Compass Plane--finally used it!

[Doug Mason]

One of the first planes I bought off e-bay in 2006 soon after I started woodworking was this compass plane--I paid $110 or so for it. Well, other than a brief tune-up and sharpening, I have never used it.

But it finally was called to action this week to help me plane some curved chair slats as seen in the pics.
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And despite my poor technique and inexperience with it, I achieved some very good results. After the bandsaw, I bypassed the rasps and went straight to this plane--it did flatten out the rough spots and the result was a very smooth, uniform surface. So the $110 I paid was worth it!

[Jared Minor]

Looks good, I have the same one. I am missing the iron and lever cap. Do you happen to know where I could get the blade and lever cap?

[Sean Hughto]

I had a similar epiphany with mine several months back. Works a treat. On the jobs it was made for, it excels. Here she is:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/2826283523_af37a3aa77.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

Looks good, I have the same one. I am missing the iron and lever cap. Do you happen to know where I could get the blade and lever cap?

The blade is the same as the #3. Not sure about the lever cap. I do know the chip breaker is different. There are quite a few people selling parts for planes on the internet.

There are two versions of this plane made by Stanley. One uses an adjuster that is called the side wheel as it is on the side. Later versions have an adjuster like the ones used on the Stanley/Bailey bench planes.

Other manufactures made planes very much like the Stanley Compass Plane.

For information on the chip breaker, look here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=109710

Scroll down to post #10, it contains a .pdf of Stanley chip breaker measurements. I was hoping others would supply measurements for the other makers, but it seems there is not enough interest. My thoughts were that this could be helpful at times.

jim

[Richard Dooling]

Ha! I had a later model of one of thos back in the 80s when I had a shop and we had to build one convex and one concave cabinet. I found it difficult to get the hang of and my interest in hand tools wasn't what it is now. that's one tool I regret having lost track of.

Jim on the spot again with hand plane knowledge - thanks!