Stanley #75- Bullnose Rabbetplane

[Stephen Jackson]

I'm hoping to acquire one of these in the near future, probably used, from the auction site. As I haven't had one of these before I did some research on Blood & Gore. Patrick's closing statement is that, because of the way that these planes are constructed, ie the rear and front soles are not co-planar, there is no point in practicing sole-lapping. So, my question is: if the sole is marked/scratched/pitted etc, what is the best way to clean/lap the sole?

[jonathan snyder]

You could lap the sole using sandpaper on a flat surface if you want, but unless the sole is a disaster a few scratches wont affect its use. Having said that, I would pass on this plane and save up for something else. I have one and have never found a use for it. It is not a substitute for a shoulder plane.

Just my .02 worth

[Stephen Jackson]

Thanks Jonathon. The problem I've encountered, so far, is that shoulder planes seem hard to come by at an affordable (for me) price.

[Matt Meiser]

My experience with a 75 was the same as Jonathans. It doesn't perform well at all at trimming tenons, rabbets, etc. The mouth is absolutely huge compared to a shoulder plane, which I think is part of the problem.

[Roger Bell]

Doing a lot of lapping would eliminate the non-coplanar feature of the plane. But it wouldn't detract from it's usefulness that much, I wouldn't think. It is not a precision tool and lapping for flatness would not be necessary. You might do enough to polish off rust if you need to and to slick up the sole enough to move smoothly. Don't worry about scratches.

The 75 is not intended for use as a shoulder plane. Nor is it designed or intended for trimming tenons. It can trim rabbets, as long as they are not too long. It is getting a bad rep on the Boards that it doesn't deserve, at least in my mind. It is not much of a furniture makers tool, but it has it's uses.

It is a specialty plane made for getting into tight little corners, such as, for example, the inside corners of the rabbets on assembled picture frames. And it does that quite well. I use mine for this all the time and for other tasks as well. You do the little bit of final corner cleanup with a chisel, or, if you insist, a Stanley or LN chisel plane. Gazillions of these were sold and for good reason. Finish carpenters commonly had them in their kits on job sites I was on in the 1960's.

[Clint Jones]

I have never seen a 75 that had a sole that was co-planer. Usually the front is a tad higher than the rear and must be for some reason. That being said I dont think the 75 is a bad plane at all to own. While I dont see it being used as a deciated shoulder plane it can trim rabbets and tenons if used correctly. I agree it is more for carpentry than fine furniture making. I think people give it a bad wrap because the expect more out of it as it were a 92 or precision shoulder plane. -Clint

[Bill Houghton]

The nose on a 75 is part of a casting that is held to the top of the body of the plane by a large screw that threads into the body of the plane. When I asked my uncle for help in making the nose co-planar with the sole of the body, he filed the mating surface on top of the body (fairly small) instead of trying to lap the entire sole. If you're competent with a file, this will be a lot faster.

The iron on these seems relatively soft, and I've cleaned mine up from time to time just on sandpaper on a flat surface. Goes quickly.

The size of the mouth is adjusted by sliding the nose casting back on the body, but this creates some problems: the cap iron pivots on two nubs on this same casting, and if you get the nose too far back, you can't slide the cap iron in. You might be able to play with this a little by filing the nubs, but they're pretty small already, so you'd want to be careful about it, so as not to file them away.

The biggest issue, for me, was that I couldn't figure out how to grip it. Every grip I tried wound up painful, because the iron would dig into my hand. I made a palm grip for it from wood which helped tremendously, which simply fit on the back of the nose/top casting and stuck up above the top of the iron a bit. Some rasping and sanding on this to make it curvy and smooth finished the work. Looks like day-old sin, but works a lot better.

I've got a bullnose shoulder plane now, and reserve the No. 75 for rough cleanup on carpentry.

[Bob Smalser]

Almost everybody buys a #75 when they are young and poor because they can't afford a #90.

Wait for the #90.

Or better yet, wait for a #93 as they are good shoulder planes that convert to chisel planes easily and you can forego the #90. Bullnose planes in general aren't good for much except planing up against a stopped rabbet or dado, and chisel plane works just as well. And of you're gonna buy a chisel plane, all the 90-series shoulder planes convert to them by removing the top. Two tools in one.

[Justin Grow]

Doing a lot of lapping would eliminate the non-coplanar feature of the plane. But it wouldn't detract from it's usefulness that much, I wouldn't think. It is not a precision tool and lapping for flatness would not be necessary. You might do enough to polish off rust if you need to and to slick up the sole enough to move smoothly. Don't worry about scratches.

The 75 is not intended for use as a shoulder plane. Nor is it designed or intended for trimming tenons. It can trim rabbets, as long as they are not too long. It is getting a bad rep on the Boards that it doesn't deserve, at least in my mind. It is not much of a furniture makers tool, but it has it's uses.

It is a specialty plane made for getting into tight little corners, such as, for example, the inside corners of the rabbets on assembled picture frames. And it does that quite well. I use mine for this all the time and for other tasks as well. You do the little bit of final corner cleanup with a chisel, or, if you insist, a Stanley or LN chisel plane. Gazillions of these were sold and for good reason. Finish carpenters commonly had them in their kits on job sites I was on in the 1960's.

Its funny you say this. My family's business is picture framing. I managed the shop for 10 years, and my plane for tweaking rabbets was a #90 that had about 10% of its plating left, but it still worked like a charm. I wish I still had it, but when I decided to leave the business, I left the plane behind.
I'm still looking for a replacement.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Found a use for mine, sitting on a shelf filling a hole in the collection, and it does do that well!

[Derek Cohen]

The #75 is a cute looking little plane .... but must have been designed by a sadist for the masochists of this world! It is supremely uncomfortable to hold - leaving a hole in the palm of your hand - and is one of the hardest planes to set up to take a reliable shaving. It can be done, but only once each year.

I would pass on this one ....

Regards from Perth

Derek