Tuning a New Stanley #90 Rabbet Plane
Hi All,
For my b-day, I treated myself to a Stanley #90 Rabbet plane. As in the past, I’ve tuned a block plane and smoothing plane but never one of these #90’s. Any ideas or articles you could point me to?
Thanks in advance!
Replies
Fred
nearly five days and no one's come back to you.
The most I've ever done is flatten the back of the blade – but then the #90 I use belonged to my great grandfather. The blade is ever so slightly wider than the plane.
Garrett Hack suggests that whilst they need careful tuning, shoulder planes are usually pretty close out of the box. Hack suggets that you take special care with:
the sole – flat and square with both sides
the bed – should be flat
the iron – should be carefully sharpened and parallel with the sole.
but otherwise the general tuning principles apply.
If the plane is not 90 degrees from the side to the bottom, return the plane. You should expect them to be pretty close, not like the current Stanley planes 4-7.
Fred
As ian and Chuck stated, about the same procedure to tune as other planes. The exception is the sides need to be 90* to the sole or close as a shooter. If they are not, you will have to true them or return it and get another plane or brand that is.
sarge..jt
Proud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
As others have said: check sole/side alignment carefully. Also check to see that the two part sole is co-linear. I purchased a #92 as a gift for a friend a few years ago. It was out in everyway possible. Well, not exactly true, the chrome wasn't falling off. Neither of us could see a way to true it without the aid of a machinist. I returned it and got a refund, then bought him a Clifton. That one was/is dead on in every possible manner.
Hi All:
Thanks for the replies to my question.
So... If all is well regarding the body of my #90 being square, there's the blade sharpening issue. This blade has three bevels - the front one (coming to a point) and two sides (that seem to have a small shoulder). I read somewhere that the blade should protrude out about 1/32" out the side. Is this correct? I would "think" you want a cut tightly into the corner (under the plane) but not to cut both under *and* to the side of the plane at the same time. That said, do the side bevels need to be sharpened at all?
I'm excited about using this new tool. Over the weekend, I was working on my largest furniture project to date and my block and smoothing planes got a workout. It was nice to use these tools with confidence and to see that they are a must in any shop. Thanks to the folks here in the Knots and to the FWW magazine, I'm always inspired and learning!
Thanks again to all... Fred
I guess it' time to air some dirty laundry about my Stanley #93 that I purchased about a year ago. Not only was the bottom not flat and out of true to the sides, but the plane bed also needed alot of work, the cap iron seemed off and the screw that holds the blade down had a slot that was messed up. The later problem sent me back to Highland Hardware where I had purchased the tool. They would not take back the tool,and accused me of messing up the screw slot, even though the slot was chromed over and obviously manufactured that way. So I was stuck with what I consider a lemon plane. Sorry to rain on your parade, but get the Clifton or LN It's worth the extra $. Buck
>>This blade has three bevels - the front one (coming to a point) and two sides (that seem to have a small shoulder). I read somewhere that the blade should protrude out about 1/32" out the side. Is this correct? I would "think" you want a cut tightly into the corner (under the plane) but not to cut both under *and* to the side of the plane at the same time. That said, do the side bevels need to be sharpened at all?
Those other bevels arent sharpened. They're similar to the bevels you would find on chisels. The blade should protrude from the sides, but just by the slighest amount. The new Lie-Nielsen blades are .005" wider than the body of the plane, so that leaves .0025" (twenty five ten thousandths, try measuring that one!!) to protrude on a side. I'm not sure what the Stanley tolerances are. I've got an old Stanley 90 that I just love. With a little fettling I think you'll be very happy with this plane -- keep it sharp!
When people 100 years from now see my work, they'll know I cared. --Matt Mulka
Hi,
Well after reading the post regarding the body being out of square with the sole I checked and it was. After my exercise regiment, I decided to work out my arms a bit more on that new plane. I was able to get the sole a lot closer to square than it was out of the box but not perfect. It seems like the plane's sides aren't totally parallel (and running it through my planer is NOT an option). My thought was that it has to be sufficiently square enough for the work I do as a hobbyist -- and if it's not -- I'll work it more or buy a better plane. I must admit... there is something quite therapeutic about tuning a plane. Since I had a mess of oil and sanpaper, I flattened my lbock plane's sole too. Tonight - I'll sharpen the iron and put it back together. I'm really looking forward to using it!
One more question regarding grits: I used 320, then 400 with oil (because I was adhering the sandpaper to my jointer bed with spray adhesive). I don't have any wet/dry paper that was more coarse in the shop (yet). Should I have used something like 220 or more coarse to start? I did need to remove a bit of metal on the #90 at first and kept moving the paper to use a fresh section... just wondering for future reference!
Thanks again to all for responding!Kind regards - Fred
Being that out of square, I'd have started with my disc sander using 80 grit. You are probably learning alot about how hard it is to sand iron.
It's a shame that the Stanleys are so poor nowdays. I have an older #92 that was right on the money out of the box. But the newer one I posted about was another story. One thing I learned: even though we had honed the blade and made attempts to flatten the sole, Woodcraft Supply took it back and gave a full refund. And that was after about three months! They are a pleasure to buy from.
If you're talking about squaring the sole or paralleling the sides, I would start with a higher grit, up 80 grit. For honing the iron, I usually start at 320 and finish at 600 or 1000 grit depending on the use of the iron. A 90 would be sharpened to 1000 grit and set to take a fine shaving. Don't abuse it and hopefully you'll never have to grind it again!
Yeah, it's a shame Stanley is a mere shell of what it once was.
When people 100 years from now see my work, they'll know I cared. --Matt Mulka
Hi Guys,
I'll have to buy some 80+ grit paper to keep on hand. I wasn't expecting to work so hard on that sole. I'll probably true it up some more once I get the coarser stuff.
Last night I sharpened the iron. Should this iron have a micro-bevel or is that mainly for bench chisels?
Thanks for all your input.Kind regards - Fred
To ALL: Am I missing something here? Isn't a #90 plane nickel plated? Won't all of this squaring up by sanding/grinding remove the plating? Thanks.
Ben
you mean till it looks like this?
Well, that looks like you could sand and grind it square and still have it looking good. I was thinking that the typical #90 looked like this attachment - nice and shiny.
Well, in truth it's not a "typical" #90. I'm told that the original ones were silver rather than nickel plated. I haven't checked if what little shiny stuff remains is really silver, but nickel plating doen't wear off the way silver plating would. The other difference is in where the cast number is located. The plane was purchased new by my great grandfather.
Hi,
I'm pretty sure my new one is nickel plated. I only flattened the sole and the sides are still plated. After getting the iron sharpened, it's making shavings like a little champ. :)Kind regards - Fred
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