Sold under the pinnacle brand and manufactured by Industrial Blade Company (IBC), a full line of replacement blades for older Stanley and Record planes and modern Lie-Nielsen and Veritas planes, scrapers, and spokeshaves are now available from Woodcraft. I recently tried two of the blades in a vintage Stanley/Bailey No. 4. One is a high-quality replacement blade that’s about one-third thicker (0.095 in.) than the original Stanley. The second, produced in conjunction with hand-tool expert Rob Cosman, is even thicker (0.140 in.). It’s paired with a unique chip-breaker that works without modifying the adjuster, although you have to widen the throat opening.

All Pinnacle blades are made from air-hardened A2 steel tempered to Rc 60–62. They’re precision ground on all sides and lapped with 1,000- and 8,000-grit abrasive, so I had to spend only a few minutes honing both blades to my personal preference. In short, both blades perform on par with the best blades I’ve used, but I think the standard replacement blade at $46 is a better deal. The Cosman blade and chipbreaker retails for $99. Other blades in the product line range in price from $9 to $63.

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