Thread: El Cheapo Plane - Why Bother

Flatten the sole and use it with Diamond paste for sharpening irons?

Got a boat without an anchor?

Make some iron filings for the local high school?

Got a pesky neighbour? Or a local dog that needs sorting out?

Anything but throw good money after bad, albeit a not too painful $10 (I know, I know it's the senior's moment when you bought it that hurts the most).

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Anything but throw good money after bad, albeit a not too painful $10 (I know, I know it's the senior's moment when you bought it that hurts the most).

Yeah. Now repeat after me, 100 times:

I will never ever buy crap tools again.

I will never ever buy crap tools again.

I will never ever buy crap tools again.

I will never ever buy crap tools again.




Fair Winds

Graeme

Originally Posted by seanz

I've never heard of (or noticed) a Made in England Stanley plane that didn't have the frog-adjuster screw......

I have to agree with Seanz. I believe some wartime USA Stanleys weren't so fitted (Rexmill says "Some examples have no frog adjusting screw. It's strange that on the examples I've seen, the hole is tapped for the screw in the bottom casting, but the frog isn't. It's like they did half the work, but all for nothing. On other examples, neither hole is tapped.")

And, like Jimbur and Fuzzie say, the Stanley Handiman series didn't have frog adjusters (they were UK made).

Does the sole have "Bailey" cast into it? I don't think the "Handiman" range do.

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Vann

I have to agree with Seanz. I believe some wartime USA Stanleys weren't so fitted (Rexmill says "Some examples have no frog adjusting screw. It's strange that on the examples I've seen, the hole is tapped for the screw in the bottom casting, but the frog isn't. It's like they did half the work, but all for nothing. On other examples, neither hole is tapped.")

And, like Jimbur and Fuzzie say, the Stanley Handiman series didn't have frog adjusters (they were UK made).

Does the sole have "Bailey" cast into it? I don't think the "Handiman" range do.

Cheers, Vann.

Good Morning Vann

The plot thickens. As you may be well aware, I know nothing about identifying various Stanley models. My plane has the following identifiers:

"MADE IN ENGLAND" embossed on the top of the body immediately in front of the tote.

"BAILEY No 4½" embossed on the top of the body surrounding the knob.

Body is fairly course grained steel, painted on top with black enamel/japaning.
There are no patent numbers or other embossings on the body.

"STANLEY" is embossed on both sides of the black plastic tote.

"STANLEY" is embossed on a red panel on the lever cap.

No engraving or identifiers on the iron or chip breaker. Iron is really thin at 2.1 mm, and the chip breaker is even thinner at 1.8mm.

Lightly knurled adjuster nut has diameter of 31.8 mm, light silverish metal (duralium?)

I have triple checked, and there is definitely no tapping on either the frog or the bottom casting for a frog adjusterg screw(s).

As I said before, I got it from a flea market and know nothing about its providence.



Fair Winds

Graeme

PS: Would a war-time model have plastic handles? The handles are a fine grained/grainless black plastic and I do not think it is bakelite.

Graeme, it's a crap-shoot. The luck of the draw. I had every intention of making kitchen tools, shaping square blanks into round handles.
Spent $50 on a Stanley spokeshave. Blade as soft as an over ripe banana, adjustable only with light taps of a small hammer. Could not return the tool as I had tried to sharpen the blade (bunch of freakin' cane toads, if you ask me.)
And, Stanley suques hard, big time. What a shirty piece of work.

Spent $14.95 on a Samona spokeshave from the local HomeHardware store here in the village. Crude casting, paint all over the sole, BUT, a blade like a razor. Oh my. Within 10 days, bought another one = just the same, lots to do to clean and tune it up. aA couple of hours never to be spent again.

I count strokes on the corners to get a round profile. Given the 14"/35cm length, I can say that I will go maybe 1km before a sharpening tune up. Why 2? One for the fast rough shape, the other for the little ridges to finish.
With their oven-baked, olive oil finish, sanded and RV-branded, I've put out 70 for sale and many more to come.
Sales are actually slow, consistent and the project carries itself in 2 locations in our little village.

Graeme, the Handiman I had was complete with plastic knurled adjuster. the y lever wouldn't even stay in its place.

Originally Posted by jimbur

Graeme, the Handiman I had was complete with plastic knurled adjuster. the y lever wouldn't even stay in its place.

Hi Jim

The adjuster is a light silverish metal, possibly duralium, but I do not really know. I edited the above post to cover this point.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Graeme, the big question for me is why they would do so much damage to their name by producing such garbage.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

With their oven-baked, olive oil finish, sanded and RV-branded, I've put out 70 for sale and many more to come.
Sales are actually slow, consistent and the project carries itself in 2 locations in our little village.

I do you have some pics of the finished products?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4

In the Woodcarving Forum, "Kitchen Tool Project" has some process pictures.
The olive oil darkens the wood a little, as you might expect. The key is the physics
of the heating process to replace wood air with oil. Far better than anything you can do
at room temp, short of a vacuum pumping system that can pull 10^-2 Torr.
Kinda, sorta, deep-fried.