Made in England Stanley 12-204 plane query

[Steve Blackdog]

I have a 12-204 plane that I bought new around 20 years ago for not much money. It came packaged on a card in a plastic blister.

It has the plastic handles etc and looks just like this:

http://www.onlyqualitytools.com/catalog ... 2-204.html

I think the spec is identical, so it looks like this has been a stalwart in their range.

I has always been very poor. I have spent a lifetime trying to flat the sole and keep the blade from moving around. I can get very fine shavings from it, but never for very long before it needs work again.

Now that I see you can buy these for so little, I won't feel guilty about getting shot and replacing it with something better.

Does anyone have any experience of fettling this model to make it any use?

 

[Racers]

I would replace it, an old Stanley or Record is a much better starting point if you are prepared to do some work on it, or go for a new Quangsheng Woodriver Lie Nelsen Veritas etc for minimum work.

Pete

 

[ED65]

Steve, it sounds like one of the things your 12-204 won't do is maintain its setting and obviously that's something you want any plane to be able to do. I wouldn't continue to mess about with it since it wouldn't be difficult or expensive to get yourself something much better, whether you buy secondhand or new.

If you have some car boots nearby it's very likely you'd be able to replace this with a vintage or even antique plane for next to no money and with a bit of luck it would need minimal work to get it to perform well as a smoother. Even with light rust over the whole thing you could get it back in running order in under an hour, including work on the sole.

Another budget option is one of the cheaper new planes, which now include two types you can get from B&Q, Silverline and a little more expensive, the Faithfulls. Some people feel the chance of a dud with planes at this level is not a risk worth taking, but there's a chance with any secondhand plane that it'll have condition issues you couldn't spot in the field, as on my recent purchase, and of course there's much less chance of a return with one of them :lol:

I can get very fine shavings from it, but never for very long before it needs work again.

By work do you mean you continue to do something to the sole? For most of us a sole should need flattening once at most, and never need touching again.