# New toy means fun practice project!



## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

I recently acquired a new-old-stock Record #044C plough plane. Came with 10 widths of cutters for ploughing. FYI, I'm going with the British spelling here since it is a Record plane. 

Anyway, I decided that the dippy little plastic sleeve thingy was not the way to go for storing the blades. So I made a little blade box. Just some more of my scrap pine left over. This is a 90% hand tool project. The table saw was used to rough size the stock but then after that it was all hand saw and hand planes for final size and thickness. The dovetails are hand cut.

I know everybody says not to use pine for dovetails. There is a good reason, it can crumble. This stuff is a good example the stock crumbling. No matter how sharp I kept the chisels, it still tended to break away. 

All in all, it came out fine for a shop project and was good practice at dovetailing with small stock and plenty of stropping the chisels! :wacko:

Not going to bother with a finish on the pine. It will pick up a patina quick enough in the shop. Plus being such low grade pine, it may self destruct. No big deal, I'll replace it with one made from cherry. Just wanted to practice dovetails anyway.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Rob

Looks good, if you get a chance to pickup a Stanley #45 or #55 you will get a big kick out of it..the older nickel plated ones are the best ones..

The 1st. router so to speak 

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p4634.m38.l1313&_nkw=Stanley+#45&_sacat=See-All-Categories
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=St...=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=Stanley+#45&_osacat=0

http://cgi.ebay.com/Stanley-55-Plan...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2a043cc060

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rwyoung said:


> I recently acquired a new-old-stock Record #044C plough plane. Came with 10 widths of cutters for ploughing. FYI, I'm going with the British spelling here since it is a Record plane.
> 
> Anyway, I decided that the dippy little plastic sleeve thingy was not the way to go for storing the blades. So I made a little blade box. Just some more of my scrap pine left over. This is a 90% hand tool project. The table saw was used to rough size the stock but then after that it was all hand saw and hand planes for final size and thickness. The dovetails are hand cut.
> 
> ...


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

bobj3 said:


> Hi Rob
> 
> Looks good, if you get a chance to pickup a Stanley #45 or #55 you will get a big kick out of it..the older nickel plated ones are the best ones..
> 
> ...


Thanks Bob.

Yep, those are on my acquisition list. But the dang things get expensive, especially if you find one with all or most of the blades. I peeked at one of the auctions you highlighted. I think 49 of the blades were present. That is a pretty good set. So many times blades and fence parts are missing.

With patience I'll eventually get one at the price I want to pay. And I have found a guy that offers replacement blades, particularly the matched tongue-and-groove ones. Made to order so a little pricey.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Rob

At one time I did collect old tools, I had 5ea. number #55's and 3ea. number 45"s you can find them in 2nd hand stores at the right price, I got one of the 55's for 20 bucks with the blades and the fac.box, the cardboard box was worth more than the tool to me, sometimes in pawn shops but they are getting sharper so it's hard to find them at a low price  many on ebay go nuts and jack the price up out of site  but sometimes you can a find buy-now one at a great deal 

This post makes me recall the shoot board plane (rig) I had at one time, it was a tank , about 70 lbs.with a 6" blade but as sharp as a razor , it was like a big miter box setup,cast steel, I wish I had that one back now  sold it for 25 bucks..
20/20 thing ...

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rwyoung said:


> Thanks Bob.
> 
> Yep, those are on my acquisition list. But the dang things get expensive, especially if you find one with all or most of the blades. I peeked at one of the auctions you highlighted. I think 49 of the blades were present. That is a pretty good set. So many times blades and fence parts are missing.
> 
> With patience I'll eventually get one at the price I want to pay. And I have found a guy that offers replacement blades, particularly the matched tongue-and-groove ones. Made to order so a little pricey.


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## timbertailor (Oct 4, 2009)

Beautiful work. One can only imagine how many hours you have in it.

I don't do much hand work, other than cleaning out a mortis here and there or planing down a high point.

I could see this type of interst could get expensive QUICK! I have a lot of irons in the fire already.

