Sears Craftsman Rebate/fillister

[jeff . whitaker]

At a local yard sale, my daughter found a Craftsman rebate/fillister plane for a couple of dollars and brought it home to me.
222067
(this not mine but it is a pic of one I found like mine)

I didn't think to much of it, at first but.... after cleaning and tweeking it, I found that I could get it to work and work pretty well. I have used it on projects three times now, each time getting a better feel for using it.
My questions are
1) I can not seem to get a thin enough shaving (maybe a 1/64 ") after I get down to this, the next step is nothing ... is this as good as it gets? Am I doing something wrong? Is there anyplace where I can get some more info on set up ( I have Garret Hacks book and the one by Schwartz)
2) The rod and screw that hold the fence in place were missing and have been replaced with junk box screws, with the result that the fence "wobbles" and will not hold true. I noticed on the Stanley site they still sell these parts for the 78 fillister... does anyone have any idea if these parts will fit the Craftsman ( I think the Craftsman was made by Record but not sure)
Thanks
Jeff

[Matt Radtke]

For point 1, no, you might not get a very fine shaving. Such planes are more of a 'jack' and take wood off in a hurry. They're working planes, not smoothing planes.

For point 2, I doubt the stanley would fit. They used all manner of funky threads. If your box-o-screws rod threads nicely, I'd figure out what kind of thread that is, buy some drill rod from McMaster or similar, and make your own. All you should need is a die and hack saw.

[jeff . whitaker]

Thanks Matt,
1) that is what I was afraid of... I have been using my new LV block plane to do the final dressing of the rebate..
(BTW that thing is AWESOME!!!! I now know what a good block plane will do and it is becoming my go-to tool)

2) Sigh... I guess that is what I will do... part of the trouble is the junk box screws DON'T fit that well.. and every one I have tried in my junk box seems the same... I guess I will take the plane and head down to the hardware store and see if I can find some thing that will thread in nice and tight.. I have some stainless rod that is about the right size.
Jeff

[Tom Stenzel]

Make sure the bottom is reasonably flat. The Stanley 78 of recent manufacture I bought was concave front to back, causing similar problems.

One problem that I ran into with mine but haven't seen mentioned elsewhere was that the iron would move in use, no matter how hard I would tighten the thumbscrew. I found the depth adjuster fingers that engaged the iron were holding the back of the iron up away from the casting, acting as an axle. Trimming a few thousands from the tips fixed it. I can't believe the one I got is the only one that had that problem.

-Tom S.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Often times these old planes were weird threads - 28tpi in odd sizes seem to be common, if I'm remembering right, so you might have trouble finding screws (or even taps/dies) that work - if you don't have a decent thread gauge, it might be worth trying parts from an old handplane to see if they fit - that would help narrow it down and give you a better idea if the stanley parts fit. Of course, if the screws have been replaced with something that doesn't fit well, the thread may be damaged, in which case you may need to retap the holes for something larger or replace it with a helicoil.

[Matt Radtke]

2) Sigh... I guess that is what I will do... part of the trouble is the junk box screws DON'T fit that well.. and every one I have tried in my junk box seems the same... I guess I will take the plane and head down to the hardware store and see if I can find some thing that will thread in nice and tight.. I have some stainless rod that is about the right size.
Jeff

Well, then it might be worth ordering the Stanley rod. If the threads are odd in the plane, maybe all 78-likes are similarly odd. They aren't that expensive.

[Greg Wease]

Your plane was made by Sargent. The one I have has a Craftsman blade and no marking other than "Made in USA" on the body. It is black and does not have a blade adjustment lever like your photo, but I have also seen them in gray. These Sargent planes have the characteristic horn on the front.

I tried swapping a fence/rod between a Stanley 78 and Sargent (#79 I believe) and they are not interchangeable. The Stanley rods measure 1/4-28 and the Sargent is 1/4-24 (at least within the accuracy of my Harbor Freight thread gauge). I can't tell you if there were different configurations over the years but here is at least one data point.

[Roger Davis IN]

Just checked my Craftsman and it is within a thousandth of 9/32" on the working part and a somewhat shy 1/4" (0.244) on the threads. The threads are indeed 24 tpi, so you're not getting one of those at Ace.

[Bill Houghton]

Your plane was made by Sargent. The one I have has a Craftsman blade and no marking other than "Made in USA" on the body. It is black and does not have a blade adjustment lever like your photo, but I have also seen them in gray. These Sargent planes have the characteristic horn on the front.

I tried swapping a fence/rod between a Stanley 78 and Sargent (#79 I believe) and they are not interchangeable. The Stanley rods measure 1/4-28 and the Sargent is 1/4-24 (at least within the accuracy of my Harbor Freight thread gauge). I can't tell you if there were different configurations over the years but here is at least one data point.

Correct, and you did better on the thread measurement than I did the first time I tried (I thought it was 22 threads per inch, a size not made as far as I know). The "tell" on the Sargent planes is the little rhino horn on the front of the Sargent planes. Sargent's planes (at least of this type) were a step below Stanley's in certain ways: no adjuster for the iron in the regular position, a simpler casting with less ribbing to maintain straightness, etc. But that horn is great.

A Sargent fence should fit. If you want to track one down, contact one of the sellers like Walt Quadrato at Brass City Records (call him, don't e-mail him; I don't know why he lists an e-mail address because he doesn't seem to read his mail), Clarence Blanchard at the Fine Tool Journal (e-mail is fine), or Pete Niederberger (PNiederber@aol.com). I'd get a depth gauge, too; in fact, I'd get a depth gauge before I got a fence. One note on the fence: Sargent left a lot of clearance between the top of the fence and the sole of the plane, so they tend to kind of rattle around. You might consider putting a thin subfence on that snuggles closer to the sole of the plane. If this is confusing, try out the fence when you get it.

But you might use it for a while before you get either a fence or a depth gauge. I find I use mine just as a rabbet plane a lot more often than I used it fenced and gauged.