The Stanley No. 55 is not an ordinary plane.
It is a system.
When complete and properly tuned, it does things that seem almost inappropriately complex. When incomplete, it quickly becomes a beautiful but stubborn piece of cast iron.
Character
The No. 55 demands patience.
It is not a tool for quickly flattening a board. It is a mechanical kit for someone who wants to understand profile, fence, and repeatability.
Construction
Cast iron body, brass fences. Four rods along which the auxiliary skate slides. Over 50 interchangeable irons for different profiles — grooves, mouldings, rebates, special cuts.
Iron clamping: screw and brass lever. Depth adjustment: rotating knob.
Use
- Grooves (dado, rabbet, groove)
- Moulding profiles
- Hollow and round cuts
- Match planing (tongue and groove)
- Special profiles (skeg, ogee)
Not suited for: basic flattening, beginners, working in a hurry.
What catches you out
The most common problem: missing parts. The No. 55 was sold as a set — losing an iron or a fence rod means limited use.
The second problem: poorly ground irons. The iron profile must match the template exactly. Improvisation does not work.
Restoration / tuning
- Check completeness — compare against the catalogue (Stanley No. 55 Parts List is findable)
- Clean all sliding parts of rust (WD-40, then oil)
- Sharpen at least the basic iron set (flat, grooving)
- Set depth and fence on a test piece of softwood
- Test on ash or pine
Personal note
The biggest mistake is expecting simplicity from it.
This plane is not simple. It is precise.