It has been my understanding that the aluminum Stanleys were war time production (WW II),
Really? I kind of thought the latter SW period was when they started, but I could be wrong.
I have a spare type 18 adjuster in my boneyard, but thought that might be too new?
yours Scott
Nope. You're right. I found this on Handplane Central:
Manufactured: 1925 to 1935
Length: 14 inches
Blade Width: 2 inches
Construction: Aluminum, rosewood handle & knob
Finish: None
Features: A non-rusting, lighter version plane
Uses: General purpose bench plane
Average Dealer Price: $100 to $300
Average eBay Price: $80 to $260
Vintage Tools has one for sale at $175, and there's one on eBay for $89.95
Patrick Leach's Blood and Gore page has unpleasant things to say about the A4 and the A5:
One of Stanley's dumber ideas, as can be inferred from their short time of offering, was the aluminum planes. The bed and frog on this plane are made from aluminum, which makes the plane lighter. This was the supposed appeal of these planes, that they are lighter than the iron planes. That, and that they weren't prone to rusting. Rosewood was used for the knob and tote. Despite all these swell features, the planes were a miserable flop.
These planes were produced at a time when nickel plating appeared on the lever caps. All the ones I've seen have the old-style lever cap, without the new kidney-shaped hole that was first produced in 1933. If you see one of these planes with a lever cap that is nickel plated and has a kidney-shaped hole, it's probably a replacement. The depth adjusting knob is also nickel plated, as well as the lateral adjustment lever.
They'd be useful tools if you were planing over your head all day, but not many of us do that. Since aluminum oxidizes easily, these planes leave despicable skidmarks (for lack of a better word) on the freshly planed wood. The planes - those that were used, that is - also tend to develop a very ratty look to them. The surface of the aluminum becomes riddled with dings and scratches making them blech to even the casual Stanley collector (well, maybe not all of them, but many of them for certain) - most of them take on a striking resemblance to the lunar landscape after being used. Those that are in mint condition have some appeal about them, but they still have look like of an aluminum pot or piece of foil. If you're collecting this stuff, make sure it's aluminum and not some iron plane in aluminum paint clothing - if the weight of the thing doesn't clue you in, a magnet will.
The aluminum planes were appreciably more expensive than the cast iron models. For instance, the #A4 cost $5.65 at its introduction, whereas the #4 cost $4.20 during the same time. Even back in the Roaring 1920's, consumers were smart enough to avoid a plane that cost over 25% more than one that did a better job.
You have to wonder if any heads rolled for this braindead idea? Lucky for us that Stanley didn't make a mitre box, or something like that, out of aluminum. Hey, wait a minute, they did! Let's just say that the company was going through a phase and be done with it.
