I inherited a #7 and a #6 jointer plane from my grandfather. The #6 plan has embossed on it, “Pat’d Aug, 25-02”, making it a pretty old plane.
I want to recondition the plane and install a new A2 blade and replace the back grip that was cut off in order to gain better access to the blade skew adjuster.
Maybe I’ve watched to many Antique Roadshow programs because I’m affraid I might kill the value of the plane by reconditioning vs. the value of a reconditioned plane that I might seldom use.
Are parts for these old planes available anywhere?
Anybody got a feel for this? Thanks.
Replies
Ron,
I am not an expert on antique plane prices. But there is a quick way to get a handle on such a question. Go to EBay and type in "Stanley No 7". and you will see a bunch of them, and you'll see some prices. Then go to the left side of the screen and click on "completed items" and it will show you the Stanley No 7s that have sold in the last few weeks. That may be helpful.
Two weeks ago, I bought a Stanley No 7 in an antique shop in Maryland. I was worried that the bottom might not be flat. It is easy to flatten the sole of a Stanley No 4, but there is a lot more metal on a No 7. It turns out that it was easy to get it flat. I used doublesided tape on the infeed bed of an 8 in. jointer and 60 grit sandpaper. I cut the sheets in three since they are 9" wide. I used two strips of tape side by side and put the sandpaper on it. After it was flat, I moved up the grits to 220.
Then I flattened the back of the iron, and put a 25 deg bevel on it, and I cleaned up the rest of the plane. It works fine. Again, I am not an expert on old planes. What I did seems to work pretty well.
Hope that helps.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Hi Ron,
Mel is spot on.
Lie Leilsen seems to have the best prices for blades and are reall good replacements. If you go that route, I would wlso recommend their chipbreaker too.
Go to http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html and yuo'll find out all you ever wanted to know about Stanley planes.
It can be a lot of work but the rewards are priceless if you like doing it and get the pleasure of how a finely fettled plane works. Enjoy the slide down the slippery slope.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
There are thousands of old Stanley bench planes out there, you will find that #6 Stanley Bailey planes don't sell for much. You can get replacement totes and knobs from Woodcraft, Highland Woodworking, and other woodworking dealers for about $30 for the set or have at it and make your own. Follow David Charlesworth's article http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=2933 (from Fine Woodworking #172) on tuning bench planes and you'll be surprised at the difference in performance. If it has a fairly tight mouth, I would suggest dedicating the #6 to act as a try plane (to plane the faces of panels) and dedicate the #7 to act as a jointer (planing the edges for tight glue joints or just to finish the board). If the #6 has a hopelessly wide mouth then I wouldn't bother with a replacement iron. You will get more use from the plane by giving the iron a strong camber and using the #6 as a fore plane (bringing rough lumber into flat, square, and dimension prior to refining it with jointers and smoothers). I would suggest buying a replacement iron and chipbreaker for the #7, thicker irons just work better.
Check the want ads in the back of Fine Woodworking, I can't remember his name off hand (Neimeyer or something similiar), but there is always an ad from a guy who specializes in replacement parts. You can also order parts from Highland Woodworking.
Hummm, are you sure you got the patents dates correct?
It sound like you have a Stanley No 6, Type 9 (1902-1907) but it should have two patent dates cast on it and it should read
Pat’d
Mar-25-02
Aug-19-02
If so, what you have is a good plane, very much worth putting back to work, but also one that is plentyfull out there, so do not feel bad about modifying it. It is not a rare, precious handplane. If on the other hand you really have only the 25 Aug 02 date on it, its something else, which im not readily familiar with.
Bob
Thanks Bob
You are correct, it has the two dates on it. From what you say, I won't freak out the Road Show guy if I clean it up and put some paint on it.
May I ask where you are getting the information on this plane?
Thanks again.
RonT
Ron,
See my earlier post http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?msg=38610.3
Supertools has a lot of info. on Stanley planes. Other as well.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Sure
The info used to date Stanley planes is from studies of numerous models, and is typically refered to as TYPE STUDY. There are numerous Stanley planes types study websites out there, but that one pretty well encompass everything known so far...I think is http://primeshop.com/access/woodwork/stanleyplane/
Thats why we refered to them as Type 11, 16 etc. Bear in mind that this is not an exact science, its strictly from observations of examples found, and that Stanley never heard of such thing when they were churning out these planes by the gisillions. Also, Stanley was notorious for using up whatever old stock of parts, labels etc they had on hand, muddying the water a bit. Add to that, parts that were replaced throughout the tool working life (Blades, and handles (totes) comes to mind), and then incomplete or broken tools that were re-assembled by users/dealers, and you get the idea....
Nonetheless, thanks to long time collectors and researchers, the Stanley type study, has withstood pretty well scrutiny, and his often cited as THE type study.
Following in these steps, others have followed, and we now have the Router plane sudy http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/routers/stanley/, and others such as one for Disston saws http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/ and Millers Falls tools http://www.oldtoolheaven.com/index.html
More Stanley types studies are to be found in the Antique & collectible Stanley tools book by Walter, long out of print and now fetching ridiculous price. Yes I have one :-)
Bob, the plane old guy, or was that the old plane guy ? :-)
All of the responses are good here. I think I remember reading Garret Hack talking about replacing the chip breakers and blades on his old Stanley Bedrock planes (same fit as the standard Stanley Bailey), with parts from the Clifton planes that you see so much of now in catalogs. The blades are thicker and made from high end A-2 steel and the breakers come in two parts and really make a big difference apparently.
There's a lot of literature now on planes, their history and how to use and tune them. The best book I have found is by Garret Hack.
If you're going to use the plane, I wouldn't worry about destroying the 'antique value' of it by interchanging and replacing some parts. There were millions of these very common Baily bench planes made throughout the 19th & 20th century and they are still around today waiting to be tuned and used by someone like you. Unless it's a rare model like the Stanley #1, which is not a real user friendly plane to begin with, the planes are very available and very affordable. They were and still are great tools. I have a full set myself, half of which still need to be reconditioned and tuned. Out of those 10 planes, I only end up really using maybe 3 of them, the #7, the #6041/2, and the #605. The rest is block plane territory.
Thanks all for your input and a very informative review of these plane.
I think I'll go ahead and recondition and have the planes ready for use if I ever need them.
Thaks again.
RonT
i just picked up an old no7 at a flea market for 20 bucks, pretty rough shape, but some tweaking and honing and some new handles, it'll be a user but certainly never a collector
it has a corrugated sole, a new feature to me
Hey Steve,
Google Patricks Blood and Gore. You'll find all sorts of info. on Stanley planes, including those with corrugated soles. The intent of this sole type was to reduce friction when using these planes.
Welcome to the slippery slope, having fun is first priority.
I have rehabbed 6 stanley planes and had a ball doing it. I hope you find pleasure in your efforts and once you put them to wood you will be amazed at how profoundly they will positively influence the quality of your work.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 11/29/2007 9:29 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
i have discovered old planes before but nothing like this old number 7, sole is in good shape, blade needs replacement due to some butchery, but i did hone it and flaten it
a joy to use indeed, next is a new handle and knob probably walnut
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled