Can anyone explain which is superior: Stanley’s high-carbon chrome steel or Record’s tungsten vanadium alloy?
Also, any opinions, aside from the quality of steel, between the Record and the Stanley?
I am shopping for a #7 plane for smoothing the top of benches.
Also wondering if it is worth considering the ECE Primus Jointer Plane.
Thanks!
Replies
I love my #7 for jointing and just put a new blade in...much thicker and it works better. For smoothing though, I wish I had a 3 or 4 the jack (#5) works fairly well but I'd love to ty the others.
My experience has been,
1 Replace the iron with either a Hock or A2 tool steel (a bit harder on the stones) that is thicker than the manufacturers original
2 Tune up cap iron,flatten the sole(I've seen some with a wind!)
3 Hone and lap the iron
Otherwise it's a matter of taste I personally like a lever cap not Record's brass screw
The ECE is a beautiful tool, but the wooden sole will require a bit of attention as the years pass.
I'd stay away from both the new Stanley and the Record. Go to EBay and find a nice used one. More plane and less money.
Either iron will perform well once it's well honed. I've never replaced any of the stock irons and have never had any need to do so. As long as I keep the iron sharp and the plane properly adjusted, chatter doesn't exist.
Jeff
KM
In practice I don't think there is any difference between the two. FWW did a smoothing plane review a couple of years ago. The main conclusion was that even the cheapest plane worked OK once it had been tuned and given a decent blade. I think the real question you have to ask yourself is: do I have or can I acquire the knowledge, patience, tools and time required to tune up a new Stanley or Record. If the answer is yes, you will be happy with either once you've tuned it and fitted a heavier blade. There are plenty of resources and advice in the Knots archives on tuning a plane also look at back issues of FWW and your local library for books on planes and restoring old hand tools.
Ian
Check out Ebay. I don't sell tools there and don't know anyone who does, but I bought all of my planes on Ebay and have had nothing but great luck with them.
An older Record or Stanley is going to be better quality and perform better once you retune it than a new one will.
My Stanley #7 cost less than $50 and I retuned and was using it in less than 30 minutes.
Good luck
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled