"Vintage" Stanley RB10 Rebate Plane

[graduate_owner]

My wife bought me mine after watching me trying to plane timber with my dad's blunt old block plane. It was a major revelation, working with a sharp blade. Since then I have learned to sharpen blades properly and have collected some decent planes as well so the old RB10 usually just sits in the cupboard. The plastic handles don't exactly feel welcoming.

K

 

[jonjoseph]

Massive progress today . I bought the later model RB10 on E Bay and it arrived today . Almost in mint condition with the box and instructions. It seems that I have fitted that spring metal piece upside down. The later model with yellow plastic parts has it riveted in place and sprung open . The yellow cam lever clamps the blade in position. I had fitted mine to clip the blade in place before screwing it tight . The instructions about the large screw say to ----Lift the cam lever ---Tighten the big screw --and then back it off one quarter turn. --That leaves the spring bit open enough to slide in the blade and then drop the cam shut ---ready to go . I can transfer that snippet to the early model to make life easier .
So how did it work ? Being a long term RB 10 owner makes you very cautious . Lets see how the belt sander likes it first . One light touch showed a quarter inch bright metal patch at each end and no contact at all in between . Much as we expected Professor . Flattening the sole took longer than the original one. It took a while to get near the blade mouth. I had removed the blade .
So I fitted a new curved blade from the handle .Six new blades wrapped in the original brown paper !
Back to the floorboards job and despite the Spear and Jackson smoother and a much long metal plane and two wooden planes in good condition I found the two Stanley RB10s were the best tools for the job. Most boards are cupped one way or the other.Some boards are concave at one end and convex at the other end. The RB10s are much narrower . That`s very useful . I had to defy the RB10 instruction booklet with it`s diagram with crosses to forbid you to have the flat blades tilted. One corner edge of the blade peeking out was ideal to reach the bottom of a concave board . The later RB10 with the curved blade cleaned up after the older plane. It could not reach it all but neither would any of the wider planes . Then the boards were smoothed out with a drum sander in the shed.
My improvised workspace was at the bottom of the stairs .One end of a plank on a workbench and the other on a convenient tread on the stairs. A relief to do some work standing up for a change .
Final verdict ? Once the sole is flattened the later model is a lovely tool and solidly built . Much easier to use (cam )than the early model (thumscrew ) but , with the tip about tightening screws above , that one would be fine too . And try not to fit anything upside down . That helps .
It was good to have both planes with different shaped blades fitted .
A note about the sellers of RB10s. Calling it a Vintage plane and "It`s got the Original Box " is basically nonsense . Tell them to get it on a belt sander . That`s when the plane starts to work .

 

[jonjoseph]

To round up the story of the RB 10 plane . My original model works as well as the later one with yellow plastic parts. Now that I have fitted the spring steel clip the right way round I can change blades easily without a screwdriver . The later model arrived a few days ago with plastic tape bearing French writing .And the box had an old price tag in French francs . Sadly like my original model it also needed serious flattening on the belt sander before it had any chance of working at all . Now both are doing a great job of renovating my 100 year old floorboards . I have stocked up with plenty of spare blades . The corner edge of the straight blades is fantastic for levelling ultra hard knots.
Overall the design is clever and successful . They work very well as planes (first ) .I don`t know if they are being made any more but Stanleys should hang their heads in shame for selling planes that need such drastic fettling to the wonky soles .They shot themselves in the foot doing that .
So happily I have two that work well . By the way the latest one had hardly been used at all and I had to pop open the plastic knob at the front to tighten up the loose screw . Last minute detail to close the book .

 

[Jameshow]

Was this a paid review?!!!

Cheers James