Stanley 45 Uses?

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

I dug my old Stanley 45 out of the attic a few days ago, wanting to see what I had. I bought it at an auction about 40 years ago, and have only used it a little, but got it for a good price. I found a nice surprise, in that I had forgotten it had the original instructions with it in the box in an envelope! The instructions show that mine came with 21 irons, which are all still present, indicating that it was made between 1910 and 1920 from what I have been able to find on the net.

It is in very nice shape, with only a few very small spots of hints of a little surface rust in a very few places. In fact there is almost no patina at all anywhere, the steel still clean, but some of the original nickel finish has chipped off. It is in the original box, which is very heavy cardboard, but the box has seen better days. Over all, it needs virtually no restoration, and is completely usable right now as is, it even looks pretty good for having been used by a working carpenter for years. He may have been the original or second owner, but who ever owned it took very good care of it. I am very blessed to have it.

I don't have a moving fillister plane, nor a plow plane, nor any dado planes, so plan to use it for all of those for now. Jim's post showing it being used to make molding makes me want to pick up some fluting cutters as well.

My question is this: what do you use the 45 for, mostly, and what does it do well? What does it not do well? Does anyone have much experience with the hollows and rounds attachments, and how does it do with those? (I have looked, and the hollows and rounds set ups look to have a pretty high price.)

Thanks and regards,

Stew

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I have a Sargent 1080, which is pretty similar to a Stanley 45. I use it for beading, and grooving. I have experimented with using it for tongue and groove, and it seems to work well for that.

Combination planes can be a little finicky. Pay close attention to the grain, and if it is not working for you, small adjustments to the fence, depth of cut, and position of the bottoms can make significant differences. I enjoy using mine, but it is a tool that needs patience to get it to work, and for beading in particular I always try to plan well ahead to position the straightest grain possible where I intend to run the bead.

[ken hatch]

Hi All,

I dug my old Stanley 45 out of the attic a few days ago, wanting to see what I had. I bought it at an auction about 40 years ago, and have only used it a little, but got it for a good price. I found a nice surprise, in that I had forgotten it had the original instructions with it in the box in an envelope! The instructions show that mine came with 21 irons, which are all still present, indicating that it was made between 1910 and 1920 from what I have been able to find on the net.

It is in very nice shape, with only a few very small spots of hints of a little surface rust in a very few places. In fact there is almost no patina at all anywhere, the steel still clean, but some of the original nickel finish has chipped off. It is in the original box, which is very heavy cardboard, but the box has seen better days. Over all, it needs virtually no restoration, and is completely usable right now as is, it even looks pretty good for having been used by a working carpenter for years. He may have been the original or second owner, but who ever owned it took very good care of it. I am very blessed to have it.

I don't have a moving fillister plane, nor a plow plane, nor any dado planes, so plan to use it for all of those for now. Jim's post showing it being used to make molding makes me want to pick up some fluting cutters as well.

My question is this: what do you use the 45 for, mostly, and what does it do well? What does it not do well? Does anyone have much experience with the hollows and rounds attachments, and how does it do with those? (I have looked, and the hollows and rounds set ups look pretty pricy.)

Thanks and regards,

Stew

Stew,

It looks good in it's box and is a great show piece. Almost any job you have a single purpose tool for.

I admire guys like Jim that have the ability and are willing to spent the time to get one working but I expect even he will admit there are better ways to do almost any job a 45 will do. Mine has been following me around for almost 50 years, I bring it down off the shelf every once in a while to play with only to confirm what I've known almost from the get go.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

For rabbeting my Record 778 is an easier to use plane.

For plowing my Stanley 45 gets used except for 1/4" plowing set for small drawer bottoms that my #50 is set up to do.

Beading, tongue & groove and a few other tasks find the #45 on the job.

Roy Underhill has a good program on using combination planes in general:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365021501/

He doesn't get into many of the problems that can occur with a plane that has some flaws. He also doesn't cover some of the tricks one can use to overcome problems with switching grain.

