Bruce said:

>  But
> my main method of identifying Millers Falls planes when produced for the
> mass marketers is two distinct characteristics of MF.  The raised portion
> around the knob and the half turnover on the lateral.  I may be wrong, but I
> feel this identifies the better made planes and if they made planes with any
> other features, they just aren't the same quality.
>
> Is it possible that Stanley or Sargent made the planes that have the double
> folded lateral

    Laterals of all persuasions are out there.  The big boys made
planes to the specifications of hardware chains and the like for
resale. My observation is that lateral levers were sometimes changed.
Also, in the past hundered years, a lot of lateral levers were swapped
around to replace missing or broken ones.  Add on that some small time
makers used similar levers to those of the big boys.  That adds up, to
me, to be not so good an indicator of who made the plane.

 >and the flat toe?

    Whazzat den?

    The toe on Type 1 planes has the  "Millers Falls" cast into it.
The successive types have the radiating ribs from the knob boss.  Both
are unique and distinct, but the radiating ribs are not viewable until
the knob  is removed.  This can pose a problem for the prospective
buyer if the seller is reluctant for him to start unscrewing things
from his planes.  That is why the recognition of the frogs is such a
good technique.  It takes but a moment to site down the back and tell
if the frog belongs to the makers you are familiar with.  All it takes
is a little investment in time to fix these search targets in the old
cranial storage device.  I have the working assumption that the makers
changed a lot of things when they were the OEM, but changing the
castings would have been prohibitively expensive and they did not do
it.  Therefore, the frog and frog recievers stayed the same and are
the best test of manufacturer.

Regards,
Steve