Stanley 45 and 55 planes

[John Powers]

"they can be a bear to get to work" that's it, what would possess someone to buy a plane that a reputable guy says that about. I threw mine away. But, if you like endlessly putzing around, buy one.

[Brian Ashton]

I'm going to go against the flow of this thread.... I own 2 #45s and LOVE them. It is, most certainly, a "play with it and find out what it will do" kind of plane. My experimentation has yielded that it truly is a particularly finicky plane, fiddly to set up, and just all-round cranky. Regardless, it can do a lot of things effectively, if you "treat it right" (not arguing that a dedicated plane won't do any particular function better.....). OK...maybe I'm weird and just like to mess with stuff until I get it to work.....

So far, I've discovered that:

1) The irons are particularly sensitive to sharpness. Sharp(er) = much better results with a #45; even more so than with most other planes.

2) Lighter is better. The #45 seems to be averse to hogging material off. On the other hand, if you set it up for lights cuts (and have a sharp iron - see #1), it does a really fine job of rebating, cutting flutes and beads, cutting grooves, etc.

3) It is a two-handed plane: one to push the plane forward, and one to keep the fence tight against the edge of the wood.

4) Set up is very finicky.....very small adjustments in "_____" make big differences in performance. Play with it and see what it likes and doesn't like.

5) Once you figure out what your particular #45 likes, set up and use is very fast and easy, and a lot of fun, with great results.

Just my tuppence worth......

FWIW, I like the #45 enough that I want to get a #55 and play with that..... (No accounting for taste, eh?)

I'm like you on this. Had a 45 from 18 years old to about 30 or so and never had any complaints about it. Moved up to the 55 soon after selling it to a collector for way more than it was worth and again I can't find fault with it. The caveat to these planes is you need a fair bit of woodworking experience and knowledge to get the best out of them. I.e. They work great at ploughing in most woods but if I were going to cut some mouldings with it I would save the best, straightest and finest grained material for that, and make extra because there will be some blow out… Also I probably wouldn't try working hard rock maple or something like that, or gnarly grained woods… You'd probably end up breaking something on it if you did. They also need other planes to compliment them i.e. a set of hollows and rounds to do the bigger sections of the moulding, and then you can make some pretty complex mouldings…

As has already been said your mileage may vary...