Author Topic: Hand Planes  (Read 321590 times)

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Offline Bill Houghton

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #960 on: April 15, 2019, 10:04:01 AM »
Cool, Skip!  That's the extremely rare No. 10-13/64 cabinetwrecker's rabbet (or rabbit*) chiselnose plane.  The extension there on the right front can be sharpened to use for scribing cross-grain rabbets (don't try it on rabbits, as they're not pretty when they get cross).

*But not rebate: you're not going to get any money back on that one.

Offline p_toad

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #961 on: April 15, 2019, 12:50:28 PM »
surprise cheapy - says made in usa, but is a sears; not craftsman.   prior owner had it fairly sharp as i laid it up against a 2x4 and peeled some wood without trying hard. 

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #962 on: April 18, 2019, 09:44:02 AM »
Hey p,

That’s a good block plane!  It’s always nice to find an old plane that’s in working order from the get go.  That’s not typically the case.  The front knob sort of reminds me of Sargent block planes I’ve seen.  If the knob is original to the plane, I’m gonna guess it’s a Sargent made tool.

Jim C.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2019, 10:06:00 AM by Jim C. »
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Offline p_toad

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #963 on: April 18, 2019, 10:36:38 PM »
Thanks Jim.   When i get a bit of time i'm going to strip it down and see if there are any other markings on it beside the made in usa.   the sears is stamped (?) with a model  number on the one side.

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #964 on: April 19, 2019, 09:04:52 PM »
Hi Peter,

I did a little more checking and based on what I can see in your photo, I’m still thinking your block plane is a Sargent made tool.  If I had to make a guess, I’d say it’s a lot like a model #217.  Sargent manufactured the #217 between 1910 and 1953.  Based on the knob and the black japanned versus nickel plated trimmings, I’d say your plane was probably made at some point between the 1930s and early 1940s.  It’s a good quality plane that looks like a nice user.  Great find!

Jim C.
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Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #965 on: June 09, 2019, 02:17:45 PM »
Hello hand plane enthusiasts!  I hope your summer is off to a great start.  A little over a month ago, I found a lot of spare time to finally get some things done around the house.  Some projects were things I was going to get to “some day.”  One of those projects was cleaning out the garage and getting rid of stuff, some of which had been out there for a decade or more.  Once the clutter was drastically reduced I figured, well, I should do some cosmetic drywall repair, apply a new coat of paint, and put up some PVC trim.  Like any house, walls aren’t flat, corners aren’t ninety degrees, and as such, the custom fitting of trim is a given. 

There’s a thirty inch wide pass through between the two car stall in my garage and the one car stall.  The opening was never trimmed out with casing and was simply rough cut, jagged dry wall.  It just needed some external corner molding to cover the rough drywall “end grain.”  It looked pretty bad, but was never a priority.  After cleaning up the garage, at least trimming the pass through had to be done.  Rather than using wood, I went with PVC.  In the winter, I get a lot of slush and wet sloppy stuff that drips off the cars in the garage.  PVC is affordable and pretty much maintenance free.  It’s durable for sure.  It actually cuts nicely when using power tools, and as I learned, it can be hand planed too!  That pass through I was talking about was a builder after thought.  It’s not square anywhere, and the opening is a little wider at the top than it is at the bottom.  It’s functional but was poorly executed in terms of cosmetic appeal.  Since there’s variation at the top and bottom of the opening, it required me to taper the bottom third of an eighty inch long piece of molding. (If you take a look at the left side vertical molding, you might see that the molding is wider at the top than it is at the bottom.)  Even though the PVC cut nicely with my miter saw, I wasn’t sure about planing it.  Still, it absolutely had to be tapered to fit the corner properly.  Rather than attempt it for the first time with one of my favorite “furniture making” block planes, I thought I’d go with a utility block plane.

Many, many years ago, maybe during the late 1980s, when I started getting interested in hand planes, I received a Sears branded block plane from my father-in-law as a gift.  I did my best to sharpen the iron and have used it almost exclusively for planing off dried glue squeeze out on laminations.  It’s a useable plane that gets the job done.  It was made in England, probably by Stanley, back when Stanley had pushed a lot of its plane production over seas. The plane is the functional equivalent of the Stanley #220, which I believe was also made well into the 1980s.  If you go back in the thread to page 49, reply 734, we discussed the #220, including its strengths and limitations.  Anyway, this little project, planing PVC in this instance, was exactly what I was talking about back in the Stanley #220 post.  Even though I used the Sears version, it proved to be a great tool out in the garage on a very basic DIYer project.  As long as the plane is used on work for which it was designed, and one's expectations are reasonable, the results can be good!  The last photo depicts the Stanley made Sears block plane (fore ground) and the Stanley #220 (background).  Both are perfect tools for general use DIYer applications.

