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Stanley 444

I certainly haven't!

If I had, I think I'd be cashing it in.

I know that I have more tools than many people, and probably more than I need for what little woodworking I do these days. But the 444 is, I think, an interesting extreme case*, where the difficulty of setting up and using the tool means that, for most of the time, it's easier and quicker to use an ordinary saw and a chisel, maybe with a diy angle block as a guide.


*Other examples include some uses of the Howkins planes and the Stanley 55.
 
I love a sliding dovetail joint, but no, I've never heard of this tool, and I can make the joint well enough without.
 
The YouTube clip leads me to the view that it was a reasonable attempt to develop a specialised tool for just one job. It also made me think that if one chap regularly faced that task, he would probably become quite good at doing a decent job with that tool. Whether or not he would become more efficient than if he were using other methods is a matter of conjecture.

I think I'd be prepared to cough up 25 quid for one on the basis of it being an interesting thing but I certainly wouldn't pay hundreds for one.
 
So I was wondering who might use one (or at least find the investment worthwhile, and I'm struggling a bit to think.

At what date were they introduced?

Long case clock back boards have sliding dovetails to hold cross-battens in place, to stop the boards moving about (much!). Ours has three, which I think is normal, but it was made at least a century before this plane was probably sold.

Factory made chests of drawers would presumably have used something like an overhead router, even early on in the last century, and anyway this plane only does "through" sliding dovetails rather than stopped ones I think.

So what common use might it have had?

E.

PS: The use _must_ have actually been uncommon, as it evidently didn't catch on well.
 
Patrick Leach says it was produced from 1912 to 1938.

The brevity of production can be read as evidence that it never did sell well, which is one reason why it's attractive to collectors, maybe more than it ever was to users.
 
I wonder if it's the sort of thing that Veritas would look at in order to produce a modern version which is much simple to operate. Then again, as you say, the demand is probably not too high.
 
I once found a complete 444 for small money at a flea market. I ended up selling it to a collector in Germany. My wooden dovetail plane is way better for making the male part of sliding dovetails and my stair saw and router plane are way better for the female part. The 444 ended up where it belongs. With a collector who values rarity more than practicality.
 
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