Bought N.O.S. plane blade Stanley 12-331 (12-506) 40mm-1 5/8in

[William Adams]

on clearance (and impulse) from a local store --- $7.50, unopened, black and yellow and white packaging, ``MADE IN ENGLAND''

Bargain or waste?

Back seems to indicate it would work in several plane models, 9 1/2, 9 1/4, 220 and 12-220 --- which of these would be preferred to look for?

Quick research indicates the 9 1/2 (adjustable mouth) over the 9 1/4 and 220 (not adjustable) --- anything else I should know?

Thanks!

William

[Steve Thomas]

Did you just buy a blade for a plane you don't own yet?

the plane you buy will most likley come with a serviceable balde. but i guess you can never have enough of a good thing right?

[David Weaver]

Save it to scrape glue or put it in a parts box in case you run into a plane that has no iron and would benefit from a new coarsely ground fairly low-quality iron. I wouldn't go out of my way to find a plane that it will fit in - though if it fits a vintage 9 1/2, that would be the only one of that list I would get on purpose.

The new planes are not very good (anything labeled 12-xxx), the fixed mouth planes are to be avoided unless they are free or essentially free, or have something else going for them (like pocket planes or some other such thing - the two you mentioned don't fit that).

Check around also to make sure that 9 1/2 irons don't differ (slots and notches) by plane vintage like some do (e.g., 60 1/2s).

Still, I would sharpen it to scrape glue or paint and not worry about trying to use it in a plane. It is likely any plane you find will already have a better quality iron in it.

[William Adams]

Did you just buy a blade for a plane you don't own yet?

Yeah, like I said, it was an impulse purchase.



the plane you buy will most likley come with a serviceable balde. but i guess you can never have enough of a good thing right?

Something like that.


Save it to scrape glue or put it in a parts box in case you run into a plane that has no iron and would benefit from a new coarsely ground fairly low-quality iron. I wouldn't go out of my way to find a plane that it will fit in - though if it fits a vintage 9 1/2, that would be the only one of that list I would get on purpose. ... Still, I would sharpen it to scrape glue or paint and not worry about trying to use it in a plane. It is likely any plane you find will already have a better quality iron in it.

Interesting. How old would it need to be before it would've been a good quality iron?

I'll keep an eye out for a 9 1/2 which has no iron.

William

[David Weaver]

Well, there are no guarantees on anything. Some of the old irons were good, some of the old irons were duds. Same goes for the new irons, though the new are coarsely ground and it may be more work to prepare the new iron.

The few new irons that I have prepared (in the era of the one you've gotten) have been somewhat soft, but so have a lot of the old ones. They are a different type of steel.

That's not to say that any of them won't work - I've never seen an iron branded stanley, old or new, that couldn't be used effectively, unless a user had damaged it.

"good ones" refers to an iron that takes a good edge an holds it
"duds" really is maybe a misnomer, it's more a commentary on an iron that doesn't take the edge and hold it as well as a "good" one

Hopefully someone who likes 9 1/2s will be able to tell you whether or not there is a different slot/notch arrangement on old and new 9 1/2s, like there is with 60 1/2s. If there is, you run the risk of buying a new-to-you plane and then having a plane with an iron as well as an iron without a plane due to incompatability.

All of this is why I made the suggestion to repurpose the iron as a scraper, household beat-it-up tool (Scrape caulk with it, or whatever), or set it aside for now.

[Jim Belair]

I have to say I'm with David on this. If you want a block plane, buy a plane with an iron and keep this blade for other purposes. Otherwise you're screwing around try to get this to fit that and you still end up with a mediocre tool at best. We all make impulse buys now and then, and question them afterwards.

Jim B

[Jim Koepke]

Your blade will also fit in a #65 or #65-1/2 block plane. I think there are a few more it might fit. I have a box in my shop that held these blades and there is a long list of planes where they are used.

I keep spare blades sharp and sometimes in the middle of a project it is desirable to change the blade instead of taking time to sharpen a blade.

You could build a Krenov style plane to hold the blade.

I have a lot of different blades from Stanley from different periods in their production. Very few of them come up to the standards of modern day blades like Hock, Veritas, Lie-Nielsen and such. All but a few of them do work well.

It may not be the deal of the century, but, IMO, it wasn't a bad deal.

jtk

[Larry Williams]

Somewhere around 30 years ago, I bought a number of these but they were made in the US. They're not bad blades and I think I have about 20 of them around here still in their original packages.

[Joel Goodman]

Be aware that the newer Stanley's (made in the UK) take different blades that the USA types. The one you have has thicker (and fewer) slots to mate with the depth adjuster. The best block planes have a large machined bed to support the blade -- as do the premium LN or LV planes made today. The better bed went out I think in the 30s on the Stanley planes, to save money, but I not sure of the cutoff date. The newer planes from Stanley, both the USA and the UK ones, have a small lip that supports the blade which is less than 1/4 inch. The old style good bed is close to 1". Even so a Stanley from the 50s tends to be better than the later models. I wouldn't bother to look for a plane to fit that blade -- there are many better choices for not many $.

[Bill Nenna]

Hopefully someone who likes 9 1/2s will be able to tell you whether or not there is a different slot/notch arrangement on old and new 9 1/2s, like there is with 60 1/2s. If there is, you run the risk of buying a new-to-you plane and then having a plane with an iron as well as an iron without a plane due to incompatability.

The 9 1/2s slot/notch arrangement is the same as the 60 1/2 and changed right along when the 60 1/2s did. In fact they are/nearly identical blades except for width (1 5/8" vs 1 3/8"). The old style blades have 8 notches and a 7/16" slot. New style has 3 notches and a 5/8" slot.

It sounds like William bought a replacement OEM Stanley blade which cost about $10 at regular price. These blades leave a whole lot to be desired. They are thin, soft and more often then not, require a ton of work to get flat. In fact, I was working on 9 1/2 blade earlier today that has a really bad drop off on one side/corner that after at least 3/4 hour of work is still way low at one corner and only tapers out midway across the width of the edge. Long way to go. I might give up and resign to getting a decent blade or try "roughing" it flat on a belt sander as a last ditch effort. I would almost say this blade is warped.

[William Adams]

Thanks!

Learned a lot. I've decided I'll try to buy a vintage block plane w/ adjustable features _and iron_ and use this blade to make a bookbinding plow cutter (or maybe a chisel plane).