One of the most important aspects of using the Stanley 45 is having the blades sharp. For the beading blades one needs a slip stone. A good hard Arkansas or some water stones will do. The side edges of the blade also have a bevel. It doesn't need to be as sharp as the cutting edge, but it does need to be a hair outside of the skates.

For switching grain, one can scribe the edges of the cut to help make a smooth cut.

The skates need to be parallel to each other. Waxing the skates and the fence can be helpful.

The fence needs to not only be parallel to the skates, it needs to be square to the plane across the skates.

Roy Underhill works in a fast back and forth motion. I find that I need to be more deliberate when using the #45 to keep from getting off track.

It is important to maintain the plane's perpendicular orientation to the work piece. It is also important to start each pass with the fence registered against the side and the skates engaged in the cut.

It can also help to start at the end of the cut and move each successive cut back towards the beginning of the cut. This is especially helpful when first starting to use a combination plane.

It has taken me a lot of "practice" using combination planes and I still mess up when trying to go too fast or when not giving it my full attention.

Once on starts to get the hang of a combination plane it is amazing how much you will want to use it.

jtk

[Tom M King]

novdec2012 012 (1024x768).jpgI don't own a 45, but do have a couple of 55's, which will do what the 45 will. It works just fine as a plow plane, but not as good as a dedicated size plow plane with a skate. I mainly use the 55s for odd sized plowing, and for when I don't have the exactly right molding plane for the job, or for an odd shape on a length of molding that a hollow or round won't do. The picture shows a 55 being used to plow a groove in a replacement wainscot rail out of Heart Pine to replace one that was rotten in an early 19th Century house. The groove was a standard width, but an odd distance from the face.

[bill howes]

moulding.jpgI have some 45s and 55s. They mostly come in craftsman made cases which suggest that they were frequently used.
I recently had to replace a moulding that wasn't off the shelf, and was told that to mill it that it would be $400 to grind a new moulding knife I got out my Stanley 55. I was able to make a satisfactory replacement.
Yet even though I'm not using it every day, It took me the better part of 4 hours, by the time I ripped the board to width and planed it to thickness (not by hand) and then moulded it. I cut the centre bead first then a rabbet on one side a groove on the other then using hollows and round cut the two different sized ogees and final used a shoulder plane to get the thickness of the top right and the fiddled with a mitre on the end where the wall is out of square.
It made sense for me to do it as I enjoyed the fiddling but I cant imagine a tradesman being able to spend that time.
Bill

[James Pallas]

I like my 45. Beads, dados, grooves. Takes up about 1 cubic foot of shop space. Sharp, sharp irons lite cuts pick your material. takes a little time to set up but there are people that keep 4 or 5 # 4s around with different blade configurations to keep from changing blades and resetting the plane or have a box full of wood beading planes. That's not being critical it just what works for each individual.
Jim

[Tom M King]

I believe Bill's use is what they are mainly intended for-not production work, but matching something not available in stock.

[Jim Koepke]

I believe Bill's use is what they are mainly intended for-not production work, but matching something not available in stock.

These planes "main intent" has to be considered along with the fact of them being introduced in the late 19th century rolling into the 20th century. Much of America didn't have electricity at the time. There were no big box stores in every city where one could pick up ready made windows and door frames. Houses being built in cities might have a lumber mill nearby to mill molding, sash and window frames. Someone building in rural areas still had to rely on man power. It may have been quicker to run a few hundred feet of molding by hand than it would be to take the time to drive to the nearest mill and back.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Jim,

Good point. I grew up in rural western Kansas, and lived there a long time. Your comment made me remember what one of my friends, who was an old time carpenter, told me, probably about 30 years ago. He often worked out in the country early on where there was no electricity, and even where there was, they didn't have power anything that would make trim. He told me that he spent hours and hours working on oil field company housing project holding a Stanley 45 making windows etc. You could buy some trim, etc., but not much. This would have been back in the late 20s and the 30s I think.

Stew

Stew