Reply To: Stanley Plane Advice for New Member
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1) I don’t know what type you have, but as to whether or not it is adequate, the only answer is if it performs adequately.
2) The pitting on the face of the frog isn’t optimal, but as long as the face of the frog is co-planar and you can get a good seat for the blade, it’s probably OK. The pitting on the wing isn’t optimal, but if you’re not using it for shooting then as long as you have ensured that you’ve stopped any active rust it’s probably not an issue.
If you are using it for shooting (and that’s the side that goes down…IOW you’re a righty), then you just want to ensure that the pitting hasn’t compromised the strength of the wing and that the wing is dead square (as Paul might say) to the sole.
3) What you should be looking for are good results. Will the plane, with the blade properly sharpened and set, take a full-width, .001″ thick shaving from hardwood? If so, then all is probably well. You didn’t post a picture of the most important part — the sole — so I’m assuming that’s in great shape, which is good news.
There are a lot of little things that might need tweaking for optimal performance, and there are some small things that can go wrong, but those can be addressed as they surface during your time using the plane. Right off the start, just get the plane clean, free of rust, flatten the sole (if needed), sharpen the iron and take it for a test drive. The performance of the plane will tell you if you need to take any further action.
If you feel the need to fettle, Mitch Peacock has a long and detailed video about setting up a flea-market Stanley which has a lot of good tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtfS-EMtBho&t=2139s