Thread: Stanley 98/99 side Rabbet planes

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They look great. Are the blades in good enough condition? No splits in knobs?

These are some of my favourite planes, they're kinda niche, but very handy for all sorts of little trimming jobs that don't involve the sides of rebates as well (they're great for chamfering narrow grooves where a regular block plane won't fit).

There's not a whole lot to do with setup; just keep the blade set for quite a light cut as the mouth is small, the angle is low and there's no chipbreaker so trying to take deep cuts will often result in tearing or the mouth choking (or both). Ideally, the tip of the blade should protrude just past the bottom to score any cross-grain cuts, but level will also work; just don't have it sitting up like this
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I wouldn't call it hard, but it can be fiddly. Once you get it set it shouldn't need any adjusting until it's time to sharpen (which probably won't be all that often)

In addition to Elan's tip about the b
lade extending to just below the lower edge of the plane, also make sure that when you come to work on the blade, the lower bevel (the blade should be sharpened with 2 bevels) should be ground so that the blade doesn't bind in the slot being widened.
See yellow circle in attached photo

Thanks for the advice. I will keep you up to date on my progress.

So Ive disasembled the planes and had them in the electrolysis setup for probably about 16 hours.
Tonight I have removed them and wire brushed them. At first i used a dremel clone and a wire brush but it lasted about five minutes until the wires turned into tiny flying arrows very irritating. Anyone know if better quality ones last longer? I eventually switched to the trust drill mount wire brush used carefully.
One is looking great in mostly raw steel and the other has got stubborn nickel plating Ive tried sanding with 800 grit on a glass plate with minimal success. Would longer in the electrolysis setup take this off.

I am contemplating 4 options in terms of finish

1 Mask and paint with imitation chrome paint
2 Leave bare metal and keep it coated in PTFE spray my shed is pretty humid sometimes and stuff tends to get lightly rusty
3 Rust blue Would need soda blasting
4 Re-plate in Nickel (this would need soda blasting as well and i suspect this could be fraught with issues. And potentially cost more than they are worth by the time i buy the stuff needed to diy it)IMG_2797.jpgIMG_2799.jpgIMG_2798.jpgIMG_2794.jpgIMG_2796.jpgIMG_2795.jpg

What's interesting to me is that they have different foundry marks; 'S' mark was earlier the the 'B' mark (at least is was on the bench planes).

Perhaps get in touch with a local plating business? They might slip it in for you with another job for some cash and then you know it'll be done properly.