Stanley plane blades

Re: Stanley plane blades

Paul in NJ

>Russ,

First you need to know which plane models the blades are for. The plane number is cast into the body of the plane on the toe, i.e No. 4, No. 5, 604, etc. You can go to Stanley on the web at http://stores.stanleytools.com/Planes/ for new blades but I think the new blades are probably not as good as the old ones. If you got to 'The Electronic Neanderthal' website at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html, click on the Tools button and you will find a whole list of vintage tool sellers that will have blades. If you go with vintage blades in my experience the 'Sweetheart' era and older are the best blades. There are also makers of new high quality blades that fit the old Stanley planes. Look at some of the advertisers that support Wood Central in the Wood Central Marketplace at http://www.woodcentral.com/wcmarketplace2.shtml. One of them, http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/, has a store in New York City.

Paul Dzioba

P.S. Some of the people that visit here sell vintage tools and might drop you an e-mail.

Replacement Stanley Blades

Steve Elliott

>Hi Russ, welcome to WoodCentral.

The Stanley blades your uncle has been using were made back when Stanley's quality standards were higher, so new blades might be a disappointment to him. Luckily, there are lots of older Stanley blades on the market at reasonable prices.

Since you have the worn-out blade, you can find out how old it is by comparing its logo to the ones shown on this site. Finding a used blade with the same logo would probably please your uncle the most.

If there aren't any suitable blades on ebay, you might get in touch with the owner of this site that sells used tools. His name is Sandy Moss, and I'm one of his satisfied customers. His site doesn't show any blades for sale, but he might be able to find some for you.

In addition to used blades, there are some very good blades being made today that would fit your uncle's plane, but since he likes Stanleys, I'll stick to suggesting sources for them.

Blademaker

jim reed @ Tallahassee

>There are posters here like me who also make blades for Stanley planes as well as custom blades for other planes. It is important to know what kind of blades you need and what you intend to use the plane for. Good luck with your woodworking.

Re: Stanley plane blades

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Russ

It has already been stated that the new generation of Stanley blades are not going to deliver the same quality as the blade your uncle used for so many years. It is a testament to the quality of Stanley 50 or 60 years ago that these blades have provided such sterling service until today. I believe that your uncle would be disappointed with a new Stanley blade. It would not hold a sharp edge for the same duration of time.

The question is, does your uncle plan to use the "new" blade extensively? Or, is he simply attempting to replace an item (restore it, if you will) to a full workable state?

To cover both areas, I would buy him a replacement "original" blade - see the comments in previous posts for contacts - AND I would buy him a modern alternative to Stanley, which would make his wookworking more pleasable. Any resistance to change (well, I would expect him to be attached to his old ways by now!) is minimized by the opportunity to swap blades back-and-forth. This does not need to be an either-or situation. It would certainly be a thoughtful present.

For a modern blade, you could try a few sources: There is Jim Reed (in the previous post), who makes first class blades but is too much a gentleman to push his wares. There are Hock Blades, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks (get only their "Stanley Replacement" blades), Lee Valley, amongst others. They are on the Web. It is important to communicate that the blade you are getting is intended for a Stanley Bench Plane, since the thickness of the blade is an important factor. The original blades were quite thin and a modern upgrade is to increase the thickness. There is a limit how far you can take this and still have the blade fit the old plane. The above sellers know this and produce blades specifically for Stanley planes.

Whether you are getting an original or a modern blade, you need to note the size of the one you have. Simply measure the width of the blade you have. Is it 1-3/4" (#3), 2" (#4 and #5), 2-3/8" (#4-1/2, #6, and #7), or 2-5/8" (#8) wide? Stanley blades are numbered according to their width. You can't go wrong.

I hope this helps.

Regards from Perth

Derek