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Picture America in the late 1880s. The states were only 38 in number. Their total population was 58 million and about 65 percent of these people lived in rural areas. Only a dozen or so cities had 200,000 or more residents. And the yearly national income was about $10 billion. This was the scene when, one day in 1886, a Chicago jewelry company shipped some gold-filled watches to an unsuspecting jeweler in a Minnesota hamlet. Thus started a chain of events that led to the founding of Sears. Richard Sears was an agent of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway station in North Redwood, Minnesota. Sears job as station agent left him plenty of spare time, so he sold lumber and coal to local residents on the side to make extra money. Later, when he received a shipment of watches - unwanted by a neighboring Redwood Falls jeweler - he was ready. Sears purchased them himself, sold the watches at a nice profit to other station agents up and down the line, and then ordered more for resale. In 1886 Sears began the R.W. Sears Watch Company in Minneapolis - the rest is history.

Here is a vintage all original Craftsman No. 5268 Corrugated Fore plane (equivalent to a Stanley 6C). The family of flat bottomed planes used for surface smoothing are collectively called bench planes - included are the smooth, jack, fore, and jointer varieties which typically have the beveled edge of their cutters on the bottom side. Sears began phasing out the Fulton label they had been using on their hand tools around 1927. Over the years, Union, Millers Falls, Sargent, and Stanley supplied Sear's needs in terms of planes. The plane has a 2 3/4" tall front knob with no casting boss to protect it from splitting. Note the proudness of the horn on the tote. The cap nuts are turned brass. This plane measures 18" long with a 2 3/8" wide iron. Markings:

"Craftsman" is cast into the bed behind the knob assembly.

"5268" is cast into the bed behind the non-adjustable frog.

The cutter is engraved "Unconditionally Guaranteed - Craftsman - America's Highest Quality".

The lever cap has "Craftsman" cast into a recess.

The back of the lever cap has "5268" cast into it.

The bottom of the frog has "418" cast into it.

The knob and tote are rosewood and undamaged. The black enameled frog has the recessed small diameter brass plated steel depth adjusting wheel with knurled edging. The 7 1/8" long iron is sharp and nick free. The lateral adjustment lever is unmarked. The throat is free of damage and the japanned enamel is about 95% intact. Disclosures: there is some age related patina staining; and, normal use and storage marks. Shows very well as has the earliest Craftsman marking on the cutter.

Condition - very good used as found original as noted above. Kindly ask me to adjust your invoice if you wish to insure your purchase. Please visit my OTHER listings for the unusual and hard to find. Terms are FOB shipping point and shipping charges are shown to CONUS.

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