Using the stanley 71 for door hinges.

[Jake Darvall]

Hello,

Nothing special. Just a simple addition to the stanley 71 hand router. .and some ideas I thinks worth remembering. These ideas may be already described in its manual. I don't know. I've never owned it.

The stanley 71 is a bit of a pain in the butt http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/smilies/eek.gif well I think it is. I've got a couple of that common version that has a open nose. Which really only makes it useful for cross grain cutting with plenty of wood under the router on both sides of the blade.....ie. routing out the guts of a crossgrain groove.

This open mouth versions just useless for running along a thin edge. Wants to crash dive all the time. Maybe I'm missing something obvious.

I use them mostly for cutting recesses and the like for hardware. Ensures a consistant depth throughout.

But even then it can fail. For example, a common cut is for door hinges, which I did today. The body of the router is just not wide enough to support the cut properly.

I'll show you what I mean...
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/1a-1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/2a-1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/3a-1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/4a-1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/5a-1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/6a-1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/apricotripper/7a-1.jpg
Also suggest you use the smallest blade of the set. It handles a coarser cut better. Can get into all the bottle necks easier with it. I rarely use the other ones.

and suggest you remove the handles. You can grasp the whole tool better without them, such that your fingers can brake off your stock. More control uno.

Found also, with this wider sole you can trim tennons without the need for a supporting offcut as well.

Anyway, theres my thoughts on the 71.

[Steve Wargo]

Yep, Use mine for hinges all the time. Works great for cleaning out the recess for small knife hinges. Good tool, good tutorial.

[Marc Waldbillig]

Jake,

Great ideas, excellent writeup, as always :cool:

Above all I like your second sole. I used my #71 to fit tenons these days and had to see, that the edge of the blade wasn't at all parallel to the sole. So one corner digs in and sh... How I detected? Well, in order to set an exact depth to this wobbling blade, I marked the correct depth with a wheel marking gauge on scrap. I put the plane on the scrap and bowed down under :p and watched at this mysery. The knife line perfectly straight and the edge going across.

Have a nice day Jake and thanks for your pics and precious ideas. It helps making brain larger. :D

[Maurice Metzger]

Good on you Jake, for getting that thing to do your bidding. I never did like my 71, wound up selling it.

Maurice

[Mark Stutz]

Jake,
I've seen more than one old #71 with a wooden base screwed to it. I suspect it was fairly common in the past.

Mark

[Jake Darvall]

Thanks Steve


Jake,

Great ideas, excellent writeup, as always

Above all I like your second sole. I used my #71 to fit tenons these days and had to see, that the edge of the blade wasn't at all parallel to the sole. So one corner digs in and sh... How I detected? Well, in order to set an exact depth to this wobbling blade, I marked the correct depth with a wheel marking gauge on scrap. I put the plane on the scrap and bowed down under and watched at this mysery. The knife line perfectly straight and the edge going across.


Hi Mark. Thanks mate,,,,I think I know what you mean with that blade not running parallel. Sharpening it so that it is parallel is the tricky bit eh. And parallel may not necessarily mean the blades edge runs square to its side too...since the mechanism may be a bit off (or that added sole is not of an even thickness).

I usually just eyeball it and sharpen the edge slowly till it looks parallel enough to the sole.....If its a little bit off it should matter I think.

I can think of another idea if you want to be more accurate......(if I can explain it :rolleyes: :D )

....Get a couple of blocks of wood, identical in thickness.....
... Place these blocks over grit (or flat stones or whatever)
....place the 71 ontop of the blocks with the blade peaking down in between.
.... lower the blade to the grit and lap lightly....lower and lap as much as necessary till you've got a small flat that runs from one corner to the other....

The idea is.....that flat must be parallel to the sole.....so you can sharpen the blade to that flat.ie. take the blade straight into the grinder to take the edge to the flat line,,,,then grind and hone the bevel to that.

There'd be a chance once its all done and sitting parallel that, when looking at the blade the edge looks askew to the rest of it.....but thats ok, cause whats important is that its parallel.

You probably know a lot of that anyway.

If your cut isn't meeting the scribed mark with your marking guage, I reakon the problem may not be the blade being out of parallel. It might be the supporting block not being the same thickness of your timber....or maybe the whole lots not sitting on the same plane...ie. tables not flat or, theirs some debri under your timber or the supporting block.

Thats partly why I like being able to use this thing without the supporting block. Simplifies things and less chance of error uno.

Mike made mention of a tennon router by Harry on this site with the same concept. where you've got a long extended support one side and short the other, to ensure the body of the router stays flat throughout the rout. Great idea I think. Don't see why you couldn't add a sole like that to the 71 to get the same sort of effect and say goodbye to supporting blocks altogether.

anyway, I'm raving mate. You have a good day too.

****
Thanks Maurice ......and Mark. I've never actually seen anyone use a 71 before !.....so I wouldn't know. Everybody I know seem stuck on the powered things uno...even for cutting out small stuff like for hardware. :confused:

[Bart Leetch]

I used my 71 1/2 to do a couple of hinges it was my first project that I ever used one.

You can see in the pic where I used another piece of wood to have more bearing surface for the 71 1/2. When I do this again I'll add another piece to the outside too.

[Henry Cavanaugh]

Good timing Jake. I enjoyed your tutorial. I just picked up a 71 and will be using it for the first time shortly. I plan to rout a 1/4" groove cross grain 3" up from bottom of tapered leg on all four sides to accept banding. I will be putting black veneer first such as seen on 12-05 FWW front cover. I was planning on clamping the leg between two pieces for support but will now make a base.Any thoughts on this rout?

