>Thanks to all the advice from this community on side rabbet planes. I was recently the winner on a Stanley 99 ($41! plus shipping and insurance, but still less than half the price of an LN for a plane with an 1896 patent date on it), and it arrived today. Lovely little thing.
And "little" is the word. These puppies are SMALL! I hadn't realized it from the photos. It may take me a bit to figure out how to wrap my hamfist around it.
Bill, looking forward to and hoping for some playtime this next weekend.
>Congrats Bill, you got your first one. H#ll, you got you house paied off here, you deserve it!
Does it have a depth stop? What's the logo on the blade? Questions...
Now teh fun part... How to hold the little critter. Bury the handle back in the musle of your palm...the big one that holds your thumb in place (good eatin for canibals I'm told). Fingers wrapped around the front for balance. Guide it with a steady hand, it's really easy to feather your cut this way. As said in soooo many past posts, make sure the blade is lined up with the mouth i.e. the skate (fence) and the blade in parallel of this little one.
No fence (everyone says "depth stop," but it's actually a fence, right? depth stops control how deep the plane cuts), but it does have the thumbscrew for the blade clamp, which I prefer over the screw on newer versions - I don't like the idea of a plane that you need another tool to adjust. And, yes, I know there is a type that has both the fence and the thumbscrew on the blade clamp, but not this one.
January 29(?), '96 patent date on the front part of the skate, the part that can be flipped over for a bullnose or removed for a chisel side rabbet. Wonder why Stanley put the patent date there, of all places? Let me comment that I'm sure glad Stanley did that little flip on the front of their skates (No. 45, 55, 79, 98/99 - others?). It really adds class.
No markings on iron.
Definite user-not-collector: nickel gone in many spots, rustiness, other signs of mileage. But that's fine with me.
No pic, but I did get a chance to play with it tonight. I've got some 1 foot sections of fir T&G flooring, left over from rebuilding our front porch, and I slapped one in the vise and gave it a shot. The seller had done a basic honing job on the iron. Wow. Really cool, making long shavings on the side of the groove. This is one neat tool.