Thread: Tools for Dad

You are most, most fortunate. Your son is an ace. I'll guess some distance north of $200.00

I'll plumb for the other end of the scale -- somewhat less than $50

Originally Posted by rwbuild

New blades and they will be good to go. Where to get the blades?

Surform blades are available through Bunnings (probably a special order) according to Stanleys website. I still have my set but hardly use them.

Peter.

The surform blades are off the shelf in Bunnings (at least I checked and saw them at one in Adelaide recently after I had a discussion with a younger guy who had never heard of them before and was doing some fibreglass work).

In a strange twist of coincidence, the first tool you show, the wooden ruler with a thickness measuring calliper on it, I bought one of those for my dad on fathers day. But I bought it new and it was in the early 80s. I haven't seen another one since though.

Regards
SWK

(oh, yeah, I reckon your son probably didn't pay very much for them either, otherwise you wouldn't have asked the question )

<$50 as Ian suggested.

$100, to buy the planes new is closer to $250 approx and the small 4 fold 12 inch rule anywhere from $80 up to $300 as a collectors item so I reckon he did Dad proud

Originally Posted by rwbuild

$100, to buy the planes new is closer to $250 approx and the small 4 fold 12 inch rule anywhere from $80 up to $300 as a collectors item so I reckon he did Dad proud

Let me speak to you about some stuff I have to sell......

I'm with the growing crowd.

I'd pay less than $50 for that lot, and that only for the first ruler which is a nice piece.

Rest of it can either be had item by item for around 5 bucks a piece, or are only useful as semi rustic ornaments.

That boy is a clever one Ray, a chip off the old block........ he knew an old chippy would appreciate some old quality tools!!

YES, he's shoring up his inheritance for 30-40yrs time....

Regardless of the cost, you can't replace the love of a Son......

Originally Posted by rwbuild

..... Someone has stripped the tread in the stock. The screw is brass, any suggestions how to repair the thread in the stock....

RW, was the thread tapped directly into the wood? That was typical for the 'entry-level' mortise gauges like this - more up-market models had threaded brass inserts, often held in place with screws. They would be easy enough to repair if you had a tap of the right size & pitch (usually very coarse).

There are several possible ways to fix your gauge, but all require a bit of 'specialist' equipment.

You could fill the stripped hole with bog, then drill it & re-tap it, if you can find a tap that matches the thumbscrew - good luck, every brand & every model seems to use a different size & pitch!

A 'better' way would be to make up a brass insert tapped for the existing thumbscrew, & threaded on the outside so that it can be screwed into the stock. But you still need to find a tap that matches the thumbscrew

You could replace the existing thumbscrew with a 1/2" wooden one, with the thread tapped directly into the stock. These work well & are more durable than you might expect.

You can buy small (1/4" shaft) brass thumbscrews from places like Lee Valley (B & C on this page). These are ok, but not great for this job. The knurled head is a bit small for average fingers and the coarse thread (20tpi) doesn't seem to lock firmly. I make my own version for my gauges, with 16mm heads & M6 threads which work really well: inserts.jpg

The outside thread is M10, and it locks very firmly in the stock if you use an intermediate tap rather than the full tap to cut the thread in the stock.

When all is said & done, I wouldn't go to endless trouble with your gauge. They are useful & better than having to reset a single-pin gauge or set two gauges to mark mortises, but setting them up can be a monumental pita, because there is no way to fix the slider in position while you set the stock. The versions with screw-operated sliders are are vastly easier to work with: 9aa.jpg

You set the mortise width and it stays put while you set the stock. This is the more common type of screw-operated MG you'll find on the market. But check the screw mechanism before you buy, they were prone to damage if dropped on the floor when the slider was screwed out...
Cheers,

Originally Posted by goodvibes

...I'd pay less than $50 for that lot...

Come on man - don't diss his fathers day present. The fact that his son thought of his hobby and was prepared to spend some cash on a present is just priceless.

My son refuses to indulge me when it comes to old tools...

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Vann

..... My son refuses to indulge me when it comes to old tools... ...

Vann, would he know a good old tool from a piece of tool-like junk? Don't think mine would!

Originally Posted by IanW

Vann, would he know a good old tool from a piece of tool-like junk?

No. But the only time he did get me an old tool (from his grandfather - his mother and I are long divorced) it was a rather beaten-up Stanley No.10 1/4 - score! I always wondered if there were more gems in that old man's tool box...

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Vann

No. But the only time he did get me an old tool ..... it was a rather beaten-up Stanley No.10 1/4 - score!......

For someone of our interests, that sure beats the heck out of a pair of socks or a pack of jocks!

How useful/useable do you find the 10 1/4? I've never had one in my hands & the pics I have seen didn't really show me how the moveable handles worked. P'raps you could post a little thread on yours, sometime?

I've handled a 'regular' 10 a couple of times. That size seems more solid than my 10 1/2. It's an oldie (pre-WW2, even has Rosewood handles) and works ok, but this is another tool I thought would more than earn its keep, but is rarely used. It seemed like it would be ideal for jobs like cleaning up large tenon cheeks, but my old 78, crude as it is, does a better job for me. I'm not sure exactly why, but my working hypothesis is that because the lever cap doesn't clamp across the full width of the blade/cap-iron combo, it allows some slight chatter of the blade toward the edges. It's not so bad planing along the grain of softer woods, for which it was no doubt intended, but it doesn't like cutting cross grain, particularly in harder woods. There isn't a whole lot of metal in those body arches on the 10 1/4, & I suspect they either contribute to, or are perhaps are the reason for the plane's less than brilliant performance. Whatever the cause, my dream of having a #3-sized smoother and a rebate plane in one wasn't fulfilled by a 10 1/2....

Cheers,

Cheers,