New Blade for Old Plane

[Darren McVey]

This is my first post. I have a quick question...

My dad (who is not a woodworker) gave me two little ten-year-old Stanley block planes. Would it be worth it to buy some nice blades? Or would that not make much difference?

These are my first planes and I want to use them basically for practice until I can afford nice planes.

Any advice for plane practice?

[Terry Beadle]

Hello and welcome to SMC.

I would recommend you practice with the existing blades until you have good sharpening skills and stones or scary sharp methods acquired. The standard Stanley blades are not high quality but they are very useable. On block plane blades, you want an edge straight across and no arcing.

For practice, get a good straight grained no knots piece of softer wood. Some pine or cedar or soft maple will do. Spend enough time selecting the material to practice on because you don't want to spend time fighting the wood grain as you want to focus on learning how to set the blade depth, angle of cut, and mouth opening ( assuming you have a block plane with an adjustable mouth ).

Study one or more of the available internet sources of info on fettle-ing a block plane. You'll want the sole dead flat, the blade seat clear of any foreign material or burrs, and general cleanliness ( no dirt, rust, or paint on critical mating surfaces ).

First do planing on the edge of a test board. You want to set the blade depth to take a shaving of about 4 to 5 thousandths of an inch ( about the thickness of a sheet of xerox paper ). The first stroke may not take much of a shaving. Keep at it until the plane is cutting a shaving the entire length of the test board ( board should be about 12 to 15 inches in length ). The edge you should be first practicing on will be with the grain and not cross grain. Be sure to look at the side of the board edge and don't push the block plane against the direction of the grain. If you push against the grain, you will get tear out big time. Simply, plane in the other direction to get good results.

Another good thing to practice is to use a slitting gauge or marking gauge and mark the test piece about 1/16th from the top edge in parallel with the planed edge on both sides of the test piece. Make sure the planed edge you mark from is square in width and as true as possible in length. Also make sure the planed edge does not pivot in the center when placed on a truly flat surface ( like the cast iron table saw or a Starrett rule ). Then practice planing the test piece to exactly remove material until you reach the 1/16th inch gauge lines. Be prepared to adjust the block plane to a very lite shaving ( only 1 ~ 2 thou ) as you near the gauged marking lines.

If you have a micrometer, measure the results for feed back to get the test piece exactly parallel edge to edge. If you can get the edges with in 1 ~ 2 thou of parallel then you have acquired the skills necessary to make some winding sticks which you can then use to correct twist or wind.

The more effort you put into good planing control and accuracy the better your results will be on a future project.

I also recommend you get a chunk of green rouge and use it on a piece of dead flat hard wood to hone the Stanley blade frequently during practice. You should need to hone the blade any time it starts to get more difficult to push a shaving.

Wood grain can change several times in direction with in even 12 inches. So look carefully at the edge areas of the side of the edges to make sure your first practice pieces have no grain direction changes ( if at all possible ). Later you will need to learn to mark the grain direction changes with some #2 pencil marks to you'll know when to change the direction of the plane strokes.

Once you have mastered getting edges square and dead flat ( or slightly 1 ~ 2 thou concave ) then you can switch to flatening the face sides of the test pieces. Even a block plane can true a face side but it just takes a whole lot longer.

Once you have edges and faces trued flat, then practice on how to make end grain edges square in both directions. The block planes are especially suited for end grain work. The end grain practice will be the clearest indicator if you have sharpened the blade sharp. You'll get a shaving and not dust.

If you have $25, I recommend you buy David Charlesworths videos on blade sharpening and how to use a plane. His videos will improve your skills more quickly than you can do on your own IMO.

Good luck, keep us posted on your progress, and enjoy the shavings !

[Jim Koepke]

Darren,

Welcome to the Creek.

Terry has pretty much covered everything but asking for pictures of your planes. We all like pictures to see what model block plane you may have.

I agree with Terry, learn to sharpen with the blades you have. If they are too soft, you will get a lot of practice. If they are good blades, you will save some money. Even some of the recent blades from Stanley are decent.

I have a little Stanley #102 that one expert in the field calls "Stanley's cheapest" block plane. It may have been cheap, but it works quite well. It is my only standard angle block plane.

Remember, the best way to get questions answered is to ask them.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

My experience is that there's two things about block planes. The first is the shape and weight of the plane and how it fits into your hand. The second is the blade. My experience has been that recent Stanley block planes did not have the best blades in them and will benefit from a replacement from a reputable supplier (Hock, LV, LN, maybe even Pinnacle).

On a bevel up block plane, the blade is normally sharpened at 25*. If the steel in the blade is not the best, the edge will not hold up. And if you increase the bevel angle to get more strength in the edge, you increase the effective cutting angle (bed angle plus bevel angle).

So if you're not satisfied with the performance of one of the planes, you might try buying a modern blade.

If the planes have sentimental value to you, go ahead and get a better blade. But if they don't, first consider the value of the plane (check on eBay). If it's a "cheap" plane, it may not be worth putting the cost of a modern blade into it, unless the plane just fits your hand like a glove and you're sure you want to keep it.

Mike

[john brenton]

The price of two new blades (hock or ibc) isn't cheap. By the time you've counted the cost, spending more for a new, well machined, quality block plane won't sound so bad. You can cinvince yourself that you're actually saving money....which you would be if you consider that you can buy the blades and still not like the planes. A really good block, especially a low angle, is an asset.

[James Scheffler]

If your Stanley blades are really about 10 years old, I would guess based on experience that the steel is not that great and won't hold an edge. A replacement blade from any of the quality makers (Hock, Lee Valley, Lie-Nielsen, IBC, and maybe others I'm not thinking of) will be a big improvement. Having a substantially thicker blade will also likely make your planes work better. Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen block plane blades are a full 1/8" thick, which is really nice.

That said, I think the advice above is good. You'll need to learn to sharpen anyway, and you need to know if the planes fit your hands well and if you can make them perform adequately. Therefore, go ahead and sharpen the ones you have, put them to work, and see where that leads.

Jim S.

[Darren McVey]

Wow. Thanks everybody. I know where to get my questions answered now.

[Brian Kent]

You got some great advice there, Darren. Welcome.

A couple of things I remember from my first block plane:

The blade wasn't sharp and I had no idea what to do about that. Lot's of internet sources (including "scary sharp" using extremely fine sandpapers)

I though 1/16" was a thin shaving.Go for the thickness of a sheet of paper (see above).

I thought it was just me when I went against the grain and got tear-out.

Have a lot of fun.

Brian