Stanley 50 mini gloat

[nev]

My neighbour is cleaning out his storage shed and asked if I'd like any old tools he may come across, being the polite chap I am "of course" says I, "I'll have a look, see if they're any good for me".
Still got the grease paper in the box and never been used, unfortunately one or two small spots of rust from storage but all there I think.

Excuse the pic quality my phone has lost its focus

 

[Woodmonkey]

Great score, I have one the same that was my dad's but I've not used it once, keep meaning to dig it out and have a play with it!

 

[ED65]

Nice! I'd certainly have a bit of a gloat if I'd gotten one in that sort of condition, even if it wasn't for nowt :mrgreen:

I've been looking at grooving planes online a lot over the past months and I was pleasantly surprised to see there's a steady drip of them on Gumtree, most nearly complete or complete and in original packaging, at not-ridiculous prices. Gives me hope I'll eventually be able to acquire one without paying through the nose for it.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Good catch Nev!

I was given mine by father-in-law (there's a pattern here, I think!).

I have the Stanley instruction sheet and I'll happily put up some images if yours doesn't have it, but TBH it doesn't add anything that hasn't been well discussed already. Dodge was recommending polishing the flats of the beading cutters and not honing the curves - I tried this and got better sharpness than I'd managed previously.

The biggest challenges I have are (a) it's really for right handed people, and (b) getting the "runners" parallel (and to stay so!). But I surprised myself by making a fairly acceptable bead recently as a test. It is a bit of a faff though if you want to do multiple beads - one is fine, but 2+ becomes difficult. It really needs a multi-bead cutter, as you can end up cutting away land you find you need for the next pass, or squashing the top of your nice bead with the depth stop cutting the next one. I've got some ideas, but mostly now they centre on a scratch stock!

Anyway, mine dados and rebates pretty well, and I expect yours will too. Loads quieter than the router!

 

[Bedrock]

I bought mine at auction some years ago, but only put it to serious use last week on beading oak t&g planks for cottage doors at home. First of four nearly finished, only three more to go. I had the oak from a reclamation yard near Petersfield, re-sawn from old beams. Very pleased with the quality and price.
However, check to make sure that the bars are square to the body - mine are slightly on the skew, but remedied with a slightly tapered sub-fence. At some stage I guess it was dropped.
The only real downside is that at the auction viewing the thumb screws were present, but when I came to use it, not. Fortunately, I have another Stanley fence with thumb screws which fits, but if your buying at auction, be careful to check all that should be present when you pick up, is there.
Anyone know where replacements might be sourced? Otherwise, I might make replacements in brass. Thread size?

 

[ED65]

Thread size?

You just know it's going to be something obscure don't you?

 

[Bedrock]

Yup, and it may have changed depending on the vintage? I am not going to be too precious about this, in that if I can't source replacements that fit, I will re-tap, and make replacements to match. I will try the two relatively local second hand tool places, but I am comfortable making small machine screws, rather than waste a lot of time in hope.

 

[Pete Hughes]

Hello all,

It’s been a while since I have logged on, glad to be back. With regards to to the Stanley 50, I inherited one of these and have never been able to get it to work/cut correctly.
I hope you have better luck than me with your find.
Pete