Nice Stanley on the job

[Papaw]

I have been documenting the restoration of an old church here at home that will be a museum when finished. The church is the one I went to as a child up to when we built a new one across town in 1961.
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http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/alvfrm.html

Karpeles Manuscript Museums- http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/

Some of my progress pictures can be seen here- http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v439/papao55/Old%20First%20Methodist%20Church%209-16-2011/

The contractor is attempting to restore the building to its original condition as much as possible, having to teach his crew quite a bit about older construction methods and materials. He uses modern tools of course, but today when I was there I spied a nice Stanley #12 plane. He agreed that his workers had no idea how to use it, but the job it was needed for might not be possible with any of the power tools they were accustomed to using.

[Jim C.]

The #120 is one of Stanley's most common block planes.  Stanley produced the #120 between 1876 and 1950.  They probably sold millions of them.  I'm not sure it was the best block plane ever produced, but with a really sharp iron, and a medium to light cut, it can produce a very satisfactory shaving.  It's a great worker, it's versatile, and a nice example can usually be had at a very reasonable price. 

Jim C.

[scottg]

Perfect for a construction job.  Simple, sturdy, dependable. Nothing to go very wrong.
 Not the finest, but then its construction, fine is not the answer. 
Good choice. 
   yours Scott