Stanley #81 Cabinet Scraper. (manufactured from 1909-1942)
The Superior Works: Stanley Blood and Gore Planes #71 - #87

This is my go to Scraper Plane in the workshop. Unlike the #80 Scraper Plane, the #81 was not supplied with a rear thumb screw that could be used to adjust the depth of shaving worked. This model was dedicated to much finer scraping work, where the user was after a more refined surface on the wood being worked. The #81 was also supplied with a Rosewood sole to meet the demands of that earlier generation of craftsmen that understood the more refined surface that can be gained from wood on wood contact. The one I have still has the original Stanley scraper blade and Rosewood sole.







Now I am going to be rather controversial when I mention that unlike the #80 which functions at its best when the cutting edge is shaped to a 45 degree bevel, then a burred lip applied with a burnishing tool, I have personally found the #81 works best with a slightly different approach. My preference is to joint the edge at 90 degrees using a flat file, followed by fine tuning on the flat surface of a honing stone. The wire edges were then removed on the stone. The end result being an extremely sharp 90 degree leading edge.

As an example of what can be achieved with #81 Scraper Plane, I have pre-marked the flat surface of the wood in pencil.



And this is the end result. Note the whisper thin shavings that were removed.



regards Stewie;