What is the original blade like on a Stanley 81?

[Rich Luczak]

I bought one on the 'bay. It came with a blade marked Disston no. 20. My guess is that it is a card scraper, (in fact I think there is a good chance the blade has never been used). It is thinner than a blade for a 80. What is the original like? How much improvement can I expect if I drop coin for a Hock?

[Rob Luter]

The 81 I just found (shown below) has a Disston blade as well.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=92406


It works nice and I suspect you wouldn't see that much improvement with a Hock. The #81 is supposedly intended for very fine work and a hand scraper is well suited to that. The Blood & Gore site has some commentary on the #81 Here: http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan10.htm

That said, I have Hock blades in a three of my planes as well as my Stanley #112 Scraper Plane. They perform exceptionally well.