Replacement Cutters for Stanley #48 T+G plane?

[thauburger]

Working on cleaning up a Stanley #48 tongue and groove plane. After removing rust, one of the cutters is still in pretty rough shape. Anyone know where I can get a replacement?

Thanks!

Tom

[Bill_Houghton]

Try here.

[thauburger]

Excellent, thanks!

[Rob Young]

thauburger said:

---

Working on cleaning up a Stanley #48 tongue and groove plane. After removing rust, one of the cutters is still in pretty rough shape. Anyone know where I can get a replacement?

Thanks!

Tom

---

The #48 came with three cutters. Two at 5/16" and one at 5/8". Normally you use it with the two 5/16" cutters to do everything from 3/4" and thicker.

Other than the notch that appears in Stanley #45 and similar combo/plow blades, you can substitute any 3/16" thick (or are they 1/8" thick, again I forget because my coffee cup is empty) straight 5/16" wide blade. The notch isn't necessary, just becomes the nib of your #48.

You can find individual blades all day long on eBay or order some ground 01 stock from McMaster-Carr, etc. and just make them.

(edit to correct size of 3rd blade)

[Scoony]

I made a couple from 1/8" x 5/16" O-1 steel. Small enough that they are easy to heat treat.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Cutters for the #48 were my first blademaking product. Made hundreds until the competition came around with a cheaper and inferior product. O-1 steel that is 1/8 thick and 5/16 wide is what you want. Originals were a little thinner, maybe 3/32, but thicker is better. As said, heat treating is pretty easy for these small blades although I sent mine out in big batches to the pros. Go for RC56-58 or RC58-60. That approaches the practical upper limit for O-1. Originals were much softer and needed more frequent sharpenings.

I used my #48 a lot. You can get a rhythm going and the blades will heat up--just don't get them too hot to touch.

As for the auxiliary blade, I made mine a full 1". It was hard to push but does enable you to put a tongue on a 2x4.