Thread: Been shopping. Happy. Borderline smug.

I would be edging towards fully smug for that price. The 55 with all those bits has gotta be worth a fair chunk of the outlay.
Regards
John

Good effort. That Stanley 55 should be going straight to the pool room

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Good effort. That Stanley 55 should be going straight to the pool room

Don't know if it will be my pool room though. If I keep it, it's going to stay boxed and be put away in the top of a wardrobe with some moisture eating crystals in to keep it clean and bright.

It's money in the bank that way, and as such a standout example it's only going to grow in value, but maybe it should go somewhere it will be cherished day to day? I am yet to decide.

The twin handled No 12 scraper I just love for itself though. That one is getting a minimalist cleanup and will take centre stage on the shelf of little treasures above my desk.

Originally Posted by goodvibes

......The twin handled No 12 scraper I just love for itself though. That one is getting a minimalist cleanup and will take centre stage on the shelf of little treasures above my desk.

As the others have said, not a bad score, & a lot of bang for the buck(s)!

I'd be interested to hear how the 12 performs with the bench-plane blade instead of its original blade, when you get to give it a few test-drives? Apart from the fact that it looks quite a bit narrower than the original, a plane blade is substantially harder than the usual scraper blade, so not 'burr-able'. That's not a game-stopper, as some people prefer to use scraper blades un-burred, but I suspect you would get pretty rapid edge-wear, based on my experience with high-angle planes.

I have the LV version of the 12's big brother (the 112), which came with the standard 'soft' HCS blade. Not long after I bought mine, LV brought out a thicker A2 blade which is meant to be used un-bowed (but still, presumably burred?). I ask that because they say all their scraper blades are R48-51, which is substantially softer than a 'standard' A2 plane blade. I've always wondered if it would have any significant advantages - for starters, I reckon being able to bow the blade is a great plus, and makes the LV version a superior tool to the original 112. Not only does it eliminate or nearly eliminate 'tramlines' it allows me to get a lot more life out of each sharpening because tensioning the blade up another eighth of a turn gets it 'biting' again when the gloss starts to wear off.

So, does the A2 hold hold its edge longer than the HCS blade? Turning an edge on a scraper blade work-hardens it, so it ends up quite a bit harder than the nominal R50 you start with, in any case, so does A2 work-harden more, & if not, what are its perceived advantages? Can anyone enlighten me?

Cheers,

Insanely jealous!

Originally Posted by IanW

As the others have said, not a bad score, & a lot of bang for the buck(s)!

I'd be interested to hear how the 12 performs with the bench-plane blade instead of its original blade, when you get to give it a few test-drives? Apart from the fact that it looks quite a bit narrower than the original, a plane blade is substantially harder than the usual scraper blade, so not 'burr-able'. That's not a game-stopper, as some people prefer to use scraper blades un-burred, but I suspect you would get pretty rapid edge-wear, based on my experience with high-angle planes.

I have the LV version of the 12's big brother (the 112), which came with the standard 'soft' HCS blade. Not long after I bought mine, LV brought out a thicker A2 blade which is meant to be used un-bowed (but still, presumably burred?). I ask that because they say all their scraper blades are R48-51, which is substantially softer than a 'standard' A2 plane blade. I've always wondered if it would have any significant advantages - for starters, I reckon being able to bow the blade is a great plus, and makes the LV version a superior tool to the original 112. Not only does it eliminate or nearly eliminate 'tramlines' it allows me to get a lot more life out of each sharpening because tensioning the blade up another eighth of a turn gets it 'biting' again when the gloss starts to wear off.

So, does the A2 hold hold its edge longer than the HCS blade? Turning an edge on a scraper blade work-hardens it, so it ends up quite a bit harder than the nominal R50 you start with, in any case, so does A2 work-harden more, & if not, what are its perceived advantages? Can anyone enlighten me?

Cheers,

A lot of that is beyond my pay grade to comprehend Ian.

However, I did get the original SW blade for the scraper as well. Well worn but still has some useable length.

Why the original owner put the 4.5 plane blade in I don't know, but the blade was also wound right down to the lowest angle possible, so we con probably conclude that he had a specific use in mind. As it was a deceased estate auction I guess I won't be finding out! I will run it over some wood at some stage and find out how it drives with both.

I do know that it was not for lack of choice in his other tools. Somewhere around 50 planes went under the hammer. He didn't have a 72, but he did have just about everything else.

There were also some disappointments. Among the planes I was outbid on were a Turner 5.5 as new in box, a couple of pristine WS and an as new Record 20 Compass plane in box.

Glad I wasn't at the auction, gv, I might've been tempted to do some silly bidding!

Nah, not really, being retired puts me back on the sort of restricted budget I had when I started this wood-butchering journey. I've also had plenty of time in-between to learn a little & have had a lot of tools go through my hands, so I think I can make more sober decisions on what I really need vs what I might 'want'.

I didn't mean to bamboozle you; if you haven't used scraping planes before, then I guess what I wrote won't make a lot of sense yet. You shouldn't have too much trouble getting your #12 to do the job, it's a simple gadget, and once you get it set-up I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what it can do. The key adjustment on these things is the 'tilt' on the blade, and you will have to find by trial & error how many degrees you need. If you burr your blade 'freehand' as probably the majority do, then the angle of the burr is going to be something unique to you. You are 'supposed' to aim for an 80 degree burr, but it depends on factors such as how you hold the blade, the height above the bench, etc. So the final burr might be anywhere + or - 5 deg. from the 'optimum', which is why I say you have to then figure out where the blade has to sit for it to pull nice shavings.

This is why I was intrigued by the plane blade- as I said, it would be hard to burr that with a hand burnisher, and an un-burred blade will need less forward angling to cut, not more. One possibility is that the original owner used it straight off the grinder, with the grinding burr on it, like you do with some lathe tools. That would be perfectly ok for some purposes, but probably not for very fine work like cleaning up veneers, etc.

Cheers,

Nice find there lots of toys to play with.That Stanley router plane is a great piece of kit lovely to use on tenon cheeks among other uses.

cheers....Roy

As Roy said the router plane is a handy bit of kit. I keep finding more work for mine.
Just wondering what will you do with 2 of them?
Regards
John

The 55 is a megascore. Very, very well done.

Originally Posted by orraloon

As Roy said the router plane is a handy bit of kit. I keep finding more work for mine.
Just wondering what will you do with 2 of them?
Regards
John

More than 2 when we count what's already in my shed.

I always buy if the price is right, whether I have need for the tool or not.

Some surplus stuff gets rotated through my study as decor, to keep me company when I'm working at my proper job. The rest periodically gets unloaded for $$$ that finance the things I DO want.

Out of this lot I will likely keep the scraper. I already had a 55 stashed away - plane is no more than decent user quality, but the box is quite good. So we swap the second best plane into the second best box and sell it.

Goodvibes

Excellent pick up. Trouble with being a little out of the way is that very little comes up by chance like your purchase.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by goodvibes

More than 2 when we count what's already in my shed.

I always buy if the price is right, whether I have need for the tool or not.

Some surplus stuff gets rotated through my study as decor, to keep me company when I'm working at my proper job. The rest periodically gets unloaded for $$$ that finance the things I DO want.

Out of this lot I will likely keep the scraper. I already had a 55 stashed away - plane is no more than decent user quality, but the box is quite good. So we swap the second best plane into the second best box and sell it.

I use the same intentions only thing is I never get around to selling on the extras. Are 4 No 4's more that a man needs?
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

I use the same intentions only thing is I never get around to selling on the extras. Are 4 No 4's more that a man needs?

Well you don't want to run out.