I have a couple of nice old Stanley planes – a 5 and a 5 1/2 with the 1902 trademarks on them. They are in great condition, except that one of the has a broken handle. I Googled and found some replacement handles, but nothing much for vintage handles. These are nice planes and it seems a sort of a shame to put replacement parts on them if I can find some more genuine parts. I wonder if anyone has a source for vintage Stanley parts.
Thanks,
Scotty
Replies
This guy is a reliable source for parts, but they're not cheap:
http://www.antique-used-tools.com/
Thanks FG. Nice recommendation. Good you see you back - hope you are back to 100%
Thanks Scott, everything seems to be going good now -- riding enough to make my back hurt, which in some twisted, bizzare way is a good sign. ;-)forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I bought replacement handles last year from Highland Woodworking (used to be Highland Hardware) in Atlanta, GA.
Thanks. I did look at their site and if I can't find a vintange handle, I will probably order one from them. It will cost about twice what I paid for the plane!
What's the matter with you woodworms-can't you re-make those handles from some nice timbers?? (;)
Your Worship,
I believe you should now be offering your plane handle-making service..... vintage replicas in exotic woods for only ......?
Lataxe, part time marketing manager.
Sire,
The notion entered my mind briefly long long ago, but was quickly chased out by the realisation that Economics would kill all, due to my location at the far edge of the known world.
Anyway, I believe that normal woodworms should be able to make their own handles for those planes.Philip Marcou
"What's the matter with you woodworms-can't you re-make those handles from some nice timbers?? (;)
Philip Marcou"
Agreed. I'm just not sure I want to spend the time on it as I have a number of other projects waiting. Its also so hot here now that I only get a few hours in the shop mornings and evenings, and then only on my days off.
Scotty
I'm with Philip. These planes are "users", not "showers". Make some handles and use 'em! (You could always put a new old handle on them later, if you want to.) If you want a museum piece, find one that doesn't need new handles. But in the meantime, put these guys to work!
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
You can find original Stanley totes on Ebay from time to time but it may be more economical to fix the handles yourself instead. Chances are the top of the totes are broke off as that is a common problem with them. Just clean up the edge of the tote and glue a piece of rosewood to it then shape to the proper size. Not that hard to do and if you find a piece of rosewood that's grain matches the original tote, it will be hard to notice it has been repaired.
Rosewood is notorious for resisting glue. This one was obviously "fixed" with glue once before I got it. I was thinking about drilling some holes through the bottom of the tote and counter sinking some screws in there. They would never show, but I don't know if that would be strong enough. What glue would you suggest?
I used polyurathane glue on the plane handles I use and haven't had one break yet. I'm no expert on the scientific strengths and weaknesses of glues but I'll keep using Gorilla glue until I find something better.
Your handles were rosewood?
Yes as well as the replacement piece. Now the wood that I use for the replacement piece was sold to me as rosewood; whether or not it is actually cocobolo I have no idea, but I have always heard that cocobolo is a form of rosewood.
If you do want to buy a new tote and or knob I have heard good things about: http://www.drozsoldetymestanleytotesandknobs.com
I see him selling on ebay all the time. I didn't know he had a website. Thanks for the link!
Give the gentleman at St. James Bay Tools a call. He very often has vintage Stanely parts for sale, and he understands what type goes with which plane - not all totes fit all stanleys.
You can buy parts quality planes on eBay for very cheap - almost always, strangely enough, for less than folks on eBay sell the handle alone for!
I often see old stanley plane handles on e-bay, Highland hardware has some nice replacement handles and parts. I turned a new front knob out of a chunk of walnut and that worked well.
Troy
Chrissakes, laddy. You're a woodworker!! Make IT! The last one took me about an hour. It was for a scrub I was selling.
Jeff
Jeff,
Not that I have a need to replace a handle myself, but.....
Perhaps you (and the air vice-marshal) can expound a little on the grain orientation for such handles. I would have thought the grain should go in the direction of the long axis of the handle yet most seem to go otherwise. Is there some mechanics underlying the grain orientation?
Lataxe the curious
Squire,
"I would have thought the grain should go in the direction of the long axis of the handle yet most seem to go otherwise."
I have pondered on that one in the past. I believe, regarding the Stanley type handles that there are two reasons for the grain to run horizontally 1)To avoid the weakness of short grain at top and bottom and 2) to facilitate machine shaping of those parts, since these were mass-produced and the accountants would be clamouring about the waste factor: the rate of blow out would be reduced.
