Stanley #48 T&G Questions

[Jason Lester]

I bought a Stanley #48 in good shape to cut tongue and groove joints. This is my first joinery plane of any kind. It has one small blade and one wide one. They were on the wrong sides and really dull when I got it. I sharpened the blades at 30 degrees and reinstalled them on the correct sides.

One thing I'm not sure of is how to set the blades? If I bottom them out in the groove, they slightly overhang the shoulder. If I line them up with the shoulder, they don't seem square. Also, how far should they project and what's the easiest way to adjust the depth? When I did some test cuts, the joint works, but is slightly loose.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

“Works but is slightly loose” is pretty much the description of what I get from my Sargent 1080 when I use the tongue and groove blades. Have never handled a 48, but I think the modern air and light tight joint is something you may have trouble getting from most vintage tools.

[Pete Taran]

You should slide them both so they push up against the casting in the middle. Obviously, swung one way you use one cutter and cut the groove. Swung the other way you cut the tongue. The wider cutter is to allow for different (thicker) stock and is the one installed furthest from the fence. As far as depth, set it to take as thick a shaving as you can handle without tearout. I have the 48 and 49, and they work well. Until you get used to it, you will need to practice. The fence is not very high, and the slightest bit of angle will make for a leaning tongue or groove. That is the Achilles heel for this type of plane, keeping the fence up against the wood level and square.

Having said all that, this plane was made to make mating boards for backs of furniture and case goods. No one will see how much the boards are out of square. The groove is pretty easy, the tongue can lean, but you can clean it up with a side rabbet or regular rabbet plane to get it to fit properly.

A user tip, start at the extreme end of the board and gradually work back, This seems to help keep things square. The plane obviously stops cutting when the wood bottoms out on the plane casting. Hope this helps.

[Rob Young]

You should slide them both so they push up against the casting in the middle. Obviously, swung one way you use one cutter and cut the groove. Swung the other way you cut the tongue. The wider cutter is to allow for different (thicker) stock and is the one installed furthest from the fence. As far as depth, set it to take as thick a shaving as you can handle without tearout. I have the 48 and 49, and they work well. Until you get used to it, you will need to practice. The fence is not very high, and the slightest bit of angle will make for a leaning tongue or groove. That is the Achilles heel for this type of place, keeping the fence up against the wood level and square.

Having said all that, this plane was made to make mating boards for backs of furniture and case goods. No one will see how much the boards are out of square. The groove if pretty easy, the tongue can lean, but you can clean it up with a side rabbet or regular rabbet plane to get it to fit properly.

A user tip, start at the extreme end of the board and gradually work back, This seems to help keep things square. The plane obviously stops cutting when the wood bottoms out on the plane casting. Hope this helps.

And when finished, I take a block plane and run a quick little chamfer all along the inside two corners of the groove and the outside corners of the tongue. Two, three swipes with the block plane and done.

[Jason Lester]

Thanks for the tips guys. I did a bunch of T&G joints for the bottom boards on my tool chest today. I got the hang of it about halfway through. I found out that wax on all surfaces that touch the wood make a huge difference in how easy it pushes. At first, the tongue wasn't bottoming out on one end. I figured out that I wasn't getting all the way down at the beginning of the cut on the groove side. Once I corrected that, everything worked well. Here's the results:

20180720_160505.jpg

[David Eisenhauer]

Nice curlies Jason, but you are supposed to show us the T&G boards, not the curlies. Newbies - what are you going to do with them...…………………?

[Jason Lester]

Sorry about that. I didn't take one before I nailed them on. There was quite a bit of tear out in places, I was taking a pretty big shaving. Here's a couple of them after leveling out the end grain with the sides:

20180720_195713.jpg

[David Eisenhauer]

Much better. It worked. Next project.