this one carefully. Being “indestructible” and all, we’ll probably just throw it in a padded envelope and send it on over to your place. (not really)
“Practically indestructible.” That’s how Stanley advertised the bench planes S4 (smoother) and S5 (jack) (this one), both of which had bodies made from steel rather than the usual cast iron (the frogs were still cast iron). The idea with using steel wasn’t necessarily improved performance but more improved ability to withstand the hazards of job sites and wood shops. According to our research, Stanley started making these steel planes in 1926. So look who’s having a 100-year birthday this year! Stick around. Cake’s coming.
To celebrate the 100-year birthday of the Stanley S5, and have some good old-fashioned fun at the same time, we devised a little experiment to test the plane’s toughness. The question we aimed to answer: Is the S5 as tough and indestructible now as it was 100 years ago? To find out, we threw this one at a brick wall at least a dozen times, really hard. (Yes, the same one we’re selling in this listing). The results are conclusive. Still indestructible! Just look at the photos! You’d never know we launched it at a brick wall with everything we had, a bunch of times!
Okay, so the bit above about brick-wall testing the toughness of this plane was made up. Not true. Would be interesting, though, right?
This is a cool, different plane with a distinct look from the usual cast-iron plane. The flat(ish) sides are reminiscent of Bed Rocks, while the gentle curves whisper in a pillowy soft voice “no, no, this is not a Bed Rock.”
Dare to be different. Dare to go steel.
Ships to you excessively well-packed and insured. But now that we think about it, we might not worry so much about packing this one carefully. Being “indestructible” and all, we’ll probably just throw it in a padded envelope and send it on over to your place. (not really)
