WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT.....

[GEPPETTO]

Hi all,
How someone has seen on this forum, I am a novice about woodworking. It's a long time I am reading all about wood: technique, tools, materials and so on. I think it is better know-how before to do everything.
I had one handplane with which I have planed some strips of wood. It didn't work well. Therefore, after some searches, I thought it was time to buy another plane or planes. I had heard that there was a web site on which I had to buy the items: ebay. Well, I bought three stanley plane (#3,#4 and #5).
After all things that I have learned about Stanley, what do you think about these planes??

 

[DaveL]

Geppetto,

I hope you did not pay too much for these planes or that they are very old ones in very good condition. :shock:

I have Stanley #5 & #7 and Record #3 & #4, all bought second hand and they are all usable.
They all needed fettling to make them usable. The nicest one is the #7 its close to 100 years old and they haven't made then like that for some time. :?

They will never be as good as a new LN or Veritas but then if you have the time to work on then you (I hope) will enjoy bring the tools into use and then using them.

 

[Midnight]

Geppetto...

I'll probably get fragged for saying this... but my first thought was... I hope you didn't pay too much for them...

Personally I wouldn't expect too much from them. Cleaned up, tuned, refitted with a new iron and chip breaker, they should perform fairly well on some woods, not so well on others... Either way, you'll learn valuable lessons with them; how to read grain, how to sharpen, when's the best time to sit one plane down and reach for another... Use them to gain experience, then use that experience to guide when the time comes to upgrade them..
I hope they serve you better than mine....

 

[Chris Knight]

Geppetto,

On the whole, Stanleys seem to be better the older they are. In any case, like all planes, they can be made to work better with some fettling (tuning up). I won't try to repeat all the excellent advice concerning this process that already exists on the web but I would encourage you not to feel downhearted. It is true that the fettling can take quite a bit of time and effort but I am pretty sure that your planes can be made to work quite well.

 

[GEPPETTO]

Hi all,
OK?
I Know there are planes like Lie-Nielsen, Clifton,Veritas which are better but the jump from an un-brand plane to Stanley plane is (I think) very considerable for me.
First, I wished to buy a Lie-Nielsen which I seen on Internet, but when I said this intention to my wife, she said that “the home door is that.. why do you have to buy a plane like that, there will be others...”. Therefore I have had to take another way. I chosen Stanley.
I have paid about 15 pounds every plane plus shipment. Do you think it is too much?? If it is, I will be more careful in future.
I love very much woodworking. I have a child ( 2 years), I am moving home in these years and the things to do are too much. I came back from work at 19.00 and on week-and I restructure my house (physically). Free time is very small.
For all these things and others, Now, I can't spend much money in things which will be put on a shelf for the majority of the time. I hope it will be in next future, when house will be finished and others things will be to theirs places to have “brassed” tools like those I see in your pictures.


Thanks for your answers.

 

[aldel]

Geppetto,

I have used Record, Stanley, WS, Acorn, Woden plus other makes of planes for nearly 50 years now and been perfectly happy with them. Keep them sharp, rust free and well set up and they will be just fine. Don't buy any that are badly rust pitted or with the blades worn out. Check to see that the screws are not butchered and the sole and mouth are not damaged. In my experience they will still be OK even if the sole is not perfectly flat. Remember, many thousands of highly skilled wood workers use these makes to great effect. Damage or drop one of these and its not the end of the world, damage a Veritas, LN or Clifton and it will prove very expensive.
Practise and time will make you a good crafstman,owning a very expensive plane won't. Purchase the very highest quality when you know that you can take real advantage of them.
Do not buy modern Stanley/Record or Chiwanese, they are very poor quality compared to the older versions.
I have just fitted a Clifton blade and cap iron to a Stanley no4 and am extremely pleased with the improvement, so that is a route you could take to keep costs down.

