Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Stanley #50 plow
Frank D. in Montreal
>Hi everyone,
I have a remote chance of picking up a Stanley #50. I have wanted a plow plane for some time and have been looking out for a wooden one in good shape but came across this one. I was wondering if it works well and is worth buying. Any feedback appreciated.
Thanks,
Frank
Re: Stanley #50 plow
Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT
>I have one, and have used it mostly for beading, which it does nicely (although not as nicely as a woodie with its sole matching the bead).
It works pretty well in the plow role. The nickers can use a little sribe knife help when plowing cross grain (or maybe I just need to sharpen the nickers a bit more...) Record's book Planecraft has a nice section on their knock-off of this plane.
Greg
Disclaimer
Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT
>This is another one of those cases where you have to be careful to who you listen to. You were asking about "Plowing" and I said it plowed OK, cross grain. Which (as I was reminded in Jim Reed's post, below) isn't plowing, its dadoing... Actually I only did this once, in pine, and it was in retrospect a pain and relatively ugly.
I had much better luck making a tongue-and-grooved shed door using the plane's tongue blade and the matching plow blade for the groove.
Greg
Re: Stanley #50 plow
David Barnett
>I've had one for several years, Frank, and have put it through tasks I thought might be too tough for a light plow. They weren't. It came through like a champ; and I'm talking about deep grooves in red oak and sugar maple, too. Goes without saying that it performs admirably for lesser challenges. I still have the handled screw-arm boxwood plow that'a served me well, but tend to rely on the #50 for nearly everything these days.
Aha!
Frank D. in Montreal
>I see you've been paying attention to those "think before you post" threads!
Thanks for the info guys, I'll probably go for it if I can get it at a reasonable price.
Frank
Re: great tool
paul womack
>A "light combination plane" from any of the usual manufacturers (Stanley, Sargent, Record) can perform most of the joinery tasks involved in traditional furniture, including rebating, grooving, ploughing, beading, and T&G work.
With a small set of stock preparation planes (e.g. #5, #7, #4) and block plane (e.g. #60 1/2) and a light combination plane (#50) you are pretty much "good to go".
Obviously, a complete bank of task-specific planes will perform better.
BugBear