stanley 45 nickers

Re: stanley 45 nickers

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>Hi Frank,

IMHO you got the spelling right. ;^)

Probably the easiest way to sharpen these nickers is to use a device as described by Bugbear on his webpage. I have included a link to it below. If you don't use this device, you may find small amounts of red oozing from your fingertips after sharpening. DAMHIKT.

You want to sharpen only the bevel side, maybe do a little polishing on the flat side. If the flat side is bevelled or sharpened away too much, the outside face of the nicker will not cut the wood before the outside edge of the plane blade and you will get raggedy edge dadoes. I try to get a sharp cutting edge at the bottom and a little ways up both sides of the lobe of the nicker.

If you are plowing grooves, you don't need the nickers. When plowing a dado, I have learned that it helps to pull the plane backwards with the nickers in cutting position before starting a forward planing stroke. This makes sure that the edges of the dado have been cut before the blade cuts out the center.

Good Luck,

Ted

Re: stanley 45 nickers - Bugbear's link *LINK*

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>Ooops! Forgot the link.


Bugbear's nicker sharpening jig

Re: stanley 45 nickers

frank_shic (walnut ck, ca)

>thanks ted! that was just what i was looking for! i had a feeling that my fingers weren't going to be the ideal method of holding the nickers as i grinded!

Re: stanley 45 nickers

Jim in Burlington On

>I wouldn't waste to much time making them super sharp the edge doesn't hold. I spent hours filing and sharpening only to realize that only the very tip needs to be slightly sharp to say 1000 grit.

Re: stanley 45 cutters

Marc in Luxembourg

>Frank,

The question for the nickers already be answered, could you please tell me where you found the cutters. I have a #45 with only one cutter, so I'd like to purchase an entire set.

Marc, from Luxembourg

Re: stanley 45 cutters

frank_shic (walnut ck, ca)

>marc, it's FRUSTRATING, isn't it? i just kept checking ebay for several weeks until i finally found a decent set of straights that wasn't outrageously expensive and then grabbed them in the last minute. the cheapest i've seen so far is around $20 for a set of straight cutters. be careful if you attempt to bid on a set with a STUPID BOX!!! the collectors prize these and will take you to the cleaners for them!

good luck - i'm one LESS person to big against now!

Re: stanley 45 nickers

frank_shic (walnut ck, ca)

>jim, i'll keep that in mind! why waste the extra effort?

There are some aftermarket sellers

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I think Jim Reed, who posts to this forum, makes them: jimreed2160@yahoo.com.

St. James Bay also, I believe: http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/.

There are probably others. eBay is cheaper, but look very closely at the pictures; pitting is hard to spot sometimes.

Re: stanley 45 cutters

Jim in Burlington On

>I'm not sure what Jim charges but there going to be alot better than those older cutters. You need to sharpen the older ones about every 3' of cutting.

Thanks

Jim Reed@Tallahassee

>for the kind words. The vintage blades available out there do seem to have varying levels of quality. It is interesting to note that even though there is great variety in the #45 set, I seem to use my 1/8" most of all.

Re: Thanks

frank_shic (walnut ck, ca)

>jim, truth be told, i'm not really a big DADO fan - i prefer to use... BISCUITS!!! but cutting slots for the drawer bottoms on drawer sides on the table saw has always seemed a little too unsafe for me. the 1/4 and 3/8 cutters are the ones that are going to get the most usage around here! good luck on your quest!