Thread: Stanley #7

Hitch , I get to use a few Stanley no 7s , I like them with the large front knob and the large brass adjusting wheel with Rosewood Handles US made. Like the one you were thinking of.

The earlier version with the lower front knob and small brass adjusting wheel is nice but I find them slightly more of a fiddle to get my fingers working that smaller brass wheel, to confuse things even more, I think it's the even more early model in which the thread is reversed for the brass wheel.

I am no expert on all the different Types , as any one who is, could tell by the way I'm writing this, In my workshop at the moment there are
2 low knob 7s
A high knob 7
A Bedrock 7
I once had a Pope Blue painted 7 which was great, wish I never sold it
Never want to pick up a Falcon again , never seen a 7 in one of those things.
And some guys who worked here had some of those blue records, they may have been 6s though, I'm not so keen on them either.

My first choice to use, is the Bedrock 7 , I paid $170 for it at a tool sale in Melbourne, It is lovely to use , second choice would be the High knob 7 then the low knob 7.

I have had a few young guys through here and we used to get into long winded conversations about what planes they should be buying when their government money came through to buy tools, I started getting fed up trying to explain why the shelf above my bench had quite a few older 3 and 4 6 7 an 8 size Stanley's and why I use these older planes. Even after ten minutes of talking sometimes some of these guys still had a frown and would be scratching their head about choices.

So I set up a shelf with a row of no3 and 4 size planes, an awful no name pressed metal one, a Footprint two Falcons and a Late Stanley Black plastic handled 4 which was the best working of the lot, and these would be the planes that they would be taking apart to sharpen re assemble and plane every machine mark out of enough US Oak to make 3 Meter x 1 Meter x 50mm tops in solid Oak, tables Base as well. then cabinet scrape the lot.
The pressed metal one was there to show how bad some planes can be made and was never used, The falcons were rough and with some work could have done a little better maybe but they are Clunky things. They were the ones that they started planing with, stop for a re sharpen re set and off again till a complaining sound started coming from down that end of the workshop
"Whats wrong" I'd ask .
Young fella "this plane is driving me nuts, its doing this and that"
So we would show him how the lever cap is used and why it takes so many turns of the wheel to adjust the blade, "it's a sloppy plane"
He would go onto the Stanley with the plastic handle and work with that for a few hours. It's a bit heavier in the casting but a large front knob and large metal adjusting wheel and He/ they would become happy with that plane.

Later on I would walk up and carefully place on the table a Razor sharp oiled up slick no 3 or 4 Brazilian Rosewood handled refined tapered casting Stanley, a 30s or 40s model and sharp set up earlier low knob versions.

No long winded conversations needed,
They look up after a bit of planing and adjusting and the penny has dropped, Ha ha ,It's quite a good thing to see .
And when the money comes in to buy good tools They go for the older Stanley's through eBay or tool sales. they spend half as much or even less ,get many more tools than they would have had they bought new Crap , and I get to see them hand planing in the most efficient manner.

I just had a new guy start and he pulls out this thing called a Veritas, Smoother, I tried it out and told him to take it home.
What a piece of,,,, that thing is.

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Never want to pick up a Falcon again , never seen a 7 in one of those things.
And some guys who worked here had some of those blue records, they may have been 6s though, I'm not so keen on them either.

I just had a new guy start and he pulls out this thing called a Veritas, Smoother, I tried it out and told him to take it home.
What a piece of,,,, that thing is.

Rob

Oooh. Controversy. We don't want that around here ... hehehe ... <rubs hands together>

Don't like 'Falcon' ?? Here's a Falcon-Pope #7 ...



It is 'Falcon' on the body .. red frog .. 'Falcon' and 'Pope' on the lever cap .. ' "Falcon" Pope Products Made in Australia' on the blade

It was easily the heaviest out of those four (the newest Record was the lightest) ... I still have the front two.
I would say it works well, but I don't know much.

I have a #4 and a #4-1/2 ... all are marked the same and have the same relative heft.
I haven't anything to say against them myself.

Cheers,
Paul

PS: Falcon-hater. Un-Australian. Efficiency hound.

Ok maybe I'm being a bit unfair.

