whats the bed angle of a scrub plane?

[Jeff Borges]

I might be treading into tool heresy here...

I have been collecting stanley planes for some time now.. for a while it seemed as though I could find the #4 super cheap everywhere.. the price hasn't changed a lot.. but they are going up..

anyhow..
I have a parts #4, that has a chip in the throat..was thinking of converting it to a scrub plane .. would be simple.. open the throat and radius the blade.. (or make one).. just wanted to know first.. is it gonna work.. and second.. am I gonna be angering the old tool gods?:confused: :o

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Jeff,

I personally like messing with tools, old or new--so it doesn't bother me a bit. My scrub is a converted #5 1/4. This is a little longer and heavier than the new LV scrub and much more so than the LN version. The iron is 1 3/4". I opened the mouth for allowing the larger chip.

I favor a longer length for a scrub, but many, many people have converted #3s and #4s for the same use.

The bed angle for a Stanley-based scrub is the same as all Stanley's bench planes, 45 degrees.

To me, if you don't have a scrub, a #4 can certainly be a good starting point to see if it fits a desire to dimension thickness in this way, especially as you have a specimen to convert. I probably would put a little smaller radius on the 2" iron of a #4 to lessen the width of cut. A #40 or #40 1/2 have a 1 1/4" and a 1 1/2" width iron respectively and a 3" radius iirc.

Take care, Mike

[Bernhard Kühnen]

Hi Jeff,

agree with Mike. The bed angle of my LN 40 1/2 is the same like the #4 smoother 45 degree.

Bernhard

[Jeff Borges]

just so I know the vintage tool police won't be knocking at my shop door later

[Dave Anderson NH]

First off, I wouldn't worry about angering the tool gods. Stanley made several million of them over the past 150 years so they are not exactly rare. Second, if the chip in the mouth is on the back edge or the sides it won't make any difference in performance no matter how you use the plane. If the chip is on the leading edge of the mouth and is tiny, it still might not be a problem, but if it is large, that is another story.

I agree with Mike Wenzloff on making a scrub from another plane. The #5 1/4 is ideal. The only problem is that #5 1/4s are not that cheap to buy used as the more common #5s. I used a cheapie beater #5 clone for years as a scrub before I bought a Stanley #40 at an auction. It's a bit heavier and tires you more quickly, but it worked just fine.

Often when converting a plane to a scrub you won't even need to file the mouth open any deeper for chip clearance. Just adjust the frog backward and in most cases things will work just fine.