Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Late model English Stanley combo plane cutters
Bill Houghton, cold today, Sebastopol, CA
>Anyone have any experience with these? It turns out Stanley still sells a few, at about $8.00 each. I'm most interested in the fluting cutters, which seem like something worth playing with.
Yes, I know the general rep of late model Stanley anything is unprintable in a family forum, but are these at all different?
Re: Late model English Stanley combo plane cutters
Kevin French, Antrim, NH
>You going to post a link or just keep them all to yourself?
Eight buck a piece, how can you go that wrong? Beats fighting for them on the bay and hav'n to pay for a whole set.
Kevin - you? I thought you'd find 'em at the dump *LINK*
Bill Houghton, cold today, Sebastopol, CA
>Link below. I'm thinking about getting some router plane parts, and might give one or two a try. Follow links through "planes" through "cutters" to "combination," and Bob's the brother, or brother-in-law, of one of your parents.
Stanley's parts page
Re: Can't find them all
Kevin French, Antrim, NH
>But hav'n said that they'll show next week.
Re: Late model English Stanley combo plane cutters
Angus Barclay, in New Zealand
>Hello Bill,
I have a modern Stanley 13-050 combination plane with a full set of 18 cutters. The quality of the blades is OK for the type of work I do with it - making short runs of molding, plowing dadoes and grooves. The cutters are easy to hone with a water stone and/or slip stone. It might be different with really hard timbers, but they cope OK with all common New Zealand timbers I've used and with stuff you're more likely to use too - such as oak, maple and ash. I've not worked any other American timbers so can't report on cherry or walnut.
The quirk and bead under the crown molding on this clock and the double bead at the top of the molding were made with my 13-050 combination plane. The wood is maple and the plane cut it just fine. There are also triple-bead glazing bars on the door of the clock that I used the 13-050 combination plane to make.
If you use these things for their intended purpose - on straight grained timber to make simple joints or small decorative details - then the modern cutters are perfectly adequate. If you want to do more than that, then you may want to consider putting the $8 per blade into a second-hand wooden molding plane instead.
regards
Angus Barclay