Author Topic: Hand Planes  (Read 321597 times)

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Offline Bill Houghton

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1005 on: August 15, 2019, 10:42:44 PM »
A nice supplement to a bench hook that I've seen but never gotten around to making is a short version of the same thing, to support the end of longer boards as you work them on the bench hook.

Offline p_toad

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Stanley 193
« Reply #1006 on: August 16, 2019, 12:49:41 PM »
Attached are a few pictures from the Stanley 193 - apparently made for fibreboard.   Unfortunately none of the accessories appeared with it (at least none that i found).

Offline p_toad

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1007 on: August 16, 2019, 12:51:50 PM »
and more...   when you talk about "fill every niche", i believe it after seeing this.   :grin:
« Last Edit: August 16, 2019, 12:55:04 PM by p_toad »

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1008 on: August 16, 2019, 01:35:33 PM »
Thanks for the pictures, Peter.  It looks like one of the blade clamps and a couple blades are still there.   My wife likes to watch home improvement/remodeling TV shows, and I can’t recall any of them using/installing fiberboard as part of the finished product.  I’d guess when it comes to older homes, the fiberboard is probably being removed as part of the demolition phase.  While Stanley appears to have tried to fill every conceivable niche, I think there was a time when installing fiberboard was considered a low to moderate cost home improvement project.  Back in the 1970s, my parents installed paneling on one wall in our family room.  I don’t think many people would use paneling today.  During the “fiberboard era” that #193 may have actually been a worthwhile tool to have.  I don’t know for sure, but maybe so.  In today’s world, it’s an oddity, and probably not recognized by younger generations.  If I wasn’t a Stanley plane enthusiast, I probably wouldn’t know what it was either.  Like I said earlier, now that we’ve been talking about these particular tools, I’m interested..... stay tuned.

Jim C.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2019, 01:44:23 PM by Jim C. »
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Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1009 on: August 22, 2019, 02:23:47 PM »
.............   During the “fiberboard era” that #193 may have actually been a worthwhile tool to have.  I don’t know for sure, but maybe so.  In today’s world, it’s an oddity, and probably not recognized by younger generations.  If I wasn’t a Stanley plane enthusiast, I probably wouldn’t know what it was either.  Like I said earlier, now that we’ve been talking about these particular tools, I’m interested..... stay tuned.

Jim C.

Okay, so I got this box in the mail a few days ago...... :grin:
« Last Edit: August 22, 2019, 02:25:59 PM by Jim C. »
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Offline Yadda

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1010 on: August 22, 2019, 07:16:19 PM »
.............   During the “fiberboard era” that #193 may have actually been a worthwhile tool to have.  I don’t know for sure, but maybe so.  In today’s world, it’s an oddity, and probably not recognized by younger generations.  If I wasn’t a Stanley plane enthusiast, I probably wouldn’t know what it was either.  Like I said earlier, now that we’ve been talking about these particular tools, I’m interested..... stay tuned.

Jim C.

Okay, so I got this box in the mail a few days ago...... :grin:

Hmmmmmmmmmm...?
You might say I have a tool collecting problem....

Offline p_toad

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1011 on: August 22, 2019, 07:44:35 PM »
yup.   good call.   that's a box.   :grin:

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1012 on: August 23, 2019, 11:51:25 AM »
I’m going to guess that no one was wondering what was in the box.  If you’ve been reading along, a little while back, by chance, site member, coolford, introduced a hard board/Masonite plane into the conversation.  Well, after that, it’s also no surprise that the line of Stanley fiberboard and hard board planes entered the conversation too.  That’s fine with me.  As long as we’re talking about hand planes, I don’t care where the thread goes or what type of planes we end up talking about.  Anyway, the more we talked about them, the more interested I got in trying to find out a little bit more about these specialty planes.  What I knew going in was that they existed, and they’re mostly obsolete in terms of the material they were designed to cut.  That was about it.  I’ve seen them at auctions and tool meets, usually missing parts, and can’t think of a time I even bothered to pick one up to simply look at it.  Maybe because I knew there was no real use for it anymore.  I don't know.  Needless to say, I didn’t have any of the Stanleys in my collection.  Doing a little online research, I also learned that it’s sinful (or at least shameful) to admit owning one.  Not caring what the naysayers may think and for purposes of enhancing my collection and basic hand plane knowledge …….  I bought one anyway!!  In a later post, I’ll get more into the actual parts that were included with the plane (there are several) and details regarding the Stanley #193.  For now, I just wanted to figure out how to use it and experiment with it.

