It’s fairly common that I will receive an old hand plane from someone I know. Pretty much anyone who knows me knows that I have a serious interest in them. Some are in better shape than others, but I always accept them. At the very least, there’s usually a part on them that can be used to fix up another plane that may be missing the same part. Anyway, the plane depicted below was a cast off from a fellow co-worker. I think he said it belonged to his great-grand father. I probably would have hung onto to it for that reason alone, but I guess people express their sentiments in different ways. So, the plane was mine, or on its way to the dump. On its surface it may look like it’s beyond saving or even worth the effort. I think that was my co-worker's thought. Okay. Yes, it’s a little rough around the edges, but with some attention and the acquisition of a couple common parts, this one can go back to work… and it will in my shop.
Stanley #180:
The #180 series of planes were some of Stanley’s earliest rabbet planes. There were three sizes (iron widths) starting with the #180 at 1½”, the #181 at 1¼” and the #182 at 1”. Stanley manufactured the 180s between 1886 and 1918. The latest versions are almost 100 years old!! They were simply designed having few parts that consisted of the main cast iron body, the cast iron pressure cap and screw, the cutting iron, and a cast iron depth adjustment stop that mounted to the right side of the plane with a thumbscrew. Unfortunately the plane was given to me without the depth adjustment stop and thumbscrew. (It should be noted that the depth stop and thumbscrew depicted below were borrowed from a Stanley #190 for purposes of showing the missing parts.) On the positive side however, that little depth stop and thumbscrew were used on MANY other Stanley produced rabbet planes in the decades that followed, to include the 190 series of rabbets and the extremely popular #78 to name a few… and there were other less common models that also employed those same two parts. I’m sure even back then, Stanley had accountants. Interchangeable parts meant production savings. I don’t usually like to chase parts, but in this case, they’re very easy to come by and relatively inexpensive. In this instance, I say “Thank you Stanley accountants.” (I’m sure the original designers and engineers factored in cost and production efficiency too.)
To use the #180, a thin scrap of thin straight stock had to be tacked to the work piece to act as a fence. Once a few passes were made and the shoulder of the rabbet joint was established, the temporary wooden strip/guide could be removed and the shoulder of the joint itself acted as the fence. With the stop set for a desired depth of cut, the #180 and its two narrower siblings (#181, #182) were easy to use and pretty accurate. So why were the 180 series of planes discontinued by Stanley. Well, Stanley also designed and produced a slightly different version with a scoring nicker (also known as a spur) for cutting across the grain. (See photo below comparing a #190 with the spur to the #180 without it.) The three legged spur was set into the body of the plane and rode just ahead of the iron, thus scoring the wood fibers before the iron got to them. That innovation greatly reduced tear-out and produced a smooth shouldered cross-grain cut. Instead of adding the spur to later versions of the 180 series planes, Stanley, created a parallel product line that included a spur, the 190 series of rabbet planes. Again, the 190 rabbets (#190, #191 and #192) were sized exactly as were the 180s listed above, and manufactured by Stanley from 1886 into the early 1960s. Basically, the introduction of the 190s, which also functioned exactly like the 180s, but with the spur, eventually led to an early end for the 180s. Perhaps another Stanley accounting department decision? Both the 180s and the 190s filled the same market niche. Adding to the demise of the 180 series, was the introduction of the Stanley #78 duplex/rabbet/fillister plane a couple years earlier in 1884. (See page 15, reply 220 above) It included two different seats for the iron, a spur, the same depth stop and a fence, thus eliminating the need to tack a strip of wood onto the work piece as a guide. The #78 was in production well into the 1980s and eventually outlasted the 190 series by approximately twenty years.
So why would anyone want to use a 180 series rabbet plane when other potentially better models are readily available? Well, that’s an easy answer for me. With just a little TLC, and the addition of a couple easy to find parts, I’ll be using a 100+ year old plane that’s covered with honest patina. The trademark (type J, 1874 – 1884) on the iron, and its other parts indicate that the plane was likely manufactured at some point not too long after its introduction into the market. I'd guess about 1890 to 1900. I probably won’t do much to clean any of the "history" from the plane’s surfaces. I’ll get to enjoy the process of re-grinding and sharpening its original iron for the first time in probably decades. They just don’t make common tools like that any more. Notice the handle of the plane with its ornately cast design. It’s just a great tool that deserves another chance…..
Jim C.