Jim C.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2019, 04:58:56 PM by Jim C. »
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Offline coolford

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #966 on: June 09, 2019, 03:51:43 PM »
I have also used a small block plane on PVC trim and it works fine as long as the iron is sharp.  Then again, why use a plane if the iron isn't sharp.  I wonder what the outdoor life of trim PVC is if it is kept painted?

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #967 on: June 10, 2019, 10:56:48 AM »
Hi coolford,

Thanks for stopping by the thread!  You’re right, a sharp iron is half the battle, and when using a basic block plane like the Stanley #220 or its Sears equivalent, it’s mostly the whole battle.  Other than the cutting depth, there’s not much more to worry about.

As you can see from the photo I included, the PVC trim is going to be out of the elements for the most part, so I’m expecting it to last for a long time.  As for using PVC outside, well, I just thought that stuff would last for decades whether it was painted or not.  Maybe my faith in its durability is misplaced?  I will say that it does plane nicely with a sharp iron and a light depth of cut.  I’ll admit that after working the taper on that one piece of trim using my Sears block plane, I did make a couple final passes with my favorite Lie Nielsen #60 1/2 block plane.  (See page 19, reply 270 for more on the L-N #60 1/2 block plane.). The shavings were semi transparent and floated to the floor.  I have no clue whether the PVC will dull the cutting edge faster than wood or not, but I wanted to see how precisely the PVC could be planed.  With a super sharp iron set at a low angle and a light pass, the results were impressive.

Jim C.
« Last Edit: June 10, 2019, 10:59:31 AM by Jim C. »
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Offline Bill Houghton

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #968 on: June 10, 2019, 11:21:33 AM »
PVC's a pretty soft material; I wouldn't expect it to be hard on a cutting edge.

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #969 on: June 10, 2019, 01:19:34 PM »
Hi Bill,

Hope you’re off to a great start on summer!  Yeah, I wasn’t sure what to expect so I started planing the PVC with a plane I wasn’t too worried about taking a chance with.  The PVC cuts pretty easily.  I don’t know when I’ll ever need to do it again, but now I know for sure, it can be done with no adverse effects.

Jim C. (Always learning)
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Offline coolford

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #970 on: June 11, 2019, 03:40:57 PM »
This is a Stanley 60 1/2 question.  I have a 60 1/2P Stanley in a box (the P is on the box, not the plane) in my collection painted midnight blue.  Saturday in a $5.00 box lot I bought to get some wrenches was another 60 1/2 that is slightly different than the one in my collection.

Compared to the one in my collection, the one in the box lot has these differences.

1. Markings on the iron are about 1/2 size.
2. It is painted black
3. Knob for adjusting the throat is solid brass, not silver color like the one in my collection.
4. Blade adjustment knob is smaller with different circular markings.
5. Placed side by side they look the same as size wise they are identical.

I figure the one in the box lot is older, but how much older since there are no types listed for a 60 1/2.  And, then how old is the one painted midnight blue in my collection.  No indication of date on the box.

Offline Bill Houghton

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #971 on: June 11, 2019, 08:13:32 PM »
Blue indicates early 60s to somewhere in the 70s production.  Black is older, except that the redesigned English block planes are black.

Is the profile of the adusting knob, on the knurled edge, rounded?  If so, is it stamped "Made in England?"  Redesign, and fairly new (last 15 or so years?).

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #972 on: June 12, 2019, 04:28:10 PM »
Hey Coolford,

Kinda what Bill was saying.  Right around 1960, Stanley started finishing their planes in a midnight blue color.  Around 1970, they went to a cordovan color.  Neither color was overly popular, so about 1980, Stanley went back to black. As for a Stanley 60 series block plane Type Study, I believe John Wells put one together a few years ago.  I’ll look around for it.

Jim C.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2019, 04:33:01 PM by Jim C. »
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Offline coolford

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #973 on: June 12, 2019, 06:34:52 PM »
The black one has a lot of paint missing and it is USA as marked on the blade adjusting knob.  To me, the solid brass throat adjusting knob would seem to indicate age.

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #974 on: June 12, 2019, 08:06:08 PM »
Hi coolford,

If you go way back in the thread to page 39, reply 572, we talked a little bit about the differences between the Stanley #60 and the Stanley #60 1/2 block planes.  The real differences between the two, and the #65 and #65 1/2 for that matter, were the finishes.  The #60 1/2 and the #65 1/2 were both finished with “brass trimmings” while the #60 and #65 were finished with nickel trimmings.  I know there’s a Type Study regarding the Stanley 60 series block planes.  I’ll track it down and try posting it here on the thread. 

Jim C.
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