New (current) Stanley Rabbet Planes 90, 92, & 93

[Pedro Reyes]

Repeat post in other forum, sorry

Anyone has any comments on these bullnose rabbets? I mean the ones readily available at stores, not Ebay ones. Are these as different (lower quality when compared to a c.a. 1920 model) as the bench planes? Or have these retained their quality?

Any comments appreciated.

Pedro

[Mark Singer]

They are not machined that well. Lee Valley, Clifton, Lie Neilsen are far better. More $$ though.

[Dave Anderson NH]

The English made Stanley rabbets are quite variable in their quality. You can get a good one, or it can be abysmal. They all require some tuning and need to be sharpened and honed. The most common problems are:

1 Front and rear castings not in the same plane- causing twisted sole

2 Combined chipbreaker/lever cap doesn't have a flat bottom to hold the blade
down firmly

3 Adjustment mechanism not fully deburred- motion is stiff and jerky

4 Blade slightly too wide, blade sides not parallel, and cutting edge not square
blade sides

5 Occasionally sides of plane not square to sole

Of these problems, the most serious is #1, which is a miserable job to fix and usually isn't worth the trouble. Mark is right, if you can afford it, the Lee Valley/ Veritas is a much better choice and will only require a slight honing of the blade.

[Tony Zaffuto]

I have a Stanley #90 that was virtually worthless! It exhibits nearly everything Dave Andersen stated. The plane is a three year old English manufactured model.

Fortunately, in my plant, I employ several tool makers, as well as a machinist or two. This plane is now a real (modern) "sweetheart". Listed below is everything done:
Machine the bed, with the nose on to make the plane coplanar and remove a bit of twist
Square one of the sides to the bed (the other was OK)
Machine/flatten the bed for the blade to ensure the blade would lay parallel to the bed, and also to gain maximun support as close to the edge of the blade as possible.
Machine the chipbreaker so that it would bear on the blade near the edge of the blade.


I took care of honing the blade and upon reassembly, the plane is now a beauty. The problem is, I paid (my Wife actually did for a present!) $75.00 for the plane new. Accounting for my machinist's time, I had another $120.00 in the plane. This brings the total cost to $195.00. A new Lee-Valley bull nose plane will cost you about $130.00.

As it stands now, I would not part with my #90, for it now does everything asked of it perfectly. Would I recommend the purchase of one? Absolutely not!

T.Z.

[Steve Wargo]

I purchased a new stanley 92 about 2 years ago to use in a pinch. I checked everything out with a square before I purchased it and it was tollerable. Even so I still spent about 1 1/2 hours tuning it for general use. The iron is nearly worthless. It doesn't hold an edge at all and required about 45 minutes worth of tuning alone.