Restore Find Rehab

[Jim Koepke]

Showed this not long ago as a find from the Restore, a Stanley #102.

It confused me at first since under the cap it has a 103 in the casting but the base revealed a 102 when the dirt was knocked off.

I cleaned the rust off the sole and gave it a minimal lapping. The blade was sharpened and works OK, but it will need a bit more honing to get past the pits.

Today, the idea came to me to try the #9 blade from a Stanley #45 since it is about the same width. The #45 blade is a bit thicker. It was ground and honed at 25°.

Stanley #102.jpg

What seems amazing is this is the first standard angle block plane that actually seems to work well for me, even with the original blade. In the past, my planes included a #9-1/2 & a #18. Neither of those seemed to work well for me and a small bench plane was always preferred.

Despite the comments on the Supertool.com site about this one being a "cheap piece of junk" it seems to work fine and fits my hand well. It also seems to complement and fit in with my bench plane sizes instead of just taking up space in a drawer.

It is a little fidgety to adjust, but that is just getting used to very light taps with the plane hammer as it is a smaller plane.

For $2.25 +tax it is a nice addition to the accumulation.

jim

[Jonathan McCullough]

No doubt. I got a similar little plane (Sargent?), wire scrubbed the rust and dirt off, lapped the sole and the iron back, and that simple little sucker has been very handy for around-the house stuff like trimming old paint from the window moldings I've been working on. I'd make it my apron plane but the lever cap sort of has its tail up in the air so it doesn't lay flat. Fits neatly in the hand, has a little dimple for your index finger, right? Everyone should have one of these little guys in their basic tool box.

[harry strasil]

That's what its all about Jim, finding something no matter what others think of it, that works well for you the User.

Congrats
Jr.