The Stanley No.20 Circular Plane was a design by Leonard Bailey, who patented it after selling his initial patents to Stanley in 1869. Bailey later became frustrated with Stanley and created a new line of planes, which he eventually sold back to Stanley. Interestingly, this plane from the Victor line was the only one Stanley continued to produce for a significant period after acquiring Bailey’s company for the second time.
My plane is from the period 1893-1912 and appearance wise is missing a lot of the nickel plating.
The flexible sole can be adjusted to form a convex sole or a concave sole, set to the required curvature.
The flexible sole is anchored with the frame at either end of the sole with a screw adjustment in the center.
The sole is adjusted by turning the knurled sole adjustment wheel nut; located on the top of the plane in the center. The screw either pushes the center of the sole down or pulls the sole up to create a curved sole.
Once the sole has been adjusted to form the desired curvature, the adjustment wheel nut is locked by securing the small locking screw just under the adjustment wheel nut.
The frame shape provides handy grips to handle and control the plane with ease.
The Stanley 20 is fitted with the same plane blade, cap iron and lever cap as the number 3 bench planes.
The knurled sole adjustment wheel nut on my plane has ‘VICTOR No.20’ cast into it. And the body of the plane has the Patent date 2-7-93
It was common for these planes to crack around the area where the sole joins to the body (via a dovetail joint similar to the No. 113 plane).