Thread: Stanley or Record No. 5 used, which one?

Did a mod delete some posts in here? I swear I replied to this earlier today.

Edit: never mind me, I had my wires crossed between a couple of threads. Carry on.

No; you're right; I'd replied to this thread earlier today also but my post has disappeared...

edit: Ah futtocks; also got my threads crossed; probably the same one you're talking about! Happy for a mod to delete this post as it adds no value to the thread

Ian, no problem at all. It is hard to gauge how much anyone has done in the past just from a few lines of text. The thing I don't have is knowledge and experience about the vast history of planes, and that's where all of you come in. It's why I asked before I just bought one. I thank you all again for being forthcoming with your input.

Fuzzie, I will have to trust you on the blades. I have no idea! The Record one had a badly sharpened blade, it was curved! I thought hmm sharpened on the same oil stone as the chisels for all of its life.

Cheers Cal


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Originally Posted by Cal

......The Record one had a badly sharpened blade, it was curved! I thought hmm sharpened on the same oil stone as the chisels for all of its life.....

Cal, that may well be deliberate. It's common practice to curve the blade of a jack plane. The curve is usually much less pronounced than on the blade of a scrub plane, & may well look like it's simply been sharpened on a dished stone. But it doesn't take much curve to allow it to hog off wood pretty smartly, though not as savagely as a scrub plane. It follows the scrub and gets the surface much closer to flat, so it isn't as much work to level it with a jointer or jack with more or less straight blades.

Discovering curved blades was one of the great leaps forward in my hand-tool career. We were taught in school woodwork classes to sharpen our plane blades straight across and only duff the sharp corners off. I didn't learn about the wood-removing power of curved blades until Fine Woodworking magazine came along....

Cheers,

This blade would have had about 4mm more in the centre than the sides and was an uneven curve. Not sure if that is more than usual?


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Originally Posted by Cal

This blade would have had about 4mm more in the centre than the sides and was an uneven curve. Not sure if that is more than usual?....

Hmmm, I reckon that amount of curve must have been deliberate, Cal. Surely, no-one would continue using a sharpening stone with that much dish! I've seen some pretty bad ones over the years, but not quite that severe (except for the one I used to sharpen gouges before I discovered diamond files ). The curve you describe is quite a bit more than what I put on a roughing jack, the radius I use gives about a mm or less at the centre, relative to the sides. The sort of radius you're talking about would be appropriate on a scrub plane, and that may well have been its intended purpose? The unevenness is easy to accept, it takes care to grind and maintain a perfect arc. I try to keep mine pretty close, but in reality, it doesn't matter at all on this sort of plane if the curve isn't perfect; near enough will do just as well, and the following planes will obliterate the evidence.

Cheers,

It is interesting to find out what works for different people, would have been good to find out why this plane was set up in such a way.

Ok, new question for you Ian. Is there a particular plane (or two/three) that you would use to prep board surfaces to use as a table top? The boards are claret ash, milled with a chainsaw, the mill marks are approximately 1 -1.5mm deep. All boards are stacked and strapped so hopefully minimal cupping will occur. Jointing I'm fine with. So just dressing the surfaces both before glue up and surfacing once joined. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this job will be a while away as I need to let the timber dry.


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Originally Posted by Cal

...... Is there a particular plane (or two/three) that you would use to prep board surfaces to use as a table top? ...

Really depends on the boards, Cal. First job is to get one side flat. If the boards are pretty close to flat & pretty straight already, there's probably no need for serious scrub-plane work, but if there's cupping and/or twist, the scrub would be the first plane in play. Those sound like pretty deep mill marks, so if there's no cupping or twist, the first plane off the rank would be my #5 with the curved blade. I'd clean the mill marks up, checking for straightness & winding as I go. After the jack, I might use my 5 1/2 (straight blade) to work on some errant areas, or proceed directly to the jointer. Once I have a flat face, I'd joint one edge (if it's waney, I'd snap a line along it & rip it, first). Next, gauge & rip the other side, clean that up, gauge a line around it to the required thickness, then plane the second face to the gauge lines. If there's a lot of wood to come off, I'd use a scrub plane on the second side, for sure. So all up, 3 or 4 planes would be used.

That's how I would do it, but as you say, there are various ways to skin a cat............

Cheers,

Thanks Ian, that's a great help. Will plan around your advice and how the boards turn out. Who knows it may end up as firewood yet!


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Hi Cal; f you are still considering a number 5 this one has just hit Ebay. It's a pre-'56 which is for me the primary consideration for Records. Personally I would go up to $70 including shipping for this one but then I already have a good 5 (Stanley type 11); if I didn't have it I would go a bit higher. Again; this is my personal view.

Or you could hunt around the markets for something to restore. I picked up this Record 4 1/2 for $20. Plane Restorations Yes, I spent some money on rust remover & paint, but I've got enough to restore a few planes.

Thanks for the info Tiff, on the watch list [emoji106]

Thanks Woolly, I expect to have to restore whatever I buy. All part of the fun isn't it? [emoji1]


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Found one!
Just today I found a Stanley No.5 at the same dealer who had the other two. Paid $40 for it. It has a cracked handle (the dealer did a botched job of glueing and screwing it back together) would love to make a new handle for it. The iron is damaged and has a buckle in it. Do I buy a new iron or see if I can get this one cleaned up? I just want to use it as a scrub plane, I got hold of a really good No.7 for jointing.
Cheers Cal

I often see old irons that have obviously been bashed like this one. I assume they were previously used in an old woodie, or something - can't imagine even the roughest user walloping an iron in a plane fitted with an adjuster mechanism, but who knows?? Anyway this iron is obviously a ring-in, being a USA SW in an English plane.

I guess I would look for a new blade, 'buckled' sound like this one is a basket case. There are plenty of half-decent old blades with a bit of life left in them, kicking around. It doesn't have to be flash, but you do want something you can get sharp.

Cheers,