[Derek Cohen]

I plan to rout a 1/4" groove cross grain 3" up from bottom of tapered leg on all four sides to accept banding.

Henry

I built a router cutter for just this task:

Article: http://www.wkfinetools.com/tMaking/art/shootBoard/routerCutter.asp


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Tools%20that%20I%20have%20made/Stringing%20cutter%20for%20router%20plane/3Frontviewinrouter.jpg

Here you can see some test cuts across the grain (the better one on the left was made with the fence):

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Tools%20that%20I%20have%20made/Stringing%20cutter%20for%20router%20plane/P1010156.jpg

It was designed for the Veritas router plane but will work on the Stanley.

For full tutorial on using a router plane: http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/dCohen/LVRouterPlane/index.asp

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Marc Waldbillig]

...
I usually just eyeball it and sharpen the edge slowly till it looks parallel enough to the sole.....If its a little bit off it should matter I think.

I can think of another idea if you want to be more accurate......(if I can explain it :rolleyes: :D )

....Get a couple of blocks of wood, identical in thickness.....
... Place these blocks over grit (or flat stones or whatever)
....place the 71 ontop of the blocks with the blade peaking down in between.
.... lower the blade to the grit and lap lightly....lower and lap as much as necessary till you've got a small flat that runs from one corner to the other....

The idea is.....that flat must be parallel to the sole.....so you can sharpen the blade to that flat.ie. take the blade straight into the grinder to take the edge to the flat line,,,,then grind and hone the bevel to that.

There'd be a chance once its all done and sitting parallel that, when looking at the blade the edge looks askew to the rest of it.....but thats ok, cause whats important is that its parallel.

You probably know a lot of that anyway.

... I've never actually seen anyone use a 71 before !.....so I wouldn't know. Everybody I know seem stuck on the powered things uno...even for cutting out small stuff like for hardware. :confused:

Hi Jake,

Many thanks for your precious advise. No, I didn't yet thought out a way to correct the blade's edge. So your methods are highly welcome :D I imagined tapping the blade a little bit in the right position. Probably this won't work, because all the shaft will be hardened too.

So have a nice week,

Marc

P.s.: A little off topic but do you know of a region or river called "Moselle" or "Mosel" on your continent?

[Jake Darvall]

I used my 71 1/2 to do a couple of hinges it was my first project that I ever used one.

You can see in the pic where I used another piece of wood to have more bearing surface for the 71 1/2. When I do this again I'll add another piece to the outside too.

I like that Bart. Thanks. I agree, the more support the better. Like that 71 1/2 too. I think that model betters my 71.

Henry : .... I don't know how helpful I can be. I've only read a couple of copies of FWW, and don't remember that cover. Honestly haven't had any experience banding cross grain before with the 71....I've always done it with the powered router. :o

That base I added to my 71 was primarily to deal with the large door hinges, where one side of the routers loosing support of your work.......But, it be different in your situation yes ? if your planing on running the 71 accross grain 3" up, then I'd say you'd have plenty of support without the base anyway. Still wouldn't hurt having it though. Timber soles seems kinder on your work.

Maybe that blade like Dereks using. I've yet to try a blade like that myself.

I don't know how much guidence you'd get from the 71's fence, 3" up, running off a table leg end either. Fiddly I'm thinking. But I haven't really tried it.

The legs are tapered on two sides I'm guessing.

So, thinking you could first layout the lines with the scribing knife and just do it freehand. ( deepish lines I reakon, so the chisel registers in it well latter. Not so deep that the line gets messy uno.)

But to maintain that clean cut freehand with the 71, you should make sure your band width is reasonably wider than the blades width, to accomidate for the router floating about a bit(else you may tear a shoulder) ..... eg. maybe make the band width 7mm if the 71's blade is 1/4"(depends how confident you are uno:D )....rout to depth all the way around.....then with the widest chisel you've got, chisel up to and right on the scribed lines to clean up the groove. Uno, the goal being to keep the shoulders crisp. ....then I'm guessing, cut your band strips to width and depth, so it knocks in as tight as possible, to smother the gaps....with a little glue,,,, and later plane it down to near flush,,,then chisel flush carefully on the skew with a cranked neck chisel maybe...guessing you'll have to be careful not to tear, since cross grain is meeting with grain etc....probably many other ways, and I may not be on the same wavelength as you anyway.

Marc:
I'm not too crash hot on Geography. Can't recall of a place named that. Don't know. Though, 'Moselle' is a name I think we're pinching from the french to describe wine we produce here. Don't quote me on that either. ;)

[Marc Waldbillig]

Quote Jake: Hi Mark. Thanks mate,,,,I think I know what you mean with that blade not running parallel. Sharpening it so that it is parallel is the tricky bit eh. And parallel may not necessarily mean the blades edge runs square to its side too...since the mechanism may be a bit off (or that added sole is not of an even thickness).

I usually just eyeball it and sharpen the edge slowly till it looks parallel enough to the sole.....If its a little bit off it should matter I think.

Hi again Jake,

That weekend I came to this: Indeed fixing the blade and further adjusting with a halfway fixed blade will drag it out of the sole's plane. So I came up with tapping the upper end of the blade slightly with a small hammer til the edge is parallel to the sole again.

Regards, Marc

[Jake Darvall]

I'm a bit confused Marc, by what you mean.....to tell the truth.

I would have thought as soon as you lock up the blade in its cradle thing, you wouldn't be able to adjust it so the edge is parallel to the sole ?? ...thought the only way to keep the blade edge parallel to the sole would be to alter the edge whilst sharpening or taper the routers face.

I fear I'm missing something obvious...we may be thinking of different things. :D

in anycase, good to hear you've fixed it. :)