Hand plane haul

[RobSmart]

I picked these up a few weeks ago. Stanley 4 1/2, Stanley 5 1/2 , record no 8 and a record 102. All in pretty good condition. I'll probably restored them individually over time. be nice to have the records in the original blue rather than the black paint they have got over the years. Pretty good price too, £90 for the lot.

 

[Droogs]

nice one, ideal to have as a starter set

 

[Vann]

A Record No.08 with 'Stay-Set' cap-iron :!: Very nice ccasion5:

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Racers]

+1 on the No8 SS that's a very nice plane with a laminated blade by the looks of it.

Pete

 

[richarddownunder]

I agree with the 2 above (being a bit of an Record SS fan, but not in the same league as Vann :wink: )!

Cheers
Richard

 

[D_W]

Very nice spread of stuff, and great price, too.

 

[RobSmart]

How do you know if its got a laminated blade? And what difference does that make?

It does have a split cap iron as well which i have never seen before.

 

[lurker]

How do you know if its got a laminated blade? And what difference does that make?

It does have a split cap iron as well which i have never seen before.

The ss told us it had a cap iron like that.
Which is why we are drooling
That no 8 is something rather special


Yer jammy devil

 

[deema]

A laminated blade has a soft iron back with a tool steel front, which makes it very quick to sharpen as there is not much hard tool steel to remove. The soft iron back is easy to remove when sharpening and provides the necessary support to the thin tool steel that acts as the cutting edge. The hard tool steel will hold a really sharp edge, and the fact that it's thin is not any disadvantage as the cutting edge is all that does the work.

To produce a laminated blade takes skill and effort, as the soft iron needs to be forge welded to the tool steel. They are also normally hammered, which modifies the grain structure producing a better blade. It's a process that you don't now find in modern mass produced European blades.

All high quality Japanese plane blades (Samaria swords) are laminated and are highly rated for their ability to hold an extremely sharp edge for a long period.

 

[RobSmart]

Do you think i should restore it and paint it the original blue, or leave it with its current patena?

All the planes need the blades jointing square as they have been sharpened rather poorly before.

Any advice on how to do that by hand?

 

[Bm101]

Rob are the corners pared up slightly so the edge of the blade is convex? Lower in the middle but uniform across the blade?

 

[Racers]

How do you know if its got a laminated blade? And what difference does that make?

It does have a split cap iron as well which i have never seen before.

Its the square shoulders on the top of the blade that tell you its a laminated blade, they are very nice steel.

Hard sharpening on a long length of 60 grit stretched tight would be the quickest way of squaring up the blades.

But the No8 I would leave with a slight camber as it makes edge jointing much easier, as you can take a varying thickness shaving depending on where you run the plane.

Pete

 

[bugbear]

All the planes need the blades jointing square as they have been sharpened rather poorly before.

Check carefully before doing that - I once had a Record #4 1/2 with a slightly skewed frog bed,
and the blade was sharpened with the opposite skew.

I carefully and accurately squared up the blade ( ) and found I needed the full
travel of the lateral adjuster to bring the edge parallel with the sole...

I eventually machined the frog seating to sit squarely, but it was a lesson learnt about the
relation of a skewed bedding to blade squareness.

BugBear

 

[lurker]

All the planes need the blades jointing square as they have been sharpened rather poorly before.

Check carefully before doing that - I once had a Record #4 1/2 with a slightly skewed frog bed,
and the blade was sharpened with the opposite skew.

I carefully and accurately squared up the blade ( ) and found I needed the full
travel of the lateral adjuster to bring the edge parallel with the sole...

I eventually machined the frog seating to sit squarely, but it was a lesson learnt about the
relation of a skewed bedding to blade squareness.

BugBear

Not just me then!

 

[RobSmart]

Pete, can't you achieve that just by using the aduster? If the edge is onot square i find it eaiser to skew the blade to cut it heavy on one side till its square and then level it out. Surely thats easier than having to keep the plane running along the same part across the whole board?

 

[Racers]

If your board is out by the same amount on the same side then yes, adjust the lateral lever to take a tapered cut then set the back to parallel.
But if your board is our by different amounts and on different sides on the fly lateral adjustments might be really tricky, a cambered blade is like having a self adjusting plane.


Pete

 

[RobSmart]

I think I see what you mean now.

The blade is convex as suggested, and its not as far off square as I thought. The 5 1/2 is the worse one. That one has a mostly straight edge with about the last 1/8th tapering off a fair bit.

The no 8 blade is still a bit of mess though with a lot of different grind marks in it, but nothing a session my diamond stones won't sort out.

 

[Bod]

Do you think i should restore it and paint it the original blue, or leave it with its current patena?

All the planes need the blades jointing square as they have been sharpened rather poorly before.

Any advice on how to do that by hand?

Sharpen and use.
Do not do anything else, enjoy the feel of skilled use. It's a spirit thing.
Repaint......buy a new one!

Bod

 

[deema]

Here is how my planes are setup, everyone is different but I will try to explain why I've done what I've done

No 4 and 41/2. These are my smoothing planes, used for the very final plane to produce the surface onto which any oil, French polish etc is applied (paint needs a roughed up surface) the plane blades are virtually flat across with only the very tips honed back. The planes are used to cut shavings that you can see through when the blade is extended for use. With the blade setup ready for use the tips of the blade are just inside the mouth, so, they are just a few thou lower than the main blade. The blade is flat because a I want a flat surface and one that will reflect the light evenly which requires the surface to have no discernible ripple.

No 6,7,8. These are used primarily for straightening the edges of boards, but I also use the No6,7 for flattening the faces of boards on occassions. The blades are sharpened to have a very shallow convex shape, the curve is consistent across the entire blade. When the blade is set for the deepest cut I'm likely to make with these planes the tips of the blade are inside the mouth.

When planing the edge of the board, you need to both compensate for your natural balance which will tip the plane towards your body and also to correct for an edge that is out of square. You want to do this without tipping the plane on an edge, as it's impossible to hold a plane on an edge with the plane sole not fiat in the surface consistently through a cut. So, when an edge is square and your just flattening it you centre the plane on the wood and plane away. If the board is out if square you move the plane over so that the centre of the plane is on the edge of the board which is higher than the other. When you now plane, the highest edge will have a deeper cut taken off it due to the blade being convex, and taking a deeper shaving in the middle of the blade. Once the wood is square you move the plane back into the middle to take any further cuts. The surface will have a very slight scallop taken out of it, which if you want it flat you can correct with a quick pass of the smoother. However, most edges of boards are prepared to be joined to something else, the slight scallop helps ensure you have a good edge / glue surface as it will compress flat when clamped.

The No 5 / 51/2has a very clear convex shape, the curve is again consistent across the blade, and I can take 1/16 cut with the tips still just inside the mouth. The jack plane is normally used as a general purchase plane, it takes down stock quickly, can edge relatively thin boards without a problem, but not smooth. So if I want to take off 1/4" it's what I would use to get rid of the bulk, and finish off with a no4 (depending on what it is I would normally use a no 6,7,8 before a final swipe with a No 4/41/2.

If you hone all of your plane blades to be completely flat without any curve you are IMO not using them to their true potential / designed use. There is a whole school of thought that all plane irons should be square with just the tips honed back a little (stops unsightly lines appearing on the surface you've planed). It's not my way of working so I won't go into how they use them

 

[RobSmart]

That's very interesting, thanks for the explanation.