Restoring Stanley #190 Hand plane

I'm just getting around to restoring a Stanley #190 Hand plane which I inherited from my father-in-law. Wonderful man, Swedish cabinet maker. In doing some research, I've noticed it's missing a small piece, a depth setting device which is screwed into place, obviously to keep the blade at a consistent depth. I'm including two photos of my hand plane and one which I found which had the depth setting device. My question is: 1)probably impossible to come up with that part, but if not, how would I? 2) couldn't I just make something that I could screw into the hand plane that would be comparable to accomplish the same task? Thanks for any comments and suggestions.

Don M

This stop is commonly missing from #190's, #78's and the other fillestar planes that Stanely produced. Thankfully though you're in luck, they are really not difficult to find.

I did a quick search on ebay and found at least 5 of them right now up for sale or by it now around $10, which might be a tad high, but if you just want the piece and the thumb screw so you can finish the restoration it might be worth it to you.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories

As Jeremy indicates, these stops are pretty well interchangeable among the various similar planes that Stanley produced (180-182, 190-192, 78, 289). Besides deBay, you can no doubt get one from some of the online parts sellers. I've had good experiences with Walt Quadrato of Brass City Records and Tools (call him, don't e-mail him), Clarence Blanchard of Fine Tool Journal (e-mail fine), and Pete Niederberger (e-mail also fine. His prices are, generally, a little higher, but he's got darned near everything). Google will bring you contact information.

Comments:
1. The fastening screws for these came in two versions: a thumbscrew and, later, a screw with a big slotted head, knurled around the edge. Get the thumbscrew if you can; my experience is it works better (and doesn't require a tool, other than your thumb and one finger). The screw size/pitch is another one of those Stanley pre-standardized sizes.
2. The screws don't come with a washer, but I find one under the head helpful. Best, if you can find one that fits, is a spring lock washer (also known as wavy washer). My hardware store and auto parts store carry them, but in metric sizes only; I just find one that fits. The outer diameter of these is sometimes too small to fit well, so you may need a thin flat washer too. The spring washer will let you get it tight enough to drag, loose enough to nudge into final depth. It also helps hold the depth when you tighten up*.
3. Later stops often come glopped up with enough paint to cover a rock band tour bus (wrong color for schoolbus). This interferes with function; wire brush or sand it to a thin layer. It's OK if you get to shiny metal.

*It can be very depressing to have it lose position in the middle of a long planing session, where you're trying to do one or more rabbets to a specific depth. I can testify to how depressing it can be.

Thanks guys, with help like this, the restoration should be a snap and I'll have another of Dad's hand planes to use and remember him when I do.

Don M

I realize this is a older thread but a subject currently dear to me. I am working on an older but complete Stanley 190 I found at an antique store for $12. I've gently cleaned a nasty coating of crud to find a tool in amazingly good shape. Crud protects I guess.

On to my two questions. There is some some tenacious brownish, blackish gunk on the bare metal that Evapo-rust, Goof-off and WD-40 don't touch. Thoughts on what to use?

Second question, japaning is about 60% on the left side, the area where the iron, chip breaker, etc. are. Should I try to paint the now bare metal? Surprisingly, what I would call the fence side, with the tooled, painted surface looks nearly pristine.

BTW, the iron has a sweet heart logo. Is that original?

Thanks,
Rick Dafler

Howdy Rick and Welcome to the Creek.

That is a great find for $12.

When there is some UGTR (Unidentified Gunk To Remove) my process begins with an assessment of what kind of gunk it may be. Is it a soft or hard? Could it be some kind of paint? Then what ever thinners or other agents of gunk removal are put to the test in an order determined by the assessment.

If it looks like it might be paint, then some paint remover or acetone might be first. If some can be chipped off some might be placed in a container with different thinners like alcohol or lacquer thinner. Sometimes only a mechanical means like scrapping will remove some types of gunk.

The decision to paint is always for the owner. Some of my planes have been repainted and the feel of a nice paint job against my hand when using them makes me want to repaint them all. Of course if one is thinking of collector value than repainting is verboten. My thoughts seldom consider the desires of collectors unless a bargain tool in collectable condition comes my way. Then it is saved in my bank of tools to be sold for when it is time to raise some money to buy a desired tool.

On the iron with the SW logo being original or not, does it have adjuster slots milled into the backside? If it has the milled slots it likely isn't original. The #190 never had a blade adjuster.

Also to consider on the SW iron's being original to the plane would be the logo used on the side of the plane. When the SW was being used the Stanley logo changed to what is called the "notched box" logo. If the side of the plane has a different logo it might have been made before the blade.

Finally, pictures always help. It is simple if you have image files on your computer. First they can not be raw files or large files. That is the most common problem folks have when trying to post pictures. You may need to run a copy of the image through an application to adjust the size. There are a lot of ways to do this with what may already be installed on your computer.

Then the easiest way is to use the little image posting icon above the message composition box:

Attachment 350059

This will give you a choice between a file on your computer or one you may have uploaded to an image storage site like Flicker or Bitbucket:

Attachment 350060

It only allows me one image at a time. It seems the first image defaults to "From Computer" and after that the default is "From URL" which requires me to then click on "From Computer" before selecting an image by clicking "Choose File" to navigate to the image and then clicking "Upload File."

jtk

Merry Christmas

Thank you for bringing this old thread back to life. Your revival sparked an idea on how to make the depth stop. For most of the depth stop a piece of angle iron attacked by drill. hacksaw and file is easy enough, but the little bead that slides in the grove had me wondering. Instead of removing metal to get a bead , add a weld bead and then file.

For the brown crud, scrape, sand ,or acetone. I haven't yet painted a plane, but that Swedish #78 is going to get a date with a rattle can. I don't think that a #190 would ever see enough door frames to wear out an iron, so your iron is likely original.

The 190 was produced from 1886 to 1962. The Sweetheart era occurred in the midst of those years; so, yes, it's probably the original iron for the plane.