Once I got the plane unpacked, I had to figure out how to use it.  Fortunately I found an owner’s manual online.  It was detailed enough to walk me through the basics.  Next, I had to find some fiberboard.  I went to my local Home Depot sort of thinking I was wasting my time.  I was correct in my assumption.  Who stocks fiberboard anymore?  After looking around a little, I came home with a 24” x 24” x 1” piece of Owens Corning pink insulation board.  Okay, I have a plane; I have some material; time to give it a try! 

The Stanley #193 was designed to cut various decorative designs and assembly joints on fiberboard. Stanley referred to the assembly joints as “shiplap.”   I’d call them overlapping rabbet joints.  With the correct accessory and blades mounted in the plane, it was capable of producing “V” grooves, shiplap (rabbets), slits, and through-and-through vertical cuts in 1/2” thick fiberboard.  With the fence attached to either side of the plane via two rods that screw into the casting, the working range, or width of cut from the sides of the plane, is about six inches.  Anything wider, say one wanted to cut twelve inches from one side of the work piece, would require the use of a straightedge.  Like I said earlier, this plane was equipped with several accessories that either mounted to the plane via a “slide casting” and the extension rods (mentioned above), or directly onto the main plane body casting.  In some instances, several of the accessories were necessary to perform one function.  The other thing I noticed about this plane is that it was capable of employing cutters that could be re-sharpened or disposable razor type blades to make the same type of cuts.  That created a lot of accessories and blades to keep track of.  If you have any desire to own one of these planes, once again, like I’ve said so many times before, do your homework and know what you’re looking at.  Unless you’re really a hardcore collector, there’s probably no reason to have this plane.  Still, if you really like “contraptionism,” then this plane delivers big time! 

In an effort to demonstrate the plane in action, I decided to try cutting a V groove in the pink insulation board.  If you look at the second photo below, you’ll see both blade options available for cutting a V groove.  The accessory on the left holds the blades that can be re-sharpened, while the accessory on the right holds the disposable razor blades.  Since the re-usable blades were dull, and I didn’t want to take the time to put a cutting edge on them, I opted for the razor blades.  Take a look at the third photo.  There you can sort of imagine how the razor blade accessory (clamping mechanism) mounts onto the main plane body casting.  Once mounted and tightened down, it’s very secure.  Also notice there’s a set screw with a knurled nut on the back arm of the blade-clamping accessory.  That allows the user to adjust and hold true the depth of cut.  The fourth photo depicts the clamping mechanism attached to the plane with the cutting portions of the razor blades protruding though the sole of the plane.  Take note that the tips of the blades slightly overlap.  That will produce a nicely “pointed V” at the bottom of the groove in the work piece. 

Okay, now for the fence assembly.  With the threaded rods screwed to the sides of the plane, a fence accessory can be attached.  Although there are a few different accessories that can be used as guides, or cutters (shiplap) on the side of the plane, nothing can be mounted to those threaded rods without the slide casting.  That part is really important!  It’s the only part with holes that will slide over those rods.  It can be set at any distance from the side of the plane and is held in place with thumbscrews.  All other accessories intended to operate from the side of the plane MUST be attached to that slide casting first, again via thumbscrews.  Like I said, it’s definitely a contraption!  Once the cutters are mounted in the clamping accessory and it’s attached to the main body of the plane, and the fence and slide are mated and on the rods, you’re ready to make a cut.  (See the sixth photo below.)

