Replacement iron for 9 1/2 block plane

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JohnPW

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Has anyone got any experience of new Stanley replacement irons?

I'm after one for my Record 9 1/2 which takes the older style of blade.

This Stanley one is about £8:

https://www.stanleytools.com/en-us/prod ... ade/12-331

Hardened, tempered high-carbon chrome steel assures excellent edge retention
Can be honed to a razor-sharp edge
Ground to a flat surface for easy sharpening
Comes with accurate ground edge of 25 °; finishing with an additional honed angle of 30 ° is recommended

Ray Iles makes them but it's £17 (13.50+3.50P&P).

All I'm looking for is a blade that is as good as the original Record blade in my Record 09 1/2 and 018.
 
Hardened, tempered high-carbon chrome steel assures excellent edge retention
Can be honed to a razor-sharp edge
Ground to a flat surface for easy sharpening
Comes with accurate ground edge of 25 °; finishing with an additional honed angle of 30 ° is recommended
You can't pay any attention to that, sales blurb can say whatever the hell they want and it doesn't have to bear any resemblance to reality!

The simple truth is if you buy one of current production you might get a perfectly usable iron. Or you might get a dud. So you pays your money and you takes your chance.
 
ED65":2apfer0n said:
[The simple truth is if you buy one of current production you might get a perfectly usable iron. Or you might get a dud.

No, that's not the truth. What you'll get if you buy a new Stanley plane blade is a perfectly usable iron. Every...single....time.

The rest is just OCD internet claptrap.
 
Accept that you're going to need to lap it and just get it. Or pay more and get one that is lapped. I've got into restoring hand planes and the only thing that I ever write a blade off for is heavy pitting. Everything else is fine, some blades are softer than others, doesn't matter.
 
[/quote]Ray Iles makes them but it's £17 (13.50+3.50P&P).[/quote]
Good luck, I've been trying to get a (custom made) blade from Ray Iles for a year or so...never got a response no matter how I tried.


Cheers
Richard
 
LancsRick":1u4kuut0 said:
Accept that you're going to need to lap it and just get it. Or pay more and get one that is lapped. I've got into restoring hand planes and the only thing that I ever write a blade off for is heavy pitting. Everything else is fine, some blades are softer than others, doesn't matter.
Pitting is no prob if you put a little bevel on the face. It's called 'the ruler trick' but is easier without the ruler.
I don't think I've ever encountered a 'dud' blade as such. Some damaged ones, or worn/rusted beyond use, but nothing inherently 'dud'.
'Lapping' is also something I've never found necessary. I'm not sure why people do it - it seems to take up a lot of time rather pointlessly.
 
LancsRick":xxvc5mkf said:
I've got into restoring hand planes and the only thing that I ever write a blade off for is heavy pitting.
FWIW I've never found an iron that was too pitted to restore, even ones I know others would put aside as a sacrificial electrode in their electrolysis bucket :lol:

LancsRick":xxvc5mkf said:
...some blades are softer than others, doesn't matter.
It can matter. There's a spectrum of hardnesses out there and how soft is too soft is partly a thing for each user to decide for themselves, q.v. David C.'s references to the unusable irons in 70s planes!

But hardness below a certain level begins to be a practical issue of edge retention/honing frequency. While there are certain workarounds for an iron that's a little softer than ideal they're not always desirable, and sometimes not possible. Irons for block planes are a particular case since a steeper bevel is actively discouraged because it directly affects the cutting action, and back bevelling may not be doable.

And below a certain number softness can be a dealbreaker, the steel isn't just softer than you'd like, it's too soft to use: edges fold over at any reasonable included angle.


Jacob":xxvc5mkf said:
I don't think I've ever encountered a 'dud' blade as such. Some damaged ones, or worn/rusted beyond use, but nothing inherently 'dud'.
Modern mass-produced irons (chisels too) are occasionally sold where the heat treat failed, or the tempering temperature went up too high, or something, because the steel ends up too soft. Also sometimes seen is something that leads to crumbly, brittle steel; overheating seems the most likely cause – too high a temp reached or they were kept at critical temperature for too long.

Warped irons are also a regular occurrence as we all know, and although warps are usually minor they aren't always and bowed irons are hard to fix at the best of times. Couple a warp with the second thing above and you have a big problem, as an attempt to flatten the iron, either with hammer blows or by bending in a vice... will lead to swearing to make a sailor blush.

Jacob":xxvc5mkf said:
'Lapping' is also something I've never found necessary. I'm not sure why people do it - it seems to take up a lot of time rather pointlessly.
Not everyone means that in the OTT way, for some the term is just synonymous with prepping the back fairly minimally to get that narrow strip near the edge ready, not the wholesale flattening of a big swathe of iron that's a waste of time.
 
What is the Iles iron made of? if it's O1, I'd buy it over the stanley and pay the difference (the modern irons are fine, just not really that great in the balance of things).

If the Iles iron is D2, I'd get the stanley.

For all of the hype about D2 in planes, it doesn't measure up. It doesn't plane longer than a good properly hardened carbon steel iron and it leaves little lines all over everything (which means that it'll have a very short lived initial sharp edge instead of a more linear or better dulling profile in use).

One thing a slightly less hard iron will teach you is to take larger shavings when you can, which will probably make you more productive.
 
Thanks everyone. I think I'm going to get one of each.

I just dug out a modern Stanley 102 (with red cap and same size as 120/220/9 1/2). I don't think the blade has ever been sharpened, most of the grinding marks on the back came off quite quickly on diamond stones and after honing seemed sharp enough.

MarkDennehy":txgsfoot said:
Weren't the old Record blades laminated though? Can't see the modern stanley blades doing that.
I mean, you can get laminated blades for them, but they ain't cheap...
https://www.dictum.com/en/accessories-k ... _2_48_12__
Might be cheaper to buy a second-hand block plane off ebay for parts. There's one on there for about £8 for parts at the moment...

That's the later type, it won't fit my plane.

I don't think my Record blade is laminated. That £8 would be £12 inc postage and went for a lot more in the end, it wasn't for spares anyway.

Good luck, I've been trying to get a (custom made) blade from Ray Iles for a year or so...never got a response no matter how I tried.

The blade I'm after is a stock item so there shouldn't be any problems with getting one.
 
D_W":1m8dv7o7 said:
What is the Iles iron made of? if it's O1, I'd buy it over the stanley and pay the difference (the modern irons are fine, just not really that great in the balance of things).

If the Iles iron is D2, I'd get the stanley.

For all of the hype about D2 in planes, it doesn't measure up. It doesn't plane longer than a good properly hardened carbon steel iron and it leaves little lines all over everything (which means that it'll have a very short lived initial sharp edge instead of a more linear or better dulling profile in use).

I bought a Ray IIes iron for my 9-1/2 about a half dozen years ago from Tools for Working Wood. It is O1 and is lovely.

One thing a slightly less hard iron will teach you is to take larger shavings when you can, which will probably make you more productive.
 

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