After realizing that I have all the hand tools I could ever want or need (that’s what my wife tries to tell me) (I said I’ll stop buying tools when she stops buying shoes) I decided to upgrade a couple of my old Stanleys with a new Hock blade and chip breaker. After poking around on the web I found these guys:
http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/hockblades.htm
All Hock Blades and chip breakers ON SALE with FREE SHIPPING.
It’s worth a look
Replies
Are Hock blades worth it? I have a bunch of old Stanleys but I can't use Lie-Nielsen blades in them. I was thinking about trying a Hock.
In a word- YES. Also check into the Hock chip breaker. I have used both and the improvement is amazing.
PHM
Why can't you use Lie-Nielsen Stanley replacement blades?
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?cat=512
The Hock are fine too, but are thicker (or at least were back when I bought a few several years back), and therefore may require you to fettle the mouth with a file to get the cut your looking for.
The LN's are excellent. I have them in almost all my old Stanelys.
well I'll be.. I guess you can buy replacemnet blades to fit Stanley...thanks I'll try one of them out
I wouldn't throw the original irons out, though. My #4 cuts hard maple really well and it's not even laminated, like the better ones are. You could always grind more of a radius on it and use it for quasi scub plane work. My #7 is laminated and will hold an edge longer, but I won't be using it as much. As was mentioned, L-N and Hock both have Stanley specific replacements.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I have one of his blades in an old jack plane and works quite well. It did take some work getting the milling scratches out of the back but it does hold an edge well. You might also look at the Japanese laminated blades such as the "Samurai" I have one of those in an old Millersfalls jointer plane along with a Hock chip breaker and it works like a dream.Good luck.
I got a bunch of tools from a retired woodworker. One was a #5 Stanley. The thing had been sharpened so much I had to buy a new blade because I was running out of steel. The Hock worked well.
Frank
Hock makes excellent blades, just check for flatness when they first arrive.
Had one particlar incident replacing the old original blade from a Record #7 jointer that I was never quite able to get 100%, then found a slight dish across the blade. I seem to recall that after a phone call I sent the blaade off and a new (and flat) replacement arrived in just a couple of days.
LN blades are also excellent, and I have a friend that swears by the Cliftons.
STEELHEAD
steelhead
That is my only gripe with Hock blades. They take alot more work to get ready to work than the LN couterparts. I've replaced all the blades and chipbreakers in my set of Bedrock planes, mostly with Hock blades and chipbreakers. They all required varying amounts of work, measured in hours, not minutes, to flatten and sharpen. However, once done, they are excellent blades.
The Holtey blade I have in my 604 is an absolute gem, but at over $100 for a blade, they are not practical replacements. I just had to try ONE, though.
The LN blades require alot less work. They are flat when they arrrive, and the bevels are all ground correctly. Polishing the back, and honing a microbevel, and away you go in about 15-20 minutes.
Jeff
This was my first experience with the replacement blades. After reading a number of articles on refurbishing and tuning bench planes, replacing the original blade was the only thing I hadn't done to mine. The Hock and LN blades were the most often suggested so when I saw the Hocks on sale I went for it.
Was it worth it? Oh my yes. It made a 100% improvement in my Stanley 4 & 5 straight out of the wrapping.
Unlike some of the other replies I've read, niether my blade nor chip breaker showed any milling marks and both were lapped dead flat. The only thing I found was that Hock said the blade was sharpened at 25 degrees but according to my MKII it is slightly off of that.
I think I heard another shoe order being phoned in so it might be time to upgrade the block planes:)
How 'bout them Steelers!
M:
I just rehabbed a Stanley #5 and replaced the blade with a LN blade. This was the 1st time I had rehabbed a plane and when I put the new LN blade in, it worked like a charm. I did have to "play" with the frog to align the component parts. Took about 5-10 minutes and voila-- the plane now sings again.Thank you,
Cheatah
Almost all of my hand planes have Hock irons in them. They get sharper and are easier to sharpen than any other blade I have used. I have been buying them from him since about 1986. I had bought others but I find his to be the best on the market.
Are you trying to use the regular LN blades, or the ones that LN makes specifically for Stanley replacements? I've got several of the 'replacement' blades, and really like them - better than the Hocks, as a matter of fact.
Jim D.
What do you like better about the LN plane irons?
The LN 'replacement' blades that I have - five of them so far - have all had the backs pretty well flattened when I got them, and have been very sharp, requiring only a light honing to be ready for use. Hock blades, on the other hand - I also have about five or six of them, too - have all needed quite a bit of work to get the back adequately flattened, and have required much more sharpening and honing to be ready for work.
