chipchaser
Established Member
Found this Stanley 120 block plane when sorting out my dad’s workshop. He is not able to tell me anything about it (Altzheimers) but he was never a tool enthusiast so probably wouldn’t have known its history. As you can see from the first two photos it has a loose washer below the screw that keeps the iron in position. It’s obviously not original but is there a piece, that served a similar function, missing? The screw has only 2 of 6 turns of the thread engaged and those turns are worn allowing the screw to sit at an odd angle. Below the thumbwheel there is only a short projection of the same diameter as the thread above with a rounded end as cast.
I can think of a few reasons for the poor fit: incorrect, too thin, plane iron (although it has appropriate slots milled in the underside to engage the adjuster); incorrect cap from another model Stanley block plane; a missing part. I can’t find a picture of an original one in pieces so don’t know what’s wrong.
The iron is stamped with the Stanley mark on the top and a letter Z on the bottom. It's about 9/128" thick, varies a bit depending where you measure it.
I could improve it by making a small spacer with a close fitting blind hole for the bottom of the screw. That would get a few less worn turns of the screw into the cap and square the screw up relative to the iron.
It’s a very basic tool and I do know that it’s not worth the bother but I quite like fettling underdogs to make them useable. I would be grateful for any info as to whether any bits of the original tool are missing or incorrect.
Graham
I can think of a few reasons for the poor fit: incorrect, too thin, plane iron (although it has appropriate slots milled in the underside to engage the adjuster); incorrect cap from another model Stanley block plane; a missing part. I can’t find a picture of an original one in pieces so don’t know what’s wrong.
The iron is stamped with the Stanley mark on the top and a letter Z on the bottom. It's about 9/128" thick, varies a bit depending where you measure it.
I could improve it by making a small spacer with a close fitting blind hole for the bottom of the screw. That would get a few less worn turns of the screw into the cap and square the screw up relative to the iron.
It’s a very basic tool and I do know that it’s not worth the bother but I quite like fettling underdogs to make them useable. I would be grateful for any info as to whether any bits of the original tool are missing or incorrect.
Graham