# Stanley 45 and 48 dropped in my lap



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Today a friend stopped by unexpectedly. He is a frequent visitor on a Saturday and often helps with my woodworking projects.

I had shown him some of the restorations and he helped with sand blasting some castings.

He was talking to a colleague about this. The colleague had a box of old planes handed down from the grandfather. Rather than give it to his son to ignore, he gave it to my friend to pass on to me.

Wow, what an incredible surprise.

A Stanley 45. I have no idea of type at this point, this is literally taking the items out of the box and documenting the as-received items.









A lot of cutters for the 45. The box has a top, it is behind propping up this view to show the cutters. The wire hooks onto screws to keep the top in place.









A Stanley 48. Heavy, metal handle. The knob feels like a plastic.









Various components, I think the blades are for the 48, the rods are for the 45 and a cabinet scraper and wooden block to hold the scraper.









Some type of bull nose plane.









Feeling very lucky today. :icon_smile:

Let me know if there are any specific details I should take pictures to explain any of this.


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

"Feeling very lucky today." 
I would guess so. Just being able to touch history like that is amazing.:thumbsup:
Good for you. I can't think of a better person to get them...unless it was ME!:laughing:


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Gene Howe said:


> "Feeling very lucky today."
> I would guess so. Just being able to touch history like that is amazing.:thumbsup:
> Good for you. I can't think of a better person to get them...unless it was ME!:laughing:


Thanks. I do wonder about the original owner. I think may have been only 1 or 2 owners.

I feel the same about feeling history through the tools. Someone used these to make a living perhaps for many decades.

These will become a valued part of my collection.

It looks like I have a new restoration project on the horizon.


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## Joeb41 (Jun 23, 2012)

Wow! What a great gift. Again I admire your love for the old iron and your talent for restoring them. Looking forward to the restore project.


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Wow, lucky dog Dave! More fun with old tools!


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## mavawreck (Nov 26, 2011)

Great gift! Do good work and good things happen?


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

Great gifts from great friends. I'm really looking forward to these restorations!


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

Nice score! It's good when something like that ends up in the hands of someone who can appreciate it.


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## Chris Curl (Jan 1, 2013)

i believe that this is a reward for living with integrity and being generous. the big guy upstairs notices things like that.

aka karma

that is awesome


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

I was thinking the same as Chris on this one, Karma. Dave's given away a whole slew of hand and power tools to folks on the forum who are either just starting out, show an interest in hand tools, or are in need. There is balance in the world and these gems falling into your lap are proof. :thumbsup: Now I'll live vicariously through your good fortune and watch you tinker with them and use them!


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

Dave that is just too cool.I too am a great believer in karma enjoy the new tools.Watch out for that wooden plane if that gets a grip of you you`ll have to start learning about things like spring angles AWWWWWW the slippery slope.:thumbsup:


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## Snaglpuss (Nov 28, 2012)

Looks like pictures of the Evaporust poster children!

Good score esp. the box of cutters with the 45.
Are the cutters really rusty too?

The molding plane looks almost good to go with a little clean up on the cutter.

Should be interesting to see how these turn out.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Snaglpuss said:


> Looks like pictures of the Evaporust poster children!
> 
> Good score esp. the box of cutters with the 45.
> Are the cutters really rusty too?
> ...


Yes, typical sad shape for a lot of old tools. Left to slowly rust either due to high moisture, or just not being oiled occasionally.

No, the cutters are not really rusty. The wooden box helped.

The 48 is in Evapo-Rust. Only a spring loaded pin left to free up. Everything else came apart.

The 45 is not doing well. I managed to break a side while trying to free the rods. Not feeling a happy camper at the moment. :thumbdown:


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Nice of your friend to give those to you.

What exactly did you break, Dave? The wooden fence? I've got several rosewood slabs if you need to replace it.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

firemedic said:


> Nice of your friend to give those to you.
> 
> What exactly did you break, Dave? The wooden fence? I've got several rosewood slabs if you need to replace it.


Yes a very nice surprise from my friend. Thanks for the offer, I wish it was a wooden piece.

Sad to say I broke the handle side of the casting where the farthest rod goes through the casting. I had sanded the rod, but it was a bit tight and in hindsight I did not support the casting correctly. Kicking myself.

So now I will have to look for some major parts. Some days the woodworking gods give, and then some days they take.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

You have a picture of the broken part?