But, this type of craftsmanship is really compelling.

Thanks for sharing.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

bobj3 said:


> Hi Rob
> 
> At one time I did collect old tools, I had 5ea. number #55's and 3ea. number 45"s you can find them in 2nd hand stores at the right price, I got one of the 55's for 20 bucks with the blades and the fac.box, the cardboard box was worth more than the tool to me, sometimes in pawn shops but they are getting sharper so it's hard to find them at a low price  many on ebay go nuts and jack the price up out of site  but sometimes you can a find buy-now one at a great deal
> 
> ...


Unfortunately, eBay has really screwed up pricing. Most of the 2nd hand shops and flea markets around here have crap. And overpriced crap at that. Garage sales in this town are terrible for tools. College town so lots of cheap kit furniture and baby clothes, not much else. Still, once in a while something great shows up. A neighbor up the street goes to auctions and buys furniture to refinish so I've got a standing order with him if he sees certain things with the right price. So far just a few draw knives through him. 

I use eBay more now than driving around because I can sit comfortably with my coffee and browse. Doesn't cost me gas money, don't need to get up early. Just need to do my homework, figure out how people might misspell or miss-list items and be patient.  Picked up a Stanley 78 clone (a good quality casting, a dead on match when I compared it to a friends 78) brand new in the box for $0.99. Shipping was like $10-12 but still, a good deal. And it cuts very well after cleaning and sharpening. Got it cheap because it was miss-listed as a "Rand plane" instead of rabbit or rebate. Rand is the name of the importer that sold the planes! Just got lucky in a search and found it.

Those old Stanley shooting boards and irons are getting more rare. Still, one in good shape and properly adjusted are a real treasure. 
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan7.htm#num52 (Browsing Patrick Leach's site will suck hours out of your life!)

I've made a few shooting boards, they work so slick! Nothing like being able to tune up a miter by 0.001" and fractions of a degree!


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

timbertailor said:


> Beautiful work. One can only imagine how many hours you have in it.
> 
> I don't do much hand work, other than cleaning out a mortis here and there or planing down a high point.
> 
> ...


Not counting glue drying time, only about 4 hours. That was probably long but this pine was so crumbly. Had to take such little bites to keep it from crushing. Remember, sharp cures all!

Doing stuff by hand doesn't have to be impossibly slow. They old-timers that did this for a living figured out lots of short cuts. Time was money for them too. Sure, you can rip faster with a table saw and knock out half-blinds at blinding speed with a DT jig and router but sometimes it is just as much fun to slow down just a little and appreciate the PROCESS as much as the PRODUCT.


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## Mike Wingate (Apr 26, 2009)

I have loads of old Record and Stanley plough, rebate, router planes. All replaced by my routers.


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## Hamlin (Dec 25, 2005)

Hi Rob,

Nicely done.  If I may suggest on your DT's with Pine, try using the Coping saw. It may help a bit with the crumbling part.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Ron

If you see one one let me know, it looks like the quick drawing below.. 
======


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## Mike Wingate (Apr 26, 2009)

Quesque ce c'est que ça?


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Hamlin said:


> Hi Rob,
> 
> Nicely done.  If I may suggest on your DT's with Pine, try using the Coping saw. It may help a bit with the crumbling part.


Yep, good advice! I experimented a bit with the coping (actually a jewlers saw this time). Turns out, it was better to keep the front part of the "chunk" present to support the paring. A worthwhile experiment.

For harder woods, I have had better luck sawing out most of the waste first. Just happened that it worked better the "old school" way this time.


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## rwyoung (Aug 3, 2008)

Mike Wingate said:


> Quesque ce c'est que ça?


A metal "chute" board (shooting board) for trimming the end grain of a sawn bit or cleaning up a miter. Google for Stanley #52 (I think that is the number). Often part of a set with both the metal support/ramp/fence assembly plus a plane that looks like it was put together sideways.

But home made rigs can work just as well. I've made a few simple fixed angle shooting boards and usually just a #5 or #6 that I know has a good square sole and uncambered blade.


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