Both are made of good quality (A-2?) steel, and both work equally well, once prepped. It's just the initial prep work that makes me like the LN blades better.
BTW: a positive comment on both - LN's customer service is great - they really stand behind their products, and often, if you call Hock, Ron Hock himself will be the one answering the phone. He's very helpful, and will often recommend buying his blades from someone else, rather than direct. He once told me that I ought to buy several scraper blades from The Japan Woodworker because not only could they supply them to me faster than he could, their prices were cheaper! Great guy to deal with.
Jim D.
Jim
I've come to the exact same conclusion as you. Once the Hock's have been tuned properly they are fine. The LN's come in much better condition. It's hard for me to tell the difference between the two once they've been prepared, but LN is ready in 5 minutes, and the Hock much, much longer.
Jeff
Jeff,
Yeah. They're both fine blades. It's just that the Hock seems to be more of a "kit" than a finished product...
Jim D.
Maybe the price difference is the time L-N spends preping the blades prior to shipping. Since I always want to flatten and sharpen any blade before using, regardless of the condition, maybe the Hock blades will serve me just as well and for less money.
I agree with most of what you said. Even with the LN blades, I still go through the process of polishing the back and honing the front. The difference is, because they already did it for us, the process takes about 10 to 15 minutes to achieve a finished blade, ready for work. With the last 2 Hock's I got, they each took well over an hour to work into the same condition. If you're doing this as a hobby, and enjoy the time spent, then it doesn't matter. If you've got a large commission waiting for you to complete, it quickly doubles the cost of the Hock, figuring your labor rate for yourself.
As I stated earlier, either way, they are both good blades ONCE they are ready to work.
Jeff
If you're doing this as a hobby, and enjoy the time spent, then it doesn't matter. If you've got a large commission waiting for you to complete, it quickly doubles the cost of the Hock, figuring your labor rate for yourself.
Jeff,
Your statement regrading hobbyist vs professional applies to many other areas of woodworking as well. As a hobbyist (is that a word?) using a replacement blade for the first time, I was thrilled with the performance right out of the wrapper. I didn't think I could ever make a plane work that well. Since then I have, and will continue to improve the blade...at my leisure. Will I notice any additional difference in performance? Maybe; maybe not. But a pro such as yourself will. So for you it will be time well spent, but still it is time spent.
I was reading your profile. Why don't you teach those three younguns to sharpen and polish blades so dad can keep working :-)
Regards, -Chuck
Edited 2/16/2006 11:55 pm ET by chuckh
> hobbyist vs professional <
I like to use the term 'recreational' woodworker. I don't do it for revenue, but I was once a pro, of sorts, and I do aim to work at commercial speed and to commercial standards when I do get into my shop.
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
Chuck
(Great name, it's my father's, and my middle)
As long as you are getting full width, even thickness shavings, that are chatter free, without tearout, leaving a polished surface, then no other tuning is 'required'. After all, that's exactly what the plane is supposed to do. The whole point behind replacing the stock blades is to get a thicker blade that resists chatter that doesn't require sharpening as frequently.
As hand plane (and hand tool) officianado's, we all (probably) want to have our tools in as finely tuned condition as we can achieve, but once we get them to work properly with very good results, tuning them past this point is for pure personal satisfaction, and nothing else.
Having personally tuned a few (or more!) old relics, I have learned through trial how flat a sole needs to be, and how polished that microbevel needs to be in order to work correctly. The extra $$ I pay for LN planes gets paid back to me in time saved not needing to work em' over to get them to work properly. They're pretty much ready to go out of the box with minimal adjusting.
Jeff
They probably are warping in the heat treating process, particularly if they have a large keyhole cutout. L-N seems to be able to control this problem better.
Haven't tried them myself but another option. Lee Valley will take them back if you find that you don't like their Veritas blades.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=41717&cat=1,41182
Chuck,
As luck would have it I installed a Hock on my Stanley #4 today and I am highly impressed. I checked the back for flatness first and it needed very little work> I then honed the blade a little and added a slight crown and after slightly adjusting the frog I was up and running. I cant believe the improvement over the original blade and the quality of the surface left after planing. I will definately be replacing more blades and chipbreakers as I go. Perhaps In a couple I might even try the L-N or L-V for comparison sake.
Chris
Chris,
Your experience sounds identical to mine; even down to the #4 Stanley. Based on some of the other posts it appears that Hock may have a few quality control issues, although I won't hesitate to buy from them again. That said, I, like you, may try one of the other suppliers the next time just to compare. It's obvious that you can't go wrong with any of the three.
-Chuck
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