Alf's Boat Anchor info

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ydb1md

Established Member
Joined
6 Apr 2005
Messages
634
Reaction score
0
Location
Maryland
Alf,

I was perusing your info on boat anchors and noticed just a passing mention of the Record 044. I heard that you recently acquired one. Is the omitted commentary a signal to avoid this plane or are comments forthcoming? :shock:
 
Thanks Mike.

I've been looking for an 043 / 044 for a while and finally picked up an 044 on the Bay this weekend. I probably paid too much (exchange rate, postage from the U.K.) but I can't wait to try it out.
 
The 044 is a lovely little plane that sits well in the hand. The blade is easily adjusted for general grooving with the grain, but not beading. The only problem was that most of them came with only inch sizes in blades, metric being a rare user option. The 044 blades are of unique design, having the rack type teeth on the back. Therefore you can't use metric blades from the newer Record/Stanley planes, or from the 050. Thus you can pay as much for a set of blades as you can for a plane. So I swapped mine for a newer plane with metric blades.
By the way eBay is a fickle mistress; I bought mine for £60 and sold it a year later for £25. I just saw your purchase on the other thread, and it looks totally mint, including the cleanest original box I have seen so far.
 
Jarviser":2u6qsb58 said:
The 044 is a lovely little plane that sits well in the hand. The blade is easily adjusted for general grooving with the grain, but not beading.

Since the #044 doesn't have any beading blades, that's not a problem :)

The only problem was that most of them came with only inch sizes in blades, metric being a rare user option. The 044 blades are of unique design, having the rack type teeth on the back. Therefore you can't use metric blades from the newer Record/Stanley planes, or from the 050.

You can use the blades from a modern Stanley #50 - the racks are compatible (enough...)


Thus you can pay as much for a set of blades as you can for a plane. So I swapped mine for a newer plane with metric blades.
By the way eBay is a fickle mistress; I bought mine for £60 and sold it a year later for £25. I just saw your purchase on the other thread, and it looks totally mint, including the cleanest original box I have seen so far.

Ray Iles quotes:

RI012 New irons for 044. Set of eight N £28.00

If you can believe his dead but still twitching web site.

BugBear
 
I am quite fond of my little #044. It is comfortable and balanced, easy to use. My #043 languishes on the shelf now.

Mine came with just a 3/8" blade, so I set about filling the gap. I wanted 1/8" through 3/4" (although, frankly speaking, I am not mad about a 3/4" blade in this plane, so let's say up to 5/8").

#044 blades are hard to come by at a decent price. I finally decided to make my own. To this end I acquired several Stanley#45 blades. These are the ones that are notched and have flat backs. They are very slightly thicker than the Record #044 blades, and may well work out better as a result.

The rear of the #044 has 4 grooves for the adjustment wheel. I decided that 2 were enough (and I am sure that most could get away with just one groove). These took about 30 seconds per blade to grind on my Dremel (mini grinder). The trick is to match the width of the grooves, and all one need do is to use a stack of three of the thin grinding disks.

The blades/#044 work well together. My only gripe about the #044 is that it lacks a nicker for cross grain work (I suppose a knifed line will do). OK, a second (minor) gripe is the need for a screwdriver to adjust the blade depth.

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
Back
Top