The only Falcon's I had to let them have a go on were pretty rough so that could have swayed their opinions He He

Older Stanley planes (pre WWII) can be superb users - I have a 2,3,4, and 5 that work very well but only after a lot of work and fiddling and with new blades and cap irons - but not as well as my Veritas BU smoother, jack and jointer. It depends on what you want to do and the time you have available. Do you want to fettle planes or use them? Being retired, I have the luxury of time to tune up old planes. There will be some disagreement here, but it is my firm opinion that even a well tuned Type 11 Stanley will not work as well on uneven grained wood as a Veritas, Lie Neilson, or a Marcou (all of which I have used). David Charlesworth uses a supertuned Record No. 5 in his videos - how much time did he spend on it? I am told that Philly's and Gordon wooden planes are superb as well - I have yet to try them. I am expert at nothing other than what not to do, but the decision is yours - how do you wish to spend your time?

There may be forum members who are running out of room in their plane cabinets who may wish to thin the herd. This is one alternative to E bay. Living in Canada, I have not purchased anything on this forum, but if my experience on other forums is any indication, no one here will sell you a dud. Woodworkers tend to be a pretty honest bunch in my experience.

I recently purchased an infill coffin smoother upon which I have lavished far too many hours - it's beautiful, feels very good in my hand, but as yet does not perform as well as my Veritas BU smoother. It may, with a few more hours of fiddling. But it may not. FWIW

Cheers

Jack in Nepean (now Ottawa)

I love the Falcons, sometimes they take a little more work to get them tuned but they are usually heavier with a nice solid cast iron frog. Flatten the frog surface so it makes a good mate with the iron and they work great.

I just missed out on a Falcon #7 on ebay. Was going to bid at last minute then forgot. It went for $56, I would have paid $75

Anyone out there with a Falcon 5 1/2 or a 7 please let me know.
I have an eye on a local market where a guy is trying to get $50 for the 51/2 but it has a Stanley blade, its pretty rusty and I'd prefer to get an original Falcon 51/2 blade.

I have a Turner #5 in good condition if anyone wants to swap (I already have a Falcon #5).

I tuned and used a Falcon #6 for about six months. I actually didn't mind it. The iron held a good edge, the castings were heavy and rigid, the frog surfaces mated relatively well after minimal lapping, the edges were square to the side, the mouth was tight, etc. The brown painted handles were awful blister-producing rubbish, though.

I think of these as "unfinished" planes - the overall manufacturing is excellent quality, they just forgot to send it to the sanding/linishing department.

They can often be had very cheaply compared to Stanleys.

Regarding the whole old tools / new tools debate, I can't help but get involved. The thing is that a lovely, razor-sharp, well-oiled, lapped, burnished-rosewood pre-war Stanley tends not to fall fully-formed from the 'Bay..

Lapping the back of an iron can take hours - even if you propose to use the ruler trick, you need a basic level of flatness. Lapping the frog and establishing solid bearing surfaces can also take a long time, particularly with a Bedrock. Flattening the bottom is much worse still (although I'm not convinced that's always necessary). You need to lap and polish the cap-iron. You might also need to remove a good deal of rust, refinish or repair the handles, shorten the threaded handle rods...

You might consider buying a granite plate or at least some glass, lots of sandpaper, citric acid, course aggressive waterstones, a scraper... etc.

The point is that a Veritas plane will often seem like a good investment. You just take it out of the box and plane things with it.

Of course, you don't really know how a tool works until you've resurrected one, Dr. Frankenstein style.

I personally don't own any new tools, except Veritas sharpening widgets - I love the aesthetic of all that lovely patinated cast iron, brass and wood. But I suspect it's really just because I don't have any money. When I'm a millionaire, it'll be Lie-Nielsen all the way...

I've invested many many hours on my planes not to mention hundreds of dollars on granite, water stones, dia flat diamond lapping plate Honing guides, self adhesive abrasive etc etc. Its too late for me to turn back now, I've past the point of no return. I started with an old Falcon from my Grandfather and now I'm trying to get the full set. I don't know why, the truth is Ive spent more time fixing and researching these planes than I have actually using them.

But the fact is the Falcons are a great part of Australian history, the end of the World War, returning soldiers setting up a home for their families (my Grandfather was a rat of Tobruk) and the housing boom that came after. They should be saved and not left to rust away and be forgotten.

Having said that. It is pretty satisfying to restore an old tool and produce very fine shavings, I find myself using planes for more and more of my daily work now than I ever used to, was always scared to get tear out so usually just reached for the sand paper just to be safe. Much better having nice thin curly shavings than a pile of dust floating around in the air and there is no noise, no need to wear a mask, earmuffs and goggles. I love them.