340 furring plane

[Carl Carew]

I had the fortune? to come upon a 340 at a yard sale. An older gent was unloading a lot of older tools mostly in very good condition and I was one of the first on the scene Bought a number of tools from him. When I found the 340 it was missing the iron and cap I told him about what the plane was and asked if there was any chance he had the missing parts. He encouraged me to search the tool shed which I did on hands, knees, and finally belly but no luck. He then thanked me for telling him about what it was and sold it to me for a very reasonable amount missing the parts. The plane is in rather good condition tote and knob are fine and hardly any rust on the body.

For a month I have been looking for the parts without any success, I have contacted some of the nationally known plane collectors without any luck. It looks like the cap and iron from a 62 might do the job, the cap on the 340 should be Japanned and it is nickle plated on the 62 but otherwise looks the same.

Any ideas or suggestions or any knowledge about the 62 being a possible replacement/

Thanks
Carl

[James Taglienti]

The 62 cap won't work, maybe one from a 97 chisel plane.

Also i think the cutter for the 340 is unique to it.

nice find anyway.

[Bill Houghton]

I wonder if the iron from some of the Defiance planes would fit.

Measure from the base of the bedding for the iron - at the sole - up to the lever cap screw (the one on which the lever cap would pivot), or to the hole for it if that's missing, too, and let us all know what the distance is. It would seem to me that's the critical measurement.

[James Taglienti]

what I should say is -
a 62 cap won't look right. it would work if you wish to use the plane- but for that matter a lever cap from a 4 or 5 should work too.

i am pretty sure that the 340 has that basic "specialty plane" cap that looks similar to the one on the #72 and the #97... maybe a couple others...

the cutter is thicker than a bench plane cutter and also doesn't have the hole for a lever cap screw. the slot isn't as long either.

if you're trying to put the plane to work, a cutter and lever cap from a #4 should fit the bill.

if you're interested in resale, i'd look into buying a #97 (if the cap is indeed identical) just for the parts, it would be worth the purchase, and perhaps finding an unmarked 2" wide cutter with no slot... I'd have a machine shop mill the slot and stamp stanley in block letters across it. of course i'd say it was a copy.

[James Baker SD]

what was its intended use? Not obvious to me from photos.

James

[Steve Costa]

The person who may have what you need is Pete Niederberger.
415-924-8403 or pniederber@aol.com. He has a VAST aray of spare parts which he has been assembling for years. If he has them they won't be cheap but the Stanley 340 furring plane sells in the neighborhood of $1200 to $1800 depending on condition & type. Less today due to the economy.

Other Options:

Clarance Blanchard at www.finetooljournal.com (http://www.finetooljournal.com).

Martin Donnelly at www.mjdtools.com (http://www.mjdtools.com)

I collect old tools so I have spent way to much $$$$ with these guys.

WE ALL WISH WE HAD YOUR PROBLEM!!!:D

Steve

[James Taglienti]

the 340 was supposedly a "sacrificial" plane used on roughsawn lumber to remove the dirt, grit, and sawmarks before it was scrub planed... i think stanley tried to create a process that didn't exist at the time and the plane flopped. go to pat leach's blood and gore for a very colorful descriptive...

[Carl Carew]

Thanks to all for the suggestions I am slow responsing because my daughter, grandson, and son in law just came home (to us) after 3 years based in Hawaii, with tours of duty in Iraq and Afganastan for my son in law. All are back safe and sound now. AS to the question about distance from the screw to the throat I measure 1 9/16 inches Thanks James for the cap advice, Steve thanks for the suggested sources some are new to me and I will contact them.

AS to what I would plan to do with the tool ie fix up with substitute parts for a user I don't think I would do this if I can't get a part that is correct (if the 97 plane iron is a true identical part I would use on it a heartbeat, but I would not try to modify a (#4 cap) for a plane this rare.

I an not a true collector in that I have no tools that are strictly for display. I have loads of tools that stay with me for a while..I enjoy learning to use them and always wonder what hands have held them before me and what they have created but after a while many are traded or sold and the proceeds used to aquire new treasures. If I can't complete this plane i will probably try to trade it for something new to me at some time in the future. If I do complete it i will play with it for a while and then it will be time to trade it.

I have added a couple of pictures of it below and if I can complete it I will post pictures of teh finished product.

Thank you all again

Carl

[James Taglienti]

the 97 cap, not cutter, looks right. the 97 cutter is way off.
your 340 needs a cutter that is similar in appearance and thickness to that of a #40 scrub. your cutter should be 2" wide though, with a short groove for the screw to go through.

if you do buy a 97 for the cap and don't want the rest, let me know, i may be able to take it off your hands.

[Carl Carew]

Thanks I will let you know if thats the way I go. By the way I have seen at least two totally different shapes of irons installed on examples of 340 planes that I have been able to find on the web. I have seen irons that have a 2 inch wide cutting area that neck way down to probably 3/4 inch wide (guessing from the photo) as well as full 2 inch wide irons and yes they are thicker I still don't have the correct dimension but definately thicker than the bench planes. I also saw one that had milled slots on the underside like you see on some block planes...that must have been a home made adaption blade.

Carl

[James Taglienti]

the one with the slots probably came from a #97... they have a block plane type depth adjuster.

[Mel Miller]

Unless you have your heart set on finding the proper parts for the 340, and they will be very hard to find, you might try to sell it.
Finding a buyer for an incomplete plane might also be difficult.

Mel