Record no 50 owners
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I bought one the other day. I made a wooden bit out of cherry and just used superglue to stick it to the original fence (the original one is absolutely tiny). A sharp smack one day and it should come right off. Hopefully.
Anyway, it is a very, very fiddly little thing to use. The blade adjustment I absolutely hate, its much too easy to go too far forward or too far back. However you do get used to it after a while, you have to have the wing nut on the side tightened down quite a lot to be able to make fine adjustments on the iron depth.
I was lucky as all the blades came sharp, the person I bought it from said that he bought it many years ago but never used it. The original owner did take very good care of it as there was hardly a spot of rust or discolouration or anything on it. All the bits and pieces were there including the shaving deflector that you use for the tonguing iron.
Swifty
Sorry for the late reply, working class…
I found my no 50 on fleabay, at that time there were a lot of these around. They weren’t as popular possibly because they are a bit iffy to get to work properly. Even the beading cutters were never sharpened. And I haven’t either… guess I’m not in a beading phase.
As for sharpening the straight cutters, I simply treat them as any other plane iron, must make sure the edge is square to the sides as previously mentioned. And don’t round the corners of course.
Since they are difficult to hold I use a stick of wood to clamp the cutter in as to create a handle. Have to make a new one as the old one broke. The new one will be some more resilient hardwood.HTH Diego
You asked how I sharpen the blades.
I took some pics of what I came up with.Just a piece of scrap with a double saw kerf, about 2,8 mm apart. (Used a veritas marking gage and a dovetail saw to saw as close as possible to the lines)
drilled a 3 mm hole in the bottom to release the remaining waste and sawed a bit deeper starting from the middle of the hole. That should add some stress relief.The rest is some shaping much like the P.S. spoke shave holder (it has to be comfortable for your hands)
I’d add a link but I never got it to work properly on this forum.I plan to add 2 more metric screws with mutters to help in the clamping action, I’ll have to countersink them to keep the underside out of the way for the diamond plates.
Anyway the pics tell a thousand words…
Have fun Diego
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Small blades can be a pain to hold while sharpening, especially if you do them by hand as many of them don’t fit well in the various types of sharpening jigs.
I’ve found that a small hand-vice is ideal. This type of hand-vice (Ref: GX79.) with the adjustment on the wooden handle holds the back end of the blade without any adjusting bolts interfering with the action of rubbing on the stone or plate.
Good luck.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by
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This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by
Thanks for your ideas. I just bought a Stanley 45 from a woodworking club member that is thinning his collection. Now I will need to get some ideas of how to restore a Stanly 45. Most of what I have seen is superficial /I need to recut the worn threads of bolts and screws and remove the Rosewood handle to repair a crack.
Your suggestions on sharpening will be useful. FYI the Lie Nielsen company ,LieNielsen tools on line has a sharpening jig for $125 that has rails to hold small cutters,check it out.Thanks for all the tips everyone. I have just bought a Stanley no. 50. I love it but info is thin on the ground.
I’d be grateful if you could let me know your thoughts on these:
1. The blade seems to sit at a tilt (so the bottom of the groove is not flat) – the blade is sharpened 90o to the sides
2. There is a lot of stringy kerf thrown up as I plough. It remains attached to the wood. Is that to be expected?
3. Where on earth does the shaving deflector go?!Hello, Chris…… this thread goes back a few years, I contributed on the issue of holding the blade when sharpening, but to answer your questions:
1 – The Blade: Check that there’s no swarf of other stuff in the groove that it sits in. The geometry of this plane is fairly simple, but there was some ‘variation’ in the quality of manufacture over the years that it was produced. (It hasn’t been made since the 60s/70s in the UK.) When the blade’s mounted there should be an EXACTLY equal amount of protrusion below each side of the skates – if not it will stop cutting after a couple of strokes. I’d adjust the blade cross-sharpening angle to this rather than a dead right angle. …. unless it is wildly out of alignment. If that’s the case it’ll need a closer look.
2 – This may be the effect of wavy grain in your wood. It’s best to score both sides to sever the bits before you start and as you go either with a knife or a well sharp mortise gauge. Don’t take shavings that are too thick. and ensure that both the corners of the blade are pin-sharp – as well as the cutting edge. Slightly rounded corners can give a raggy cut or worse, stop it cutting altogether.
3 – The shaving deflector is the one thing that most people never use…….. I never have, however it is intended to sit in and to replace the depth stop that is just in front of the blade mouth. Rotate it so that the angled part aligns with the side of the throat.
The original instruction sheet that came with the tool doesn’t have much info, but it is readily obtainable online as a PDF if you search for it. Also, there are several videos on the plane and its set-up in You-Tube if you search.
Good luck.
Thank you so much. I’ll keep experimenting!
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This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by
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