Need some help from the hand tool gurus

[Herb G]

I bought one of these.
Now I need to know what to do to it, and in what order to do it.
I want to "tune it up", so to speak.
Yeah, I know it's a cheap model, but it's what I can afford.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Stanley Block Plane

[Humanbackhoe]

Stanley Block Plane

Morning Herb.....

The real advantage to getting a plane like this, is that is is very easy to set up and operate.
 There is only one moving part, the tightening wheel. That would condense the set up to a proper sharpening of the blade. Other than that, maybe a quick look to see if there is any manufacturing debris (flash) to be removed and perform an overall oiling. Any advanced tuning, like flattening the base, would likely yield few real results.... 

See ya',
Andrew

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

It is the new version of the Stanley #102 block that was first offered in 1877. The casting has an integrated frog that presents the blade at 21 degrees. But in this plane, the blade is BEVEL UP, so the cutting angle is 21 plus the bevel angle (normally 30 degrees). It fits in an apron pocket and is easy to use. This is a nice plane to start out with. I have one on my shelf that my grandfather purchased when he retired and took up woodworking. Good luck making shavings.

[AHill]

For only $10.62, it's likely the blade will need some tender loving care to get it in shape.  Flatten the back side (non-bevel side), then work on your bevel.  You'll either need sharpening stones or you can use sandpaper.  The back side should be flattened to the same grit as your bevel.  If stones only, I recommend up to 8000 grit, or up to 4000 grit and a strop charged with green honing compound.  You are aiming for mirror smooth on your blade.  Back side flattening only needs to be the first 1/2" or so.  There are many, many ways to effectively sharpen your blade.  If you haven't done that before, pick one method and learn it well.

Since it's a block plane and not a smoothing plane, you may or may not want to ensure the sole of the plane is flat.  A flat sole is important when taking thinner shavings.  The parts of the sole that need to be coplanar are just in front of the mouth, the toe, and the heel.  You can do that with sandpaper on a flat surface like a granite block, your jointer bed, table saw top, or plate glass.  Even MDF will work in a pinch.  Sometimes, you can find cutoffs from granite counter tops for free from folks that sell those things.  They'll work also.  Don't waste your time getting the entire sole flat.  Just those three items mentioned.  You can use a sharpie to mark the sole to track your progress.

[rwe2156]

My question is why would anyone buy a $10 new plane of any type? I suspect the steel in this blade is gonna be junk.

Depends on what you're using it for I guess but I wouldn't expect much the modern Stanley planes are pretty awful.

[Strokes77]

My question is why would anyone buy a $10 new plane of any type?  I suspect the steel in this blade is gonna be junk.

Depends on what you're using it for I guess but I wouldn't expect much the modern Stanley planes are pretty awful.

I would sharpen and go.  Lookup the ruler trick for the back.  don't consider lapping the entire back.

Put a micro bevel on the edge with whatever highest grit you got, hit it on the strop, and make some shavings.

This plane WILL pull shavings.

[Carl Grover]

My question is why would anyone buy a $10 new plane of any type?  I suspect the steel in this blade is gonna be junk.

Depends on what you're using it for I guess but I wouldn't expect much the modern Stanley planes are pretty awful.

he'll be fine with that plane. The blade will probably have to be rehoned more often but there's nothing wrong with practicing. And if it gets really bad wrecked, it will be easier to get back into shape than an A2 blade.  I've got a modern Stanley block plane myself. Mine has a larger body. No issues with the blade.

Just keep the blade sharp and adjust with super light hammer taps, a little at a time. You'll be eating up wood like crazy.


carl

carl

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

My question is why would anyone buy a $10 new plane of any type?  I suspect the steel in this blade is gonna be junk.

Depends on what you're using it for I guess but I wouldn't expect much the modern Stanley planes are pretty awful.

I have dozens of inexpensive planes and dozens of high end planes. All of them have uses in an active woodshop. After all, a plane is just a holder for a blade. Specialty planes like the #45 justify their cost due to complexity and versatility. Precision planes like #4 1/2 smoothers and shoulder planes justify their cost because of their precision. Some planes have fancy adjusters and that feature adds cost.

But then there is the lowly block plane. As earlier pointed out, it does not need a very flat sole to perform well. Its most common task in my workshop is taking the sharp corner off a board. That is pretty light duty and almost any blade in almost any condition is up to the task. I can't remember the last time I had to sharpen a block plane blade.

As for uses, there are many. A pocket sized trim plane is handy around a house, esp an older house which is a target rich environment of sticky doors and other wood to trim. It is just the thing for taking down that pesky corner on a warped deck board. The list is long. It is also a nice plane to loan out to help a buddy. It does not take too much training and will not wreck a friendship if it never finds its way home.

But perhaps the best thing of all is that a $10 plane is a good way to begin learning about planes. I started with a plane just like this one. Sad to say that I put a second bevel on it--on the flat side! My only excuse is that I was ten. It actually worked for my task, just not very well. At least I didn't ruin a LN.

[BillMcD]

Herb, 

I agree that the approach you should take is to get it really sharp, as sharp as you are able, then a bit more. 

What I would add is to start your depth of cut adjusting with no blade protrusion -- in other words, it will not cut anything.  Then very gently advance the blade by tapping it a tiny bit then trying it on wood, then tap a bit more and try it, then more and try it, etc..  Go back to nothing and try it again.  This will give you a good feel for what is possible and what the plane can actually do. 

You might also try planning a very narrow piece, or perhaps the corner of a piece so that you are only using the left side of the blade, then do the same on the right side of the blade.  This will help you get the edge of the blade aligned evenly across the width of the plane. 

Then sharpen again, and again until the "Aha!" when the combination of sharpness and adjustment make it work better than you imagined possible.

Finally, at $10 you might wind up with more than one of these.  Maybe one set coarse and one set fine.  Or maybe your second block plane will cost more than $10.  I'd plan on the latter.

[bandit571]

Be very careful..
 

   
As these little guys can be very addicting...
( and this is just half of the ones I have....
)