Stanley no 150

[Riaan van Zyl]

I like my old tools, just a much better feel to it. What I dislike is to buy an old tool and realise it is not doing the job, so please I need some advice.

I have had my eye on a Stanley no 150 mitre box for some time, but is it really going to give me a true 45 deg cut, it really kills me if I make a frame and the corners don’t match up.

[jim hedgpeth]

I dont know about the 150 but I have an old 358. It is dead on 45, and 90. Locks down tight, and lot of capacity. If the 150 is built half as well it should be great.

Most of the old tools were ment to be used a lot more often than tools now. Hence they were (usualy) better built, with a nod to quality rather than cheap manufacture.

I would say give it a shot.

Good luck,
Jim

[Robert Rozaieski]

My guess is that regardless of whether or not it is dead on 45, you will likely want to plane the miter to clean up the saw cut so that the miter fits real tight. Even if it's dead on 45 degrees, the sawn edge typically isn't smooth enough for a good tight miter. Even if it was good enough, most miters still need some fitting as the corners are typically not dead on 90 degrees. I'm all for joinery straight from the saw, but miters are usually an exception.

[jim hedgpeth]

Bob has a very good point here.

Jim

[Bill Houghton]

The 150 is a small box, with the saw guided by two flat plates, one fixed and one pushed by spring pressure to form a channel.

It's rather limited in depth of cut as a result of the design, and, in my experience, tends to buck.

It might be suitable for picture frames, if the frame stock is of moderate size, say not more than 1x3; I wouldn't recommend it for much more than that.

Still, if that's what you need, it might be worth trying.

[Jim Koepke]

I have an old mitre stand. Can't remember which one right now. It seems easier to use a bench hook mitre and trim with a plane than to set up the box.

ymmv

jim

[Riaan van Zyl]

Thank you guys, I understand better the limitations of the item. I will use it for picture frames and I guess for this it will work fine, cleaning it up with a plane is essential I agree. Again thanks for the help.