Car boot finds (Plane info required!)

[BluegillUK]

Hey guys,

Hope you're having a nice weekend!

Just got back from local car boot- lovely walk and nice day! Picked up a couple of bits, one of them I was looking for (plane!) and the other two were collateral. Paid a total of £10.75 for the three, which I think is pretty good going. The gauge was 75p, the vice was £2 and the plane, £8.

https://ibb.co/gtjF5a

My question is- I have never used a plane and this is the first I've held and seen in the flesh. I've seen some Paul Sellers videos on use and setup, just wondered if anyone has any other additional resources to aid a newbie to set it up etc.

Based on the Bakelite/plastic handles I've read it's not from Stanley's finest era, but for a few quid (£8!) I couldn't resist.

Any help appreciated!

Nick

 

[Ttrees]

Mitch Peacock does a comprehensive going over of hand planes on youtube.
If I were you I'd be looking into getting a diamond stone for sharpening, as these are very useful
for the uninitiated.
You can trust these to fettle your cap iron/chipbreaker (call it what you will)

I think theirs a brand called ultex that looks to be good value.
There is a good thread called your cheapest sharpening medium ..or something along those lines .
And its probably in the hand tools section

If you are not wanting to go with diamond plates ,you'd better get either a piece of thick float glass (green tinge and is not plate glass,or tempered glass) or a broken piece of granite from a stove base from a stove or tile place, or marble from somewhere else.
You will need to check these for accuracy and flatten your oil stone to this tolerance .

Good luck
Tom

 

[BluegillUK]

Hiya Tom,

Thanks for the response and recommendations. I've got a pretty cheap temporary setup for sharpening chisels and so plan to try sharpening the plane iron. I've got some very high grit wet and dry papers and a marble slab. Seemed to work okay with my chisels.

It was more the setting up of the frog and blade etc as it's all out of position. Is Paul the best resource for this?

Thanks!

 

[thetyreman]

that's an amazing find, I have a no 5 1/2 that originally had Bakelite purple/brown handles, it has turned out to be a good plane once tuned up, in my opinion there's nothing wrong with them, like any plane it needs lapping and adjusting properly and it will perform well, I did replace the handles though with wooden ones, which I made myself, you will find that record vice sell for close to £10 on ebay, so you got a bargain there.

 

[Ttrees]

Fettling the chip breaker can be tricky.
You need fine tolerance to stop the shavings from jamming between the iron and it .
The marble slab will be handy, and with a bit of faff you will get there fettling the chip breaker.
Mitch's videos are the best in my opinion for fettling planes on YT.
Everything in his vids might not be crucial, but you will get an in depth insight into planes .

 

[Phil Pascoe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYyV6IUpsYk
Is probably as good as any.

 

[Ttrees]

This the thread I was referring to ...

your-cheapest-honing-setup-buying-new-only-t102548.html

After you've watched some videos, check out David W (Weavers) fettling and setting of the cap iron as there is
some folks who don't acknowledge that the chip breaker plays a vital role in tearout elimination.
A lot of folks omit mentioning this .

 

[BluegillUK]

Brilliant info from all, thanks very much!

 

[AndyT]

You did well. I'm not sure exactly what polymer the handles are on your Stanley plane except to say for certain that it's not bakelite.
I have one of its many twins, which was my first plane, bought new in about 1978. Despite a lot of the nonsense written about "modern Stanley planes being rubbish" it's an excellent plane. Stanley invested heavily in new automated production plant in the 60s and 70s and were able to make good tools until the Sheffield plant was closed down. Production has since shifted overseas to low wage countries where quality has nosedived, so I wouldn't rush to buy what is currently in shops with the Stanley name on, but yours should be a good usable tool.

 

[BluegillUK]

Thanks for the info Andy, it's always difficult when you're new and you're not sure about something. Even harden when you're not sure if you've got yourself a bargain or been done! I've spend the afternoon giving it a tidy up and a sharpen and have just popped some wood in the vice to test it out and my word, it's smooth, sharp as **** and is giving me some papyrus-like shavings, so I'm happy!

One question- when backing on and off the iron with the wheel, should there be a large amount of wheel turns between adjustments? It's hard to explain in text! For example, when I've got it set up just right for thin shavings and I want to bring the iron down a fraction more to increase the removal of the waste, it's taking me a good few turns of the wheel before I can 'feel' the iron moving. Any ideas what's going on there?

