Hello from the UK

[George Penfold]

Hello everyone, Decided it was time to poke my head above the parapet and say HI . Well now who am I, just a normally insane guy who loves old tools and trys to use them, with varying degrees of success. Mainly like to use hand tools, but do have a few cast iron lumps with motors on too. Pride of which is my Wadkin UOS 18 x 9 planer thicknesser. God bless e-bay! lol. I live in Cornwall just on the Cornish / Devonshire border, with my partner Philip, who just about puts up with my eccentricity. Work wise I make bespoke wrought iron work, from gates to bird tables to staircases. Hobbies include, woodworking , vintage vehicles and caravans, restoring our Victorian house, old sewing machines, vintage shaving equipment. and lots more.
I just purchased from the great and wonderful e-bay a lovely old Stanley 150 open front mitre box, made in the USA, in very nice condition, a great piece of engineering. hope to restore it in the near future. Thought I would put up a few photo's of it and if anyone has any info I would be greatful.

[Andrew Gibson]

Hi George. Welcome form the Colonies, to the creek and the cave next to it. :)
Looks like it will end up being a very nice miter box. I don't have any info for you but I am interested in seeing how the restoration goes.

[Niels Cosman]

Welcome George.
That mitre box should clean up really nicely- The 150 has a funny but clever design. make sure to post pictures :)
Cheers,
Niels

[Jim Koepke]

George,

Welcome to the Creek.

I was almost tempted into buying one of those a week or so ago. It was in an antique shop and the price was OK. Since I already have a miter box that works very well it was left behind.

jtk

[Mark Baldwin III]

Welcome to the Creek!

[Kevin Foley]

Hello George,

I'm new here today and intended to stay quiet for a while - until I saw the 150. I have one and use it for small stock. Congratulations! From a quick check of the pictures you've got all the fiddly bits that usually go missing. I apologize if I'm repeating the obvious but remove the blade clamp from the channel that it rides in and carefully remove any rust from the machined tracks. I use paraffin on these. slip a piece of paper between the blade clamps -- they're pushed together by springs -- check for drag. if there's rust in there and you wish to avoid disassembly pull some v. fine sandpaper through. Turn it over to get both sides. Think carefully about lubing the plates because any lube will be transfered to the blade, then to the stock that you later might want to glue or finish. Back into hiding.

[Niels Cosman]

I was just thinking- I wonder if the 150 wouldn't benefit from the addition of a bearing material added to the clamping surfaces. Something like PTFE (teflon http://www.mcmaster.com/#ptfe/=b3dy6z) or delrin. It would probably help keep your sawplate moving freely without the need for lubrication- it also would keep the plate from getting scratched up rubbing up steel on iron. You could get a small thin sheet 1/32 or 1/16 of the stuff for a couple of bucks. You can also get adhesive back films.
Just a thought- I don't know if it's really a problem or not.

[Bill Houghton]

I was just thinking- I wonder if the 150 wouldn't benefit from the addition of a bearing material added to the clamping surfaces. Something like PTFE (teflon http://www.mcmaster.com/#ptfe/=b3dy6z) or delrin. It would probably help keep your sawplate moving freely without the need for lubrication- it also would keep the plate from getting scratched up rubbing up steel on iron. You could get a small thin sheet 1/32 or 1/16 of the stuff for a couple of bucks. You can also get adhesive back films.
Just a thought- I don't know if it's really a problem or not.

I got rid of my 150 box because I found it bucked a lot - thinking back, it was probably due to friction of the sawplate between those saw guides. Waxing would have helped; if it's feasible to add one of the super-low-friction plastics, that might be even cooler.

They're small-stock miter boxes; you wouldn't want to be cutting out 1x6s on them. But, if you can resolve the friction problem, it could be a good box for cutting molding.

You've no doubt figured out that there needs to be a board on the bed. I used some thin plywood, held down with very short screws in from underneath (which is how the original wooden bed is held on). If you're using a backsaw in it, set the blade guide, vertically, so that the teeth just kiss the bed when the back on the saw is in contact with the blade guides; this will give you maximum depth of cut.

On mine, there was a screw coming out the side of the pivoting post, located so that the teeth of the saw would hit it. I figured out that, originally, Stanley had some sort of rubber bumper there. My hardware store had nylon bushings that fit perfectly there, which lasted longer than the rubber I put on at first.

[Niels Cosman]

I got rid of my 150 box because I found it bucked a lot - thinking back, it was probably due to friction of the sawplate between those saw guides. Waxing would have helped; if it's feasible to add one of the super-low-friction plastics, that might be even cooler.

Ooh that sucks- I'll bet you a little PTFE would make a world of difference. Anything you could do to avoid steel on steel would probably be a huge upgrade. I don't see why it wouldn't be feasable- I am assuming there has to be at least 1/16 of play between the clamping plates.

[George Penfold]

hi all
Thanks for the nice welcome and all the advice. I certainly will look into putting some anti-friction stuff onto the saw guides. Also will put a thin section of nice wood on the base and use a cover of thin hardboard on top of that so I can change it as it gets worn out. As its quite light I intend to screw it down to a good heavy piece of oak I have, the legs have holes in them for this. I will be restoring it over the next few weeks as time allows and will be posting photo's. I'll be trying out for the first time some DIY nickel plating on parts of it, I have found all the supplies I need and have gotten the equipment ready. If it works well I will be plating some more items from a few planes I have put by to restore.