Aldel

 

[Alf]

Geppetto,

Sharpen them up, make some shavings and don't worry about it. If you can't get them to work, then come back and we'll do what we can to advise you on what to try. I'm confident - I've got fluffy shavings from a Hilka before now so I'm not afraid of any challenge.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Philly]

HILKA?
Stop it Alf, you're scaring me!
Philly :lol:

 

[Alf]

It's true. I've still got it somewhere. Possibly propping a door open somewhere...

Cheers, Alf

 

[Vormulac]

Hi all (especially Alf!)

I have seen oft repeated the advice to buy only 'old' Record or Stanley planes as they are better than 'new' ones; could someone draw an approximate line where 'old' ends and 'new' begins? And is there an easy way of dating these planes should they be encountered second hand?

I want to get a couple of decent hand planes but cannot in any way justify (or afford) £36,000 for a L-N or similar!

Cheers!

V.

 

[GEPPETTO]

Hi all, I am very lucky to have found this web-site where I can find a lot of advice about hand-woodworking. In Italy hand-made woodworkink is lost in the time's night.
Well, I begin, for now, with Stanley and, in the next future I think, will buy tools like Lie-Nielsen, Veritas, Clifton and so on. Naturally I must to do very nice and usefully things to convince my wife :? .

Sorry, can you tell me what is "HILKA"?

Thanks for advices.

 

[Alf]

Sorry, can you tell me what is "HILKA"?

What a Lada is to motor cars, the Hilka is to planes. Very cheap, and for good reason.

V, where to draw the line... Well Record stayed acceptable for longer than Stanley, and generally any USA Stanley you see in this country will be okay. Earlier UK Stanleys are okay too, but giving a cut off point is difficult as there's no means of dating them anyway. Generally steer clear of them when they started to get the reinforcing ribs in the casting at the very least. If you can get early Rosewood handled Records that's good, and ones without chrome plated lever caps are early-ish too.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Vormulac]

That's really helpful, thanks Alf

V.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't worry about using old tools. Take a look at the fine woodwork that has been done in your country for centuries. What tools did they use?

I use vintage Stanleys almost exclusively and find they work very well on most hardwoods.

Patrick Leach's Supertool website has excellent information about Stanley planes and will help you learn more about yours.

The most important skill of all is learning to sharpen your tools. A dull tool, no matter what brand, will completely frustrate you. An easy and inexpensive method of sharpening is to use a side holding blade jig and abrasive sheets on a flat surface. Brent Beach has done some wonderful blade studies and has come up with the easiest sharpening method I know of.

Start your woodworking with straight grained woods that aren't extremely hard to develop your skills and confidence. Enjoying yourself is the only real requirement in woodworking.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi all (especially Alf!)

I have seen oft repeated the advice to buy only 'old' Record or Stanley planes as they are better than 'new' ones; could someone draw an approximate line where 'old' ends and 'new' begins? And is there an easy way of dating these planes should they be encountered second hand?

I want to get a couple of decent hand planes but cannot in any way justify (or afford) £36,000 for a L-N or similar!

Cheers!

V.

Pre WWII is a pretty good rule of thumb.
The biggest difference is the quality of the blade and the totes. Vintage Stanleys used laminated blades which take a keen edge and keep it a reasonably long time. The old growth Brazilian Rosewood totes on vintage Stanleys are unmatched by any modern planes. I'm not as familiar with Records so I'll let your countrymen speak to that.

 

[GEPPETTO]

Hi all,
I have done the tuning operation on the #3 and #4.
I have glued a sandpaper grit #50 on a piece of glass which put on a block of straight marble and pushed the planes on it.
The sole has become very straight.
I have polished the other parts like frog-adjuster-nut,cap-iron and all screws with fine steel wool, and they have become shining.
The planes seem like new brand.
Next days I will sharpen the blade and I hope they will work very well.

After,I will tell if they make very thin shavings.
Bye at soon.

 

[bugbear]

I have glued a sandpaper grit #50 on a piece of glass which put on a block of straight marble and pushed the planes on it.
The sole has become very straight.

Perhaps :shock:

I have much advice on plane tuning.
http://www.geocities.com/plybench/plane.html

BugBear