Reply To: Stanley No 50 Combination Plane
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Tools and Tool Maintenance/Restoration / Stanley No 50 Combination Plane / Reply To: Stanley No 50 Combination Plane
Hi Dinabandhu,
If you haven’t already acquired one, here’s my experience. I bought a Stanley No. 50 about 6 weeks ago off eBay. I’d have to agree with @HowardinWales that these were probably trophy tools when new, as most of the ones I’ve looked at are still boxed, complete and in excellent condition. The ones that have seen real action seem to have pieces missing. Unfortunately some of the parts are pretty important to the plane working properly.
As Howard said the cutter holding screw is both an unusual thread and has a knurled head to allow you to adjust it, and I suspect would be very difficult to find a replacement for. Without it you can’t use the 2 narrowest cutters. From my limited usage of the plane so far, it works just as well with or without the shaving deflector.
The parts that I think are very important are the cutting spurs, which are both tiny and have even smaller screws. They really help starting a cut and keeping the plane on track. They are meant for going across the grain, but think they make going with the grain easier too.
The No. 50 I sourced is immaculate, the only thing missing was the instructions (which I downloaded from the web). For something that had ended production in the UK in 1962, both the box and it’s content look like it has just come straight from the factory. Only a couple of the cutters had been used, and a couple of screws had a smidgen of rust that just rubbed off with a kitchen scouring pad. The cutters looked a bit mucky/rusty but this turned out to be the greasy waxy coating that Stanley had covered them in.
In terms of pricing, I won mine at £55 including the postage. Buy-it now options start at £75 and go up into silly 3 digit territory. I think you should be able to pick up a tidy complete one for about £55 to £75. The thing to remember is that the No 50s only came with the straight cutters, and the beading cutters were optional extras. There are lots of No. 50’s out there so I would be patient until you can find a complete one for a reasonable price.
I was offered a Record 050 at my local car boot sale last week and even though it had it’s original box, it had to many parts missing to make it worthwhile.