Stanley no.46

[pitch pine]

On Friday I dropped my car off at the local garage to get new rear coil springs fitted, and I had a couple of hours to kill. I went to the charity shops, had some lunch and on the way back to the garage called in at an antiques shop. They sometimes have woodworking tools in but they are usually over-priced. Anyway this was sitting in the cabinet for the more expensive items. I asked to have a look and thinking it might be a 45 was expecting to see a price of at least £50. It was £27! It was my lucky day. It has cleaned up nicely and I think everything is present. Does anyone have experience of using one of these?

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Not been lucky enough to use one myself, but ... major bargain ! Did you get a set of cutters with it ? They can be hard to find. Though possible to make, I guess.

 

[pitch pine]

Just the cutter in the plane Tony 3/16". I did ask whether there were any others but the woman that served me said it was her husband who picked up the plane. I think I will go back when he is there just in case they are sitting in a box somewhere.

 

[Argus]

That looks like a very good example of a 46...... which is a lovely tool to use, in my opinion.

The blades caan be a bit tricky. I think that originally there were 10 or 11 cutters, depending on its age. There's a bit more about it here:
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan7.htm

Unfortunately, you will need to get the right blades, because not only is the cutting edge skewed, the sides are too, which means that square-edged blades won't register in the clamp corectly.
They crop up occasionally on the second hand market, and I believe that there's someone in the US who makes modern full sets (at a price!), so you will have to be vigilant.

One thing that it is extremely good for (if you use an open fire, like I do) is that the wider blades coupled with straight-grain pine plank make the best spills I've ever seen.

All best

 

[liamscanlan]

The blades are available from the St James Bay tool company.
http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/
but are not cheap - shipping and customs duty/VAT to be added to $110.00 for a set of 11.
HTH

 

[AndyT]

If I was as lucky as you and found a plane in such good nick for so little, I'd be tempted to have a go at making some cutters. You can buy suitable ground flat stock easily so the work would be cutting to size, grinding bevels and some heat treatment. I'm sure that you'd get tips and details from old posts on here and people who have done it.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

If I was as lucky as you and found a plane in such good nick for so little, I'd be tempted to have a go at making some cutters. You can buy suitable ground flat stock easily so the work would be cutting to size, grinding bevels and some heat treatment. I'm sure that you'd get tips and details from old posts on here and people who have done it.

It's not that straightforward, Andy. The blades are not just skewed at the bevel end, but the sides are skewed/tapered as well.

As I recall - it is quite a while since I last used my #46 - it is important that the bevel is ground at the correct skew angle so as to ensure that the bevel, per se, is parallel to the work surface.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[AndyT]

If you put some thick card or thin wood into the plane where the cutters go, I am sure that the various angles needed would be obvious from the plane itself, using the remaining cutter as an example.

 

[Argus]

I mentioned earlier that the sides were skewed or angled. I've now had a chance to measure my 46, which is a living, working plane. The whole thing, both bedded and the blade angle is compounded.

The bed angle of the blade, when mounted is 30 degrees to the side of the fixed bed; the cutting angle of the bevel on the blade, measured to the side of the blade, is near enough 22.5 degrees. (The sharpened angle of the blade can be anything that works for you).

Normal combination ploughs have blades in general that are trapezoidal in cross-section - the 46 blade has a cross section that is appears to be a parallelogram, but ain’t; the right hand side, when mounted, is angled at 30 degrees, the same as the bed skew angle, the left side varies on some of my blades, but is around 20 degrees. It seems to me that if you are sinking a plough groove, it should be the same........ but that's Stanley for you.
All the blades are 1/8" thick.

Now, it also follows, at first sight, that the grind angle ( 22.5 deg) on these things is critical. As there is no fixed adjuster with these planes, in practice there's a certain amount of latitude both forward and laterally, so you don't need to beat yourself into a pulp getting it dead-on-exact.

 

[pitch pine]

I manged to have a play around with the 46 yesterday. It ploughed a really neat groove in some oak.....and in the process made some really nice spills for lighting the fire. It is mesmerising the watch the shavings emerge from the plane and fall into perfect spirals. Another great way of making timber smaller......

The cutters are a real mix of compound angles. My first thought was they will be the same as the 45 but of course they can't be.

My luck ran out when I removed the nicker. I managed to drop the screw onto a floor covered in shavings and workshop detritus. I managed to find it after 40 minutes swearing.

 

[Saint Simon]

Looks a good example and what an amazing price!
I bought blades from the St James Bay people for my #46 a few years ago and bizarrely, whilst they fitted the plane and seemed to have all the correct bevels, none of them cut a housing the size marked! The error is progressive and for example the cutter marked 3/4" produces a slot about 2mm oversize. Still not confident that its them and not me!! And doesn't stop me using it of course.
Not sure if they are still in business.
Simon

 

[AndyT]

Just to make everyone feel happier - I was watching a very similar one on eBay recently (no cutters at all) listed at £19.99 which didn't get any bid. I was a bit surprised but I guess it puts some of the optimistic asking prices into perspective.

 

[Racers]

.

My luck ran out when I removed the nicker. I managed to drop the screw onto a floor covered in shavings and workshop detritus. I managed to find it after 40 minutes swearing.

Magnet in a plastic bag, you can turn it inside out to bag up all the rubbish and keep your magnet clean.


Pete

 

[Graham Orm]

On Friday I dropped my car off at the local garage to get new rear coil springs fitted, and I had a couple of hours to kill. I went to the charity shops, had some lunch and on the way back to the garage called in at an antiques shop. They sometimes have woodworking tools in but they are usually over-priced. Anyway this was sitting in the cabinet for the more expensive items. I asked to have a look and thinking it might be a 45 was expecting to see a price of at least £50. It was £27! It was my lucky day. It has cleaned up nicely and I think everything is present. Does anyone have experience of using one of these?

That looks like a lovely find. Even if it doesn't get much use. Hope you chipped him down to £20!