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

firemedic said:


> You have a picture of the broken part?


I will take one and post later. Have to head out at the moment.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

*The now broken No. 45*

The overall picture. The break is on the right side rod.









Closeup of the break. I think the rust is all that it holding this together.









I was trying to take this apart for the rust removal step. I did sand the rod, but not enough. Drat, drat and double drat. :furious:


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Dang... that really stinks!

Had you already removed the rod without damage? There's obviously not much hope of fixing that casting. 

I imagine a replacement body shouldn't be too hard to find.

Good luck!


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## mavawreck (Nov 26, 2011)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stanley-45-...586?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53f535fcb2


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

mavawreck said:


> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stanley-45-...586?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53f535fcb2


Thanks, I have a page in my browser filtered to planes, but had not started looking specifically for parts for the 45. This is in very good shape.

I will have to keep looking and be more careful not to break any more.


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## GerryR (Feb 7, 2013)

Wow! How nice it is to have a friend like that! Looking forward to seeing how you progress with them.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

*The restored No. 48*

Not much to show from a restore perspective, since this is an all metal restore. Happy the knob was in good shape.

I like to see the before and after comparison, so this is the before. Looks bad, some is dust but decent rust.









The same view after rust removal. First Evapo-Rust. I think mine is perhaps shot. Second round was oxalic acid, aka wood bleach. Both steps followed by a stiff wire brush.

The cutters were then hand sanded on wet-dry paper.

The only detail not working is the tiny spring in the pin to anchor the fence. This is brass and it fell apart, so the pin is only held into the fence by gravity at the moment. It must have broken due to becoming fragile from use over the decades. A bit of a bummer, but if this is the only defect, not a big deal.









The other side. 









I am happy with how this looks at the moment.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

*Trying to appease the woodworking gods*

After I broke the fixed jaw on the rusty No. 45 I felt I had to try and appease the woodworking gods by fixing this.

I was watching the EBay listings for planes and saw an auction for the fixed jaw, the long rods and a fence which had been broken and welded, for only $20 plus shipping. I felt I needed to buy. I was the only bidder.

I received this today. It is in good shape. I will be trying to make an almost complete plane from the other parts from the rusty original. I have the moveable jaw freed from the very rusty rods and the fence ready for rust removal tomorrow.









A few minutes after I won the part auction I saw another auction for a complete plane and also no bidders. The price was $85. I felt I had to jump on this. This arrived the other day.

It is in very good condition. I have already tested using this, and sad to say, after seeing many pictures, it did not dawn on me that this was designed for a righty. I use hand planes as a lefty. So this will not be a comfortable plane for me to use.

I even put this together with my lefty bias and then realised it would not work properly. Drat.

It is cutting as designed when assembled as designed.

I have seen a number of cam stops on EBay. Can anyone advise when/how these are used?

The plane does not have the cam stop of the depth stop for the slitting blade. I have the slitting blade from the rusty original.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I guess we're going to have to call you Dave "plane" after all. Like someone has said on earlier post. Laughing!!!!
Looks good Dave. Keep up the good work.


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

Dave, I've missed this until now. If you're still looking to date it, here is a good site, http://www.tooltrip.com/tooltrip9/stanley/comb-planes/45types/45types.htm

You also prompted me to finally post this http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/a-stanley-45-resurrected/


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

timetestedtools said:


> Dave, I've missed this until now. If you're still looking to date it, here is a good site, http://www.tooltrip.com/tooltrip9/stanley/comb-planes/45types/45types.htm
> 
> You also prompted me to finally post this http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/a-stanley-45-resurrected/


Don, very nice restoration. Well done. Looks almost like new. :thumbsup:

Your starting point looked very similar to mine. I had sanded the rods, but not quite enough, and then did not support the plane properly. Lesson learned.

I read your blog. I had been tempted to try heating up. I was not sure this would work.

I am using Kroil for rust penetrant. It does an excellent job. The problem was the rust on the rods resulting in the diameter being just too large for the holes. Sanding the rust of the rods was not too difficult. The Kroil was able to release the rod in the jaws.

Now that I have the replacement I went back to the original and re-sanded the rods so that I was able to remove the adjustable jaw.

Rust removal is next step for the old parts.

Thanks for the link I am interested in dating the complete 45. :thumbsup:


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