Thread: #5 Stanley scrubber

Originally Posted by rsser

He was a fitter and turner by trade which prob explains the fixings.

Yes, those hex bolts certainly look like a fitters solution. I'll bet Stanley's unique threads have been abandoned for something a little more standard....

Cheers, Vann.

Yeah, I can visualise him scratching his head over why none of the thread gauges fit!

My father was a fitter and he did indeed scratch his head over the self same thing when I first started work on my mum's uncles old No7 some years ago. Fortunately we did not resort to such drastic actions as shown above.

Cheerio,
Virg.

Ern, that looks like my Australian-made #5 that I've had for close to 40 years. By some fluke it was always a good unit, & became even better with a little bit of fettling and a slightly thicker LV blade..

The hex nut on the top is ok, if a bit less attractive than a brass cap nut. But the one through the toe would be a bit hard on the pinky! I would have thought a fitter could have popped the bolt in the lathe & rounded it a bit to a more friendly shape - or maybe he just had tough hands & didn't notice?

Cheers,

It's a UK made job Ian.

It's a bit concave around the mouth as many are.

The blade bevel is convex showing distinct scratches so his sharpening technique was interesting too.

Good Morning Ern

When I saw the title of your thread, #5 Stanley Scrubber, I immediately thought that you had a Stanley #5 scrub plane; now that would be interesting!

What sort of person could wield a #5 scrub plane? Can he tie his shoe laces without bending? The mind boggles.

Cheers

Graeme

Ive got a number 5 1/2 Stanley that Im thinking of converting to a scrub plane .Its not much good as it is , has a couple of gouges down one side ,looks like some one took to it with an angle grinder .So as I need a plane for roughing some large slabs I have I though what the hell.
The base is cracked through one side and into the mouth ,which I will weld up with some metal powder technology .
I'll probably attempt this over the break if I get time.
I've never had a Stanley scrub plane so have no idea about the blade geometry except that the cutting edge is radiused and the blade adjuster is not the same .
Set the frog back to open up the gap ,radius the blade a bit .
But I reckon with a bit of work and some blade grinding it would do the job .
What do you blokes reckon.?Can it be done.

Kev.

Originally Posted by Woodlee

Ive got a number 5 1/2 Stanley that Im thinking of converting to a scrub plane .........What do you blokes reckon.?Can it be done.

Kev - yep, perfectly do-able. I would not use a #5 myself - prefer a shorter, lighter plane for a scrub, because you only need to work the high spots, after all. I 'converted' an old (pre-lateral-adjustment) #4 for my scrub. And before you all shout at me, it was a basket-case - the knob & tote were wrecked, and some clown must have used it to drive railway spikes, leaving big dings in the bottom & sides, and cracking out a chunk of metal the size of a couple of $1 coins on the left side. That, plus many years of rust, and it was a very sorry sight!

But with new wood, a radiused blade, and the frog set as far back as it will go, it works very well as a scrub. Blowed if I can remember what radius I chose for the blade, but it was somewhere between 3 & 4.5" if I remember at all. Various sites will advise you on that, but as far as I can tell, it isn't super-critical, it's just a controllled gouge, after all. The radius does affect the surface left - a tight radius hogs out the wood real good, but leaves a lot of deep furrows to clean up with the jack. A longer radius leaves wider, shallower grooves, but doesn't eat out the lovely big chips, and is harder to push if you go for a coarse cut. If you happen to have a couple of old, worn blades, you can play about with them to find what suits you and your wood best. The blade I'm using isn't special, either, just an old, well-worn Stanley, but it does the job well, & keeps cutting much longer than I would have expected.

Cheers,

Mines a basket case any way , the welding will stand out ,even though it will be ok , it wont match the original metal as the metal powder has a high nickel content .If I don't weld it , all it's good for is the scrap man .
I'll give it a go and see how it pans out.I don't have a basket case no 4 so the 5 will do.

Kev.