I have two Stanley hand planes a circa 1918 No. 7 from Ebay and a No. 4 1/2 purchased new. The old No. 7 has a plane iron from origins unknown and the 4 1/2 has a new iron. I am a new hand plane enthusiast so I sharpened both irons to practice my sharpening and began practicing on scrap 2×4's. The No. 7 plows through the material and leaves a decent surface. The No 4 1/2 with the new iron very quickly gets nicks and dings in the freshly honed edge. I am setting my chip breakers about 1/32" or 1/16" from the edge of the iron and am adjusting the frogs to make the mouth about 1/32" or so.
Am I doing something wrong in my setup or in my sharpening to cause the 4 1/2 iron to get banged up on knots that the No. 7 plows through?
a 2×4 is not a suitable wood for handplaning. That make things worst.
Handplanes have been designed for fine work, to work with nice woods, so the beetr way to try them is on a piece of nice wood. Poplar is an inexpensive an nice wood.
Indeed, those are probably the best Irons in the market…
I was not clear with my statement, but that I wanted to say is, would have more sense to upgrade the plane instead of buying a nice iron to be placed in a not so nice plane….
you could sharpen a piece of brass with a micro bevel, dosen't mean you will cut much wood with it.
Save yourself the frustration and just call the plane a loss. It is great to have something to compare to when you have a better working tool.
I once spent 3 days trying to get a new stanley plane to make decent shavings,lapped the sole, adjusted the mouth , reground the blade and filed the bed. honed the blade to every angle i had ever heard of.In the end i had a whole lot of metal filings and a plane i threw in the garbage. I did read a lot and learned much about the mechanics of planes during those three days.
the whole process made me very aware of what a quality tool is.
I wish you the best of luck, and better results than mine.
Did you use a grinder for the initial angle? You may have accidently burned the steel. The very thin leading edge can burn quickly. The factory could have burned a very short section. Then after polishing the blade there would be no indication of this. Try carefully grinding back 1/4 inch. Use a light touch and water to cool.
Hock blades are well worth the cost. After buying a blade and chip breaker, I had some problems with shavings wedging between the two. Mr. Hock was glad to talk over the phone and gave me several fixes. Now the two work great.
CESSNAPILOTBARRY THANK YOU I know this was discussed quite some time ago but that link to the stanley plane info was just what i was looking for. just got my first plane off of ebay and it needs some help.
and that has given me some great info to get started
Just to update the thread. I worked for some time to flatten the sole of the plane. I never could get it satisfactorily slat in the front of the mouth. I finally decided to take it to a local Woodcraft store and talk to their "sharpening guy" I compared the plane side by side to a new Wood River #4. The Wood River had a much thicker iron, a much better chip breaker, and better cap iron. Plus the sole was already flat. So I could either buy a new hock iron and chip breaker and keep working on the Stanley, or I could buy a new Wood River #4.
I decided not to keep throwing good money after bad. I bought the Wood River #4 and it works so much better.
Thanks for all of the advice.
P.S. I think my wife will be sending me to a class to build a Krenov Style wood plane in December. I can't wait!
To respond to Moai, I see the iron and the plane as separate tools. As I upgrade the plane I will move the high end blade to the new plane. I lable and set aside the original blades.
Hey Tony, /wave
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