Showing posts with label stanley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stanley. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Stanley 113
The lever cap and the cap iron are different from those of #3, so you need pay attention to this detail when buying it. My # 113 was in good condition, just a lot of surface rust. I proceeded to disassemble the plane into its parts and treat them with a vinegar bath.The flexible sole should be dropped from the metal arms using a punch.
The sole is welded to a dovetail shaped piece; it fits in the body plane. To take it apart I first lubricated with a descaler (WD40) and then gently hammered it using a punch of a suitable form (for the purpose I used a more little hammer, placing a smaller cardboard piece 
to protect from blows; alternatively you can use a wood piece of suitable form).If your sole does not want to move, better stop the action for avoiding damages to the cast iron parts, very difficult to repair! A common #113 defect is a mismatch between the iron seat and the mouth.
The blade does not not rest properly and could create problems in planing (chattering). To solve this problem, I simply added a 
couple of shims (business cards are great) on the plane seat. The flexible sole should be free from rust. Use sandpaper attached to a flat surface, paying particular attention to the mouth area. The plane must be used with straight shots following the workpiece horizontal axis. It is also useful for the chamfer job.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Stanley 75
There are not many positive reviews on this little rabbet plane, even anything! Today I decided to examine it more closely and verify its performances. Although a simple structure, it has an adjusting mouth. The bullnose structure, with the front part of the sole very narrow, allows the plane for using it in special situations, such as finishing a blind rabbet or working close to the intersection of stiles and rails.
The body plane consists of two sliding parts; a screw allows to lock the parts into position and set the opening mouth to the desired width. Unfortunately, every time you perform this operation, you have to reset the blade (troublesome without a blade adjusting wheel), for which can be certainly convenient to adjust the mouth in an intermediate position and avoid too many changes. Another weak point is the lever cap; it holds the blade in its position by a thumb screw. It has little contact surface with the blade and it is quite thin and induces apprehension when the screw is tightly closed. The iron sits at 45°, bevel down, what that preferably addresses this plane for using it with the grain.
The sides were square with the sole. 
I run a plane tune up. With the blade in working position, but retracted so that it cannot cut, I lapped the sole using glass plate attached sandpaper. The blade was sharpened with a 30° bevel. For this iron type I used the Stanley sharpening guide. In these blades its very important to obtain the cutting edge perfectly square with the sides. The lever cap was in contact with iron only to one side, making the plane practically unusable. I accurately smoothed this zone and in order to ensure a good contact I had to make a slight correction (I used a file) to the protrusions that form the lever fulcrum. The iron bedded satisfactorily.
The final result is quite good and the plane proved to be accurate in finishing rabbets. More than one doubt remains, particularly regarding a good blade grip.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Buying USA Stanley Planes
pdf file can be download here:
https://app.box.com/s/9y415ok5h83c5p73x9x6
https://app.box.com/s/9y415ok5h83c5p73x9x6
A few years ago I began to buy my first Stanley planes on the net and I won my first auction for a strange red plane, paying it only $10.
My skills and knowledge about planes were limited, so I asked a friend of mine for receiving more information about.
When he saw the plane said: "you are lucky, Giuliano, this is a type 13 SW Stanley Bailey. Someone painted it red" and explicated me its features and why some vintage planes were considered better than others. Since that day I began to read all it was possible to find on the net about Stanley vintage planes, and to buy other models on ebay (mostly ebay US). Here it is possible to have a very large plane offer. I always preferred to point auctions with few photos, good information about plane conditions but poor description of age and types. The reason is simple: more type information there are, more users and collectors point that auction and more the price will be high. In fact, information about plane typing are widely present on the net. My first reference is the Joshua Clark site http://www.hyperkitten.com. Here is possible to date vintage Stanley plane (made in USA) using an easy to use flow chart for planes from type 1 (1867) to type 20 (1967): http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/start_flowchart.php.
Of course, during a century of production, Stanley planes had not same quality. Varies improvements occurred as the lateral lever, the frog adjusting screw, and a higher knob with raised ring. The lateral lever was introduced with type 5 planes. It is an essential element, very useful for compensate out of square cutting edge.
The chart I am proposing is intended to help buyers to choose best USA Stanley bench plane, having for this purpose only few pics and seller description. Of course these advices are based on my personal considerations and experience during these years of plane use.
For example, I find the frog adjusting screw useful only for smoothing planes in which a frequent mouth adjustment is desirable.
Low and high knob, on the right a raised ring at base is present
Again, the raised ring surrounding the knob base is often indicated as important for prevent knob breaking during hard use, but this never occurred to me.
On the right, the lever cap with keyhole-shaped hole
So I used these elements not as absolute choice characteristic, but rather as relative feature to identification when other elements are not visible in the pics.
Using the chart is quite simple. Choose what kind of plane you are betting on (smoother or not) and follow the diagram. If the result is red, not buy, if it is green, so go and enjoy your plane.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Stanley 78 vs Record 778 Our impression
During a visit to a friend of mine, Michele, owner of a Record 778 plane, we enjoyed to compare it with my Stanley 78 in order to verify technical differences and performances.Both planes are suitable for cutting rebates up to about 3 cm wide.
Looking to two planes, leaps to the eye the difference between parallel guides. That of Stanley (left ) is supported by only one circular bar , unlike the Record that provides two circular bars support. In both planes there is a stop on the right side for rebate depth adjusting.
Another difference regards the depth adjustment system: The Record 778 has a comfortable wheel for finest regulation,
while in Stanley 78 the task is
provided by a coarser lever, easy to move downward accidentally during the pushing action , compromising the blade adjustment. The blade sits on the bed with a double contact, on the top and on a machined
area just above the mouth. We measured the extension of this area, important for the good stability of the cutting edge. For Stanley 78 this portion was about twice than the the Record one . If we look at the two parallel guides more closely, we see that the Record guide has three holes useful for adding an auxiliary wood fence, important to increase the plane stability while planing .
Unfortunately, both guides were out of square (more for Stanley 78) but for Record 778 the gap can be easily correct,
Unfortunately, both guides were out of square (more for Stanley 78) but for Record 778 the gap can be easily correct,
adapting the auxiliary hard wood fence.
Both planes also have a spur just before of the mouth, for cutting cross grain rebates (but we have not tried to). We then sharpened blades with 25 ° bevel and 30 ° microbevel and tried the planes on a well flat and square pine board (Michele in the pic). We not found very different performances (we even tried to exchange blades to highlight any differences in steel quality ) .
The Record 778 seemed to us better prepared in technical solutions , especially for the two supporting bars, the possibility to add a larger hard wood fence and the more accurate and easy to operate cutting depth adjusting system. However its cost in online auctions significantly exceeds that of a Stanley 78.
The Record 778 seemed to us better prepared in technical solutions , especially for the two supporting bars, the possibility to add a larger hard wood fence and the more accurate and easy to operate cutting depth adjusting system. However its cost in online auctions significantly exceeds that of a Stanley 78.