An advantage of having the grain vertical is that there is virtually no shrinkage/movement factor.But who really has a problem with loosening handles even on those Stanley types? I have heard of some folk who tighten or loosen them at various times of the year but......but they were in America (;).
I orientated the grain to run vertically on the handle of the first plane I made, but look at the shape of that thing. Also, if one has wild grain running in all directions then one can get lucky, orientate it basically vertically but have grain turning towards the horizontal at those points like the top ends of the handle .Philip Marcou
philip,
I would think that the handle/tote would be stronger in a horizontal orientation. Also, orienting the grain horizontally avoids end grain on the top and bottom.
Drilling through endgrain might also present some challenges for installation of the screw post for the handle/tote, yes?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Is that cashmere that its resting on?
Absolutely not connected with goats.
It is the finest cotton , grown in Pakistan, no doubt woven by near slaves and sold here with a label which says "Gracious Living".Philip Marcou
Nothing less for the finest.
Curious Lataxe,
Running the grain vertically would create problems with short grain on the "horns", which would lead to easy breakage, especially on larger bench planes and scrub planes where considerable force is used to push the plane. Also, on some, a second screw hole is drilled in the base, which would create an even weaker spot than already exists.
Running the grain horizontally has the advantage of the having more "meat" in the center of the handle, and it is also reinforced somewhat by the long attachment screw.
They still break, as evident by this discussion, but not nearly as frequently as if the grain were consistantly run the other way.
Jeff
Lataxe -
One way to identify a very early (i.e., pre-1790 or so) crown molder or bench plane with an open tote is the grain orientation. Most of the toted planes made during that time period have the classic "Hammer" shape to the top of the tote, and the grain runs vertically.
The vast majority of the planes from this period have one or both of the "horns" of the hammer profile broken off because of the short grain. Almost none of the planes have a cracked or broken handle in the middle where the grain runs vertically (and perpendicular to the force put on it during use).
Post-1800 wooden planes have the classic profile we're all familiar with (Stanley and others used the same profile on the early metal planes) where the grain runs horizontally, and in many cases, these are cracked through in the middle, where the grain is short.
It's interesting that our ancestors choose the orientation that protected the looks of a plane (i.e., the horn), rather than making the tote itself bulletproof.
If I may chime a bit here....
Those are interesting observations, and I have a question about the post 1800's wooden planes category that have grain horizontally orientated :was there a metal rod to reinforce the handle? if not, it is not surprising that handles on these were often found to be cracked across the middle.
I am not sure that you quote the right reason for our ancestors choosing horizontal orientation.
Regarding cracked Stanley type totes: I think the most common cause for this , apart from brute ham fistedness, is failure to maintain tension on that threaded rod, which has the job of reinforcement as well as attaching the tote to the sole.
Philip Marcou
"Those are interesting observations, and I have a question about the post 1800's wooden planes category that have grain horizontally orientated :was there a metal rod to reinforce the handle? if not, it is not surprising that handles on these were often found to be cracked across the middle."
Philip - on the post-1800 bench and crown molding planes I have (about 20 of them), only one that has a metal screw or wooden dowel through the rear tote, and that tote has a horizontal crack clear through the tote. I assume the (wooden dowel, in this case) was inserted as a repair to the plane. It's well done enough that it might have been a professional repair. Several of the other bench planes do have cracked rear totes, they just haven't been repaired.
"I am not sure that you quote the right reason for our ancestors choosing horizontal orientation."
Well, that's certainly possible, but I tend to adhere to the adage "Just because they are dead, it does not follow that they were stupid", so I assume that a fair amount of thought was put into choosing the grain orientation of the rear tote.
Scotty,
Here's a picture of a couple of planes I use where I replaced the top of the tote with a new piece of rosewood. As you can see, it's barely noticable that they have been repaired.
mike
Depending on where the handle is broken, the repair might only take minutes. I recently repaired a Sargent user with an handle that was cracked i half, and some of the wood was missing from the break. Just used thickened epoxy with a consistency of dough. Fitted the broken parts together with the epoxy, and the rod running through with some plastic to protect it from being fastened in place, and lightly tightened same. Next day I sanded the epoxy to shape and dyed it with a little Transtint. Cleaned up the rest of the handle, and padded on some shellac. It looks good. You can see the repair if you look, but it does not jump out. It is plenty strong and works well.
Joe
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