various Blades and cap irons

[JWD]

Hi everyone, hope you're all feeling extra generous today!

I've just bought two planes via gumtree and unfortunately i've been had!

#1 was a record no 5, looked great on the pics but upon delivery had a cr@ppy stanley blade and cap iron that was bent to hell.

#2 was a marples no 4, again pretty reasonable condition but had the same problem - old rubbish stanley blade & cap iron.

So my prayers to the hoarders that be...

Has anyone got spares of the two blades and cap irons i'm missing? I'd be more than happy to pay for them plus postage!

2nd small issue is the rear tote on the marples plane is broken at the top and i'd need a 30x30x50 piece to repair it, the wood looks and smells really lovely, is it rosewood?

thanks for looking

Joe

 

[Ttrees]

Whats wrong with the plane irons or cap irons ?
I have never found my Stanley's lacking
You can bend them back to flat, all you need is enough flat area for the cap iron to sit on
without shavings getting jammed between them.

I seen Paul Sellers do it on one of the planes in one of his videos
If those plane irons have the old style square corners, they're probably laminated steel...
These will crack if you're not careful whilst bending! don't overdo it

The cap irons should have a nice bend in them too, but not a twist.
I have bent a twist out of one cap iron easily, vicegrips and a t shirt.
A lengthwise bend will/should occur when you tighten the cap iron
this is a good thing as it concentrates the pressure on that point where its needed.
Especially true if you plan on using one of those as a smoother that you can use to plane in
any direction without tearout, that bend is essential with that thickness of steel .

If that bend is too much it it very hard to advance the iron, I have that issue with a Record cap
I will take that bend out a bit as it will strip the threads with use, and it makes adjustment
of the cap iron very difficult.
I doubt very much that this is the case with your plane or you would have said it
so that bend sounds normal,
I would be worried if things were the opposite case , or if it was too much of a bend,
that the adjustment screw wasn't damaged.


Tom

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Hi JWD,
What is the actual problem with the irons and caps? I have a mixture of Record and Stanley irons and can't say I notice much (if any) difference

 

[sploo]

2nd small issue is the rear tote on the marples plane is broken at the top and i'd need a 30x30x50 piece to repair it, the wood looks and smells really lovely, is it rosewood?

Joe - take a couple of photos of the damaged tote and post here. I've got a few pieces so I'll see if I can find one that might match.

As long as the irons can be flattened (with a hammer), and the leading edge of the cap iron flattened (on a stone) so it makes good contact with the blade you should find they'll work fine - unless the issue is that you really want matching irons for the planes?

 

[JWD]

Sploo you've got it right, i'd really like the matching blades/cap irons to go with the bodies of the planes - i know the stanley blades are great as i have refurbished a stanley #4 and it works flawlessly.

I'll get some pictures up as soon as i'm home! Cheers!

I really appreciate the advice from all of you and it wont be lost on me, i've got a stanley #6 to refurbish and ill be using some of these blades and will need this info to flatten them!

 

[Bedrock]

I bought a Marples No. 4 a year or so back. It came with what looks like an original square cornered Stanley blade and cap iron. The yoke is made from a pair of stamped pieces, welded together, and the tote is unlikely to be rosewood. I suspect that it dates from post the Stanley acquisition of Marples, when cost cutting took place.
It's a reasonable user, although initially the blade seemed a little soft. It would seem to have been used by someone who had greasy hands, hence my uncertainty as to the wood type.
The absence of a Marples blade does not necessarily indicate a later replacement.
Mike

 

[AndyT]

I suspect that it dates from post the Stanley acquisition of Marples, when cost cutting took place.

I think you mean the Record acquisition, in 1983.

There's a good history on this useful site about all things Marples

http://www.williammarplesandsons.com/history.html

 

[Bedrock]

Andy
Sorry - duff assumption. It would seem therefore that my no.4 has an early Stanley replacement blade, from elsewhere. Given what I had assumed as to the age, should it have a Marples blade?

Interesting there is an antiques centre near here which has a Marples no. 5 for sale. Next time, if it is still there, I will have a look at the blade.

Mike

 

[AndyT]

I think that any plane owner in the recent past would have gone to their nearest toolshop, bought whatever brand of iron the shopkeeper had in stock, and got on with using it. Claiming to find differences between products bearing one Sheffield name and another is a relatively recent phenomenon.
I reckon it's often futile, as many categories of tools were made by the same actual maker, but marked with whatever name the customer asked for. Also, some brands were developed for different markets, but applied to the same tools. (There are modern equivalents in cars and white goods, with Audi/Volkswagen/Seat/Skoda or Bosch/Neff etc.)
One example as evidence - I have a 1938 Marples catalogue. I know, from an ebay listing with good photos, that the same catalogue was produced with 99% of the same pages and prices, but with everything labelled as I Sorby.

I'm not saying all tools are equal - there were huge changes over time as metallurgy and production processes and control developed.