Thanks!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There is always play in the movement, don't worry about it. Ideally you should hit the right adjustment on the way out rather than on the way back, then when you want a fractionally thicker shaving there will be no play.

 

[BluegillUK]

Ah okay, I thought that the iron would move continuously with the the turning of the adjustment wheel but there's loads of slack, is that right?

 

[RogerP]

Quite normal. There is a good deal of slack in the adjuster on most (all?) planes.

 

[AndyT]

More backlash on the adjuster is one of the minor ways in which your perfectly good 1970s plane is not quite as nice as an earlier one - but it makes no difference to the quality of the work. You can also get it on old planes, especially if the Y-shaped yoke has been worn by long use. Don't be tempted to try and squeeze the sides closer together by the way - it will snap if you do.

 

[BluegillUK]

To be honest, as long as I know it's not defective, I can easily live with that! I'm just really pleased as it means I can get on with some projects that I've been wanting to get my teeth in to!

Now to find that Spokeshave!

 

[BluegillUK]

Don't be tempted to try and squeeze the sides closer together by the way - it will snap if you do.

Do you mean the sides of the plane?

 

[AndyT]

Don't be tempted to try and squeeze the sides closer together by the way - it will snap if you do.

Do you mean the sides of the plane?

The sides of the Y, to make it fit the brass adjuster better.

(But don't squeeze the plane either. If you ever need to hold it in a vice for example, make sure the pressure is across the sole, not the unsupported sides, and don't overdo it.)

 

[BluegillUK]

Ah I see what you mean. To be fair, as it is now, it's sat lovely and square so no need to fiddle. Thanks for the info!

Also, apologies for the sheer noobieness of this post but- what's a good wood to attach to the jaws of the vice? I presume something a bit harder will be better. Do I then just cut to size and attach with screws?

 

[AndyT]

It really doesn't matter - it's a good way to use up something that you kept hoping it would come in useful.

Having said that, if you use something reasonably stiff you can get double the length of the jaws, which is a big help for holding a piece vertically, dangling down below the vice but with the top accessible eg to cut dovetails in it.

Here's mine, using oak. I also covered the top edge of the metal.

For fixing, older ones had threaded holes, for which you need counter-bored holes and Whitworth threaded bolts. Otherwise yes, woodscrews, as chunky as you can.

 

[ED65]

First off, congrats on your buys Nick! You did well. That little vice is a peach and a complete steal at two quid.

Based on the Bakelite/plastic handles I've read it's not from Stanley's finest era, but for a few quid (£8!) I couldn't resist.

I've fettled one plane from this era and have to say I was impressed and not a little surprised, given the poor things said about them. Hope you enjoy the start of your hand plane journey using it!

As for the handles, they're a type of resin that Stanley brought in at the time. I think you'll agree it's hand-friendly. But nice as the material is to the touch the best thing about these handles is the shape of the rear one, it'll equal the nicest you'll ever use and IMO is better than almost all wooden handles currently produced (in almost any price bracket) because it doesn't have flats on the sides. It's a subtle difference but if you're fussy about that it isn't insignificant.

On setting up the plane to use, you will likely have to fettle the leading edge of the cap iron because it's rare to find an old plane where this was done, or done well enough. This is critically important to good performance in the plane so it's worth taking time to do it right.

Many guides suggest sorting out the cap iron will only take five or ten minutes and it might, but it may take longer and it's worth not rushing it. First time I fettled one I'd done tons and tons of reading and it still took me about 15 or 20 minutes to get it to seat right on the iron, this was partly my inexperience and partly that the irons just needed that amount of work to sort out. So you might be lucky or not in how close the fit is before you start.

My advice on the sole of the plane is not to touch it until you've tested the plane out. Clean off any rust of course if there is any, but nothing else for now. Loads of people routinely lap the sole of a plane they've bought without first checking whether the darn thing works already which is of course a bit silly. If the sole needs a bit of work it needs a bit of work, but many secondhand planes (possibly most, since the majority haven't seen heavy enough use to wear them down) don't need a thing done to the sole for the plane to be capable of taking feathery shavings.

I've got a pretty cheap temporary setup for sharpening chisels and so plan to try sharpening the plane iron.

That should work fine. Sharpening a plane iron is generally no different to sharpening a chisel, just easier because of the wide reference surface so there's far less chance of rocking side to side unintentionally. You may want to rock the iron intentionally as you hone if you want to develop a very subtle camber on the iron, which some prefer on their smoothing planes. Others just round off the corners. Either will help prevent the plane leaving track marks.