Regular Lie-Nielsen blade in a Stanley block plane?

[woden]

As well as honing compound I'm also looking to get a replacement blade for my Stanley 60 1/2 block plane. Would a regular LN blade - not the thinner kind designed for retro-fitting a Stanley or Record - fit into my old 60 1/2. Mines the older type of block plane that pre-dates the change to the newer one with lateral adjustment.

I read that the slot in the blade may not be compatible with the Stanley/Record block planes or is this just the case with the newest version of Stanley 60 1/2? To add to this LN have brought out blades that now have only 3 groves for the depth adjustment mechanism to engage with, again can this alteration work with a Stanley? :?

 

[woodbloke]

I think it very doubtful that a standard LN blade will drop straight into your block. May be worth looking at Ray Isles site as he does a range of replacement blades for different sorts of planes - Rob

 

[woden]

I contacted Lie-Nielsen and they in fact do three different 60 1/2 blades: the single slot version to fit the Lie-Nielsen; one with 11 to fit the older Stanleys; and a three slot blade that's compatible with modern Stanleys that have the lateral adjustment. Interestingly - or maybe that should be obviously - the replacement blades L-N do for Stanley block planes ARE (with one or two exceptions) as thick as those for their own planes - the full 1/8" of chunky steel.

Fortunately, I did this before attempting to order a regular one because when I phoned Axminster the technical rep tried to assure me that the standard L-N 60 1/2 was the only version produced and would fit a Stanley. :shock: I had to explain the above to the technical guy - irony!

I've looked around on the web at sites like Classic Hand Tools but there seems to be no UK outlet stocking the Stanley compatible blades. I suppose something this specialised wouldn't be worth a merchant ordering in for all the sales they might make. Does anyone know of a British supplier or is the only option to order direct from L-N?

Bizarrelly, the folks at L-N weren't sure if they supplied anyone in the UK with these blades so I couldn't get details of a stockist from them! :shock:

 

[DuncanvdH]

I bought one of the three slot blades
from the Dutch Lie-Nielsen representative Baptist
in Arnhem, The Netherlands.
www.baptist.nl

They do stock the 11 slot blades for the 9 1/2

I think they are expensive compared to UK dealers though

 

[jasonB]

I got my 11 slot blade direct from LN and it transforms the plane, you won't regret it.

I don't know of anyone else that produces an 11 slot blade so LN was the only option when I had run out of blade to sharpen, even tried the trick of grinding out the large slot to get a bit more usable blade.

Jason

 

[woden]

Jason, Ray Isles does an 11 slot replacement for the older 60 1/2s. Though, it's just 1/10" thick as I don't think he does this blade in his thicker or D2 range. If Isles did an 1/8" thick equivalent to the Lie-Nielsen I'd go for his instead as I could avoid the hassle of overseas shipping.