Thread: Replacement rods for a Stanley 13-052 plough plane

Can I suggest you email customer service at Lee Valley.

I have a recollection that the long fence rods for the Veritas rabbet plane (bottom of this pagde Veritas® Skew Rabbet Plane - Lee Valley Tools ) also fit the Stanley and Record plough planes.

Paul, if the Veritas rods fit, as Ian suggests, I think you have all of your problems solved, and very economically! I was going to suggest trying stainless steel to obviate any future rust problems, but LV have already thought of that, too.

If you have to start from scratch, I think any steel that is cold workable, from mild steel up, would be plenty good enough for purpose. Those rods are of a robust size. 'Silver steel' is commonly supplied in the annealed state & can be cold-worked (threading, etc.) as easily as mild steel, but has the advantage that it's typically more accurately sized than 'ordinary' mild steel rod. In the annealed state (where I'd leave it!), its mechanical properties would not be significantly different from mild steel, but quite up to the task, I would think. It isn't all that expensive, you can buy enough to make 2 sets of rods for well under $20 from McJings, for e.g......

Stainless steels vary a lot in their working properties, some are easy, some are the opposite, & almost impossible to thread neatly with a regular die, so make sure you get the latter type if you decide on that route....

Cheers,

I should have added to my post #2, that if the Lee Valley rods are the right size, you should be able to get any of the company's standard sized fence rods -- as supplied with their combination, small plough and skew rebate planes -- as a spare part. Just ask.

My thanks to both Ian and Ian W. for the ideas for replacements.
I've investigated a bit more and found cheaper sources of silver steel here in NZ so I'll run with that.
The Veritas plane rods are a good idea but the postage to NZ immediately unfortunately inflates their price above silver steel.
Paul