Someone has made a copy of Stanley’s No.181 Rabbet Plane in aluminium. The have used an actual No.181 as the pattern.
The Stanley original is a basic rabbet plane that is one of a series of various widths. The No. 181 is 1 1/4 in wide.
Obviously someone with access to a furnace and moulding sand has decided to make their own. Because of the simple shape, an actual No. 181 could have been used as the pattern and the sand mould made around it. Having done a little bit of foundry work during my metallurgy degree, this would have been quite a simple operation.
Stanley stopped making the No. 181 in 1918, which may be the reason why a copy was made. During the post WW2 period in Australia, some tools were hard to get. That may have led to a workshop or foundry making their own replacement tools.
Why aluminium? Possibly aluminium was used for the simple reason that it has a lower melting point than other options.
| Aluminium | Melting Point 660oC |
| Bronze | Melting Point 913oC |
| Brass | Melting Point 930oC |
| Steel | Melting Point 1205-1370oC |
| Iron | Melting Point 1538oC |
On the original No. 181, the lever cap has a large thumb screw to tighten and help position the blade. In this copy, that hasn’t been included. Instead the lever cap is tightened onto the blade via the positioning screw in the middle.
Another difference is that there is no provision for a depth stop.