Stanley 45 Questions

[mickey cassiba]

First time posting down here...please look over my ignorance.
I just acquired a Stanley 45 "Combi-plane and have no idea what I'm looking at. Can someone here point me in the general direction? I'd like to find a user manual, or some form of instruction on the care and use of this plane. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated, as my only hand plane experience is with a little block plane(generic) and a jack plane many years ago. This is way beyond my ken.
I'll post pics as soon as I can get to a camera.

[Jim Koepke]

Mickey,

Welcome to the cave by the Creek.

Google is your friend.

Among the many things found on a search > Stanley 45 instructions < was this:

http://www.tooltrip.com/tooltrip9/stanley/comb-planes/45man.pdf

There are a lot of other results in the search that may even give more help.

Also here on the Creek, search on > jake darvall < he used to post a lot about different uses he had for the Stanley 45. I haven't seen a post from him here in a long time, but I think he still posts on the Australian wood working forum.

jtk

[mickey cassiba]

Thanks Jim. I'll certainly be searching google...I did when I made the deal, but must have missed that one. BTW, this plane does not show much wear, the guy I got it from said he found it in a shed on his property.

[Walter Plummer]

Hi Mickey. Woodcraft sells a book called Planecraft that has instructions for Record brand combination planes. They are pretty similar. Astragal Press also has books on the Stanley planes. There are reprints of the manual on e-bay. The reprint of the manual is 5 pages of instructions, 2 pages display all the cutters that were available and the last page is an exploded parts view.

[Jim Neeley]

Wow.. I don't know how old that manual is but I'm guessing movies were about $0.10 at the time it was made????

In any event, buying one with all attachments, all as parts would run >$60. Even if this is twice the "package" price, it must have been a pricey plane for its day!!

[mickey cassiba]

Wow.. I don't know how old that manual is but I'm guessing movies were about $0.10 at the time it was made????

In any event, buying one with all attachments, all as parts would run >$60. Even if this is twice the "package" price, it must have been a pricey plane for its day!! Really?
I got it for the cost of shipping...my first gloat, eh?BTW I am not a photographer(could ya tell?)

[Jonathan McCullough]

Combination planes are intimidating at first, but once you know how to use them, they're kinda fun. A lady who goes by the initials ALF is the undisputed internet Queen and has some very informative pages here (http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/combinationplanes.html). The instructions for the Record 405 are very good, and the 405 is nearly identical to your 45 there. The key to all operations are *sharp* irons, no exceptions!

[mickey cassiba]

Jonathan this is golden...I'll be up all night.
Many thanks.