Off we go!  The plane cut surprisingly well.  What I did notice was that if I stopped (to take a picture in this instance) the cut before reaching the other end of the work piece and then started pushing the plane again, it tore chunks out of the sides of the V groove instead slicing though it cleanly.  Now I don’t know if fiberboard would react the same way or not, but pink insulation board needs to be cut without stopping.

With my first groove cut, I decided to make a couple more evenly spaced parallel grooves.  That required the use of a “V” shaped guide that needs to be mounted to the side of the plane.  You know what that means.  The fence must be removed from the slide casting and the V guide needs to be attached to the slide.  The V shaped guide will ride in the first groove.   Are you getting the hang of this?  (See the second set of photos below in the next post.)  Can you see how evenly spaced decorative grooves could be cut using this tool?  If you really want to get fancy, try making the grooves perpendicular to each other.  Like it or not, based on my first experience using a #193, I’d say that it delivers results as advertised ....... for making V grooves at least.  It was sort of fun to tinker with too.  I think I’ll try the shiplap cut next.  Believe it or not, this plane also came with an accessory designed to cut circles in fiberboard.   :smiley:

Jim C.           

 
« Last Edit: August 23, 2019, 03:18:01 PM by Jim C. »
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Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1013 on: August 23, 2019, 11:51:46 AM »
Here's a few more photos depicting the Stanley #193 using the V guide to cut evenly spaced parallel grooves.

Jim C.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2019, 11:54:52 AM by Jim C. »
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Offline p_toad

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1014 on: August 23, 2019, 07:12:37 PM »
scary.   looks like it actually works.   thanks for that tutorial.   :smiley:

Offline Yadda

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1015 on: August 23, 2019, 07:39:22 PM »
Okay, I think it is neat.   Those grooves are darn near picture perfect.
You might say I have a tool collecting problem....

Offline gibsontool

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1016 on: August 23, 2019, 07:56:05 PM »
Good job Jim,those grooves look very good. You've got the plane tuned right in. I have one of these but I've never tried it out any type of material. It just sits on a shelf and look pretty.

Offline lptools

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1017 on: August 24, 2019, 06:37:01 AM »
Hello, Jim. Nice score on the plane, it looks to be in great cosmetic and mechanical condition. Great results too, shows off the plane's function , and your skill!! Regards, Lou
« Last Edit: August 25, 2019, 08:03:33 PM by lptools »
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Offline coolford

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1018 on: August 24, 2019, 08:45:18 AM »
Great post, no doubt that it really was capable of doing the job it was made to do.  Did you get every part to it that was available from Stanley?

Offline Jim C.

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Re: Hand Planes
« Reply #1019 on: August 25, 2019, 07:26:32 PM »
I’m glad you guys liked the post!  Thanks for keeping up with the thread.  While I wouldn’t recommend buying any version of the Stanley #193 to use, mostly because the material it was designed to cut isn’t popular in home decor, and isn’t really available any more, I won’t lie, it was kind of fun to play around with for a couple hours.  At some point, I’ll probably try some of the other attachments.  If you’re a serious Stanley hand plane collector, well, I guess you’d want one in your collection.  There are several parts and cutters which I’m still trying to nail down.  In the short time that I’ve been focused on this plane, I still haven’t conclusively determined what parts were included with each version.  There were three versions of the Stanley fiberboard plane; the #193, #193A, and #193B.  Some of my questions pertain to which cutters came with which version of the plane as well as the knob and tote type of wood and finish.  A couple of my informational sources are conflicted on a couple points.  So, coolford, I’m not sure if I have all the cutters that were included with the 193A or not, and I’m still checking on the wood.   Once I get those questions conclusively answered, I’ll add a post laying out the parts, details, etc.

Jim C.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2024, 04:53:19 AM by Jim C. »
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