Stanley No. 4.5 Smoothing Plane

[johnfarris]

Hello folks
I have a couple of questions

Today I Put a straight edge on the bottom of my Stanley No. 4.5 Smoothing Plane and noticed around the mouth area it seems to be raised slightly. Not measured it yet but I reckon its around 0.3 mm. Is this normal and will it effect the plane in anyway?

I have bought a Ray Iles Plane Iron for it and straight out the box it works great. Is it possible to fit a stay set cap iron as well?

Thanks in advance

 

[tobytools]

Hello folks
I have a couple of questions

Today I Put a straight edge on the bottom of my Stanley No. 4.5 Smoothing Plane and noticed around the mouth area it seems to be raised slightly. Not measured it yet but I reckon its around 0.3 mm. Is this normal and will it effect the plane in anyway?

I have bought a Ray Iles Plane Iron for it and straight out the box it works great. Is it possible to fit a stay set cap iron as well?

Thanks in advance

I have the ray iles iron and clifton SS. They are a perfect match and preform very well.
I won't get into lapping plane soles as it is one of those topics I'm trying to stay clear of.
A plane with these simple iron upgrade work beautifully IMHO.

TT

 

[bridger]

Concave is worse than convex

 

[Vann]

Is it possible to fit a stay set cap iron as well?

Hi. As Toby says, yes you can fit a stay-set as well. A stay set (or any thicker cap-iron) is a really good way to stiffen any thin plane iron. Possibly less of an advantage with a thicker iron. And IMHO the stay-set is the best design of thicker cap-iron on the market.

The other possible benefit of a stay-set is it enables a quick hone, without unscrewing the cap-iron, IF you hand hone (without a jig).

Get into the habit of placing your forefinger over the loose deflector each time you remove or install the irons - that'll prevent it dropping to the floor (the biggest criticism of the 2-piece #-o ). Simples.

Cheers, Vann.