Replacement iron for Stanley No.8

[D_W]

by picture, that iron looks .125 or .14 range.

do some googling or wait here for someone who has bought one and can measure it.

I'm curious as to how good my guesses will be (I feel like the guy who can sit across the bar and say "that was duquesne pilsener's glass, 1977-1979...ugly glass, bad beer, but interesting nonetheless")

If that iron is O1, I suspect it will be good - good O1 steel is hard to make bad - it usually comes spheroidized or annealed from the mill if it's US or UK stuff, grain oriented to length and the only real question is what's the hardness (and it's usable in a huge range).

 

[JohnPW]

I meant that Ray Iles makes thin and thick irons, at least for one retailer.

I would phone and ask. Maybe you would have to wait for the next batch.

I have phoned them before to check availability, possibly speaking to Mr Iles himself, and the irons I ordered online arrived in 2 days.

 

[eribaMotters]

More info on the Ray Isles here. It looks like it is 50% thicker than original :-
Ray Iles Edge Tools 2 5/8" replacement plane iron Record or Stanley (RI024) | eBay

Colin

 

[D_W]

I meant that Ray Iles makes thin and thick irons, at least for one retailer.

I would phone and ask. Maybe you would have to wait for the next batch.

I have phoned them before to check availability, possibly speaking to Mr Iles himself, and the irons I ordered online arrived in 2 days.

If they can make one, then they can make another. I shudder to say it, but we as americans are probably responsible for the explosion in fat plane irons because some of the gurus have no upper limit (e.g., if .085 is good, then .1 is better, then .125 is better, then that means .14 is better.

I don't mind .14 in an infill because it makes filing the mouth to finish easier and has no effect on adjustment, but can't remember the last time I had an infill chatter with thinner irons.

If you push an 8 with a vintage thin iron, you may be able to generate just the lightest amount of chatter with the cap set correctly, but I couldn't say that for sure as I rarely use an 8 despite having a really nice one (and the stock iron is stuffed away for safe keeping).

 

[kwigly]

My Stanley 608 came to me without a blade/chipbreaker, but I got suitable used ones from an old transitional (had to cut a new slot in the chip breaker though). Several of the largest transitionals have the 2-5/8" wide blades

 

[Inspector]

Any particular reason you can't take that iron to a good machine shop and have them surface grind it to whatever thickness you want? Might not be cheap but you'll be back planing in no time.

Pete

 

[eribaMotters]

I've just put a micrometer on my old blade. It is 1.87mm + ???.
Help please, I'm having a senior moment.

Colin

 

[JohnPW]

My 1920 Stanley no 6 with a replacement Stanley iron (iron came with the plane when I bought it a few years ago and is already quite well used, more than 20mm used up):

iron thickness, 2.3mm
mouth width in front of iron, with iron set for a very fine cut, 0.7mm

 

[C64]

My 2” and 2-3/8” Ray Iles blades are both 2.8mm thick if that’s any help. Classic Hand Tools advised me to choose the Ray Iles blades for my LN planes as the Hock blades were thinner and so might not be able to get the mouth to be tight after advancing the frog to the limit. They even tried the Iles and Hock blades in their demo LN planes to check compatibility so worth a call to see if they can do something similar with the Hock blade.

 

[D_W]

It's interesting that the feel closing the mouth would be needed when the plane has a cap iron, but I would agree with them for a different reason. Using an iron closer to the look of the original LN will just look better.

 

[Corset]

looked last night and i have no less than 5 irons that looked suitable but embarassingly they are all for a no7. Who would think i would be the a man thinking something is bigger than it is.
I can confimr that ray iles blades are quite thick so i would shop around for an original.

 

[D_W]

I do recall one of the retailers here (tools for working wood?) advertising maybe more than one thickness of RI irons, but having made a gaggle of irons and built with a whole bunch more, I can tell by the look inside the slot that the one in the picture is quite thick.

Thinner irons are often punched out and there isn't such a long clear defined wall inside the iron.

 

[Alwyn]

I had similar problem with Bailey 6 and 4 1/2- Hock blades are much thicker than original blade and sit too far forward. Used the Hock plane in a wooden jointer

 

[D_W]

It wouldn't be difficult for a small group of people in this hobby (woodworking) to learn to make very accurate irons in thicknesses that fit older planes and either sell them for a small supplement or make them as a favor. Nobody in this thread is in the states, but if you were near to me, you could come to my shop on a saturday morning observe the process in about 1 1/2 hours for two irons from bar stock to freezer (after quenching) and pick up the tempered irons the next day.

And sooner or later ,someone would have to think "ghee, I'd like to do that, too".