Stanley #78

[Joe Sutton]

Hello ,
New member with a Question on a Stanley #78 What is the Correct Bevel on the cutter for this plane? Planes are not new to me for I own From a #3 to a # 7 jointer And LN LA jack , Scrub , and my Favorite low angle adjustable block plane.:) I also have one of Steve Knight Coffin smoothers that I use quite often, and Cabinet Scraper and shoulder plane from Veritas.:) Slippery Slope and a thin pocket book I would say.
All my other planes are tuned and produce the thin shavings that are desired, but this one has just been sitting on the shelf. Thanks for letting me be part of this forum.
Joseph

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Joseph--welcome!

The bevel can be honed at the same angle as the other bevel-down planes you own, such as the #7 on down. This makes maintenance easy. Just make sure this blade is honed straight across, square to the sides. For most of my BD planes, I typically use 25 degrees, and about a 5 degree secondary bevel. But as I hand hone, who knows. It's in there somewhere.

The #78 is a decent plane for cutting rebates. Depending on the model you have, it will either have a blade adjustment or not. Even if not, it is a fairly easy plane to set up. Typically you would not want it to take too fine a shaving as the idea is to waste the wood fairly quickly, though towards the end you might need to reduce the depth for sneaking to the line. Another reason to reduce the depth is if the grain is tearing out and you need to reduce the tear out.

Take care, and welcome again. Mike

[Joe Sutton]

Thanks Mike
It dose have a blade Adjustment but the blade has to be regrinded because it is not square and edge is rounded and very dull.
Joseph

[Steve Clardy]

Welcome Joe!!!

[Joe Meazle]

Ditto on what Mike said. i have a Miller Falls #85 pretty much the same plane. I like as thick a shaving as I can get that won't tear out too bad on that plane. it is not a smoother.

I got to use it the other day notching out some framing. Not quite fine woodworkng but worked great after i kerfed and knocked out the notches and was qicker and better than using a chisel. More fun too.
joe