Stanley 52 questions

[Chris Noland]

I picked up a Stanley #52 spokeshave on Ebay. The thumbscrew that opens and closes the throat seems to have stripped a little bit in that it doesn't tighten but just spins freely against the blade. Does anyone know if general hardware or big box stores carry this type of thumb screw and if so do you know what type?

Also, since there aren't adjustment screws and you just have to fumble with the blade, is there a trick to seeing the blade correctly? I know its a lot of trial and error but I'm still sort of new to the spokeshave and this is giving me problems. I have one of the 151's from Amazon that I think most would consider cheap but I get a lot of chatter from that so I wanted to try an older stanley. Chatter is possibly a dull blade or just going against the grain right? Thanks.

[lowell holmes]

The chatter is why I bought LV spoke shaves. They don't chatter.

I have two Stanley shaves that never get used.

[Jim Koepke]

Chris,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile doesn't show your location. If you live near me I would be happy to get together to help with your spokeshave enlightenment.

Stanley lived in their own world when it came to threads on their tools. Sometimes the sizes were also a little off. Stanley parts isn't what it used to be, but that might be the first place to look.

Others have mentioned http://www.stjamesbaytoolco.com/ as selling replacement parts for old Stanley tools.

For me a small mallet works for setting the blade on my spokeshaves.

Knot This Side!.jpg

It of course is the small one in this picture. It is about 7" from top to bottom and is used by lightly tapping on the blade to take a deeper cut or light tapping on the handles to retract the blade. This is done with the blade holding screw set tight. The screw is then checked to make sure the vibrations of the mallet strike(s) didn't loosen the screw.

Chatter can be caused by a lot of things. Too deep of a cut and poor blade seating can cause chatter as well as going against the grain.

Going against the grain is more likely to pull large slivers of wood out of the work and leave a torn out surface.

One of my methods to get to a starting point with setting a spokeshave blade is to place it on the bench or a block of wood with the blade loose. With the base of the shave held flat on the surface the blade is lightly moved to also touch the surface and the holding screw is tightened. This is usually too much of a cut for me so the blade is retracted using very light taps on the handles.

jtk

[Chris Noland]

Thanks Jim -- I should probably update my profile. I'm on the opposite side of the country in Charleston, SC otherwise I would definitely take you up on your offer. I will check out the site and there's always Ebay if I get real desperate. Thank you for the tips on setting up the blade. One thing about getting older tools is it definitely gives you an appreciation for the craftsmanship and forces you to really learn it inside and out to get it to work properly. Frustrating to be sure but I definitely appreciate it more afterwords. I'll keep you posted on how things turn out.

[Jim Koepke]

Here are a couple of old posts on spoke shaves:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...-Shave-Tune-Up

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...sker-on-Shaves

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

First, was this noted on eBay, or can you otherwise get money back? Is the problem with the screw or with the hole? If it's the screw, you'll be able to see the threads stripped off. If the screw's intact, the problem's with the hole.

Most of the time, you can redrill and retap the hole. You can get thumbscrews at any hardware store.

As to setting, yes, you set by guess. The tradeoff is you don't have those knurled nuts at the top of the cutting iron to get in your way as you navigate tight curves. The 52 is, so far, my favorite shave. One technique that's helpful is to set the spokeshave on a flat surface with a piece of paper under the front of the sole. Let the iron down, and gently tighten the lever cap. Try the shave. Add more pieces of paper if needed.

[Chris Noland]

First, was this noted on eBay, or can you otherwise get money back? Is the problem with the screw or with the hole? If it's the screw, you'll be able to see the threads stripped off. If the screw's intact, the problem's with the hole.

Most of the time, you can redrill and retap the hole. You can get thumbscrews at any hardware store.

The screw worked fine when it arrived so I don't know if it was just more brittle or if I turned too hard not knowing what I was doing. Who knows? Again, its a learning process and I didn't break the bank so no harm no foul. I bought a new thumbscrew so we'll see if that works when I get home today. Let me throw another question out there if anyone is still reading it. The blade iron is old obviously and when I flatten the back, I get a decent polish except one part of the back of the blade along the edge. Probably 2 cm by 1cm that just doesn't get touched. I wish I had a picture. When something like that happens, is there a way to get it flat or do I really need a grinder.

[Joe Bailey]

go here:
http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/b...eTuneUp-01.asp

[Bill Houghton]

When in doubt, try it out. There's a lot of information out there on the internet that implies that you can't possibly do good work with an imperfect tool. If that were true, none of us would be able to finish a project. Sharpen it up and try it out. It may/may not be an issue.