Time for a break from all the crappy shit happening daily..
This odd-looking tool is a Stanley No. 72 chamfer plane, produced between 1885 and 1938. At first glance, most people will rightly wonder just what it’s for. Basically, it enables the user to quickly and easily create a perfect 45 degree chamfer or bevel up to 1 1/4” wide along the edge of a board, as shown below. These guys thought of a tool for everything. Those interested in more about this plane can check out Handplane Central for further enlightenment.
So how does this work? Flipping the tool on its side reveals a V-shaped sole, with an adjustable cutting head at the front that can slide up and down along the angled bed at the forward-facing end of the sole. The brass star wheel is the depth of cut adjuster — You loosen it, move the cutter head to the depth/width of the bevel you want, tighten it, and go to town. Once you’ve reached your preset depth, the V-shaped sole acts as a stop, preventing further material removal. This is a real easy tool to master; a novice user can quickly learn to make a bevel equal to a pro’s with a good, tuned in tool like this.
The cutting iron shows the April 21, 1885 patent date, which is correct for this model. That could date this plane to 1885-1905 (After twenty years, patents expired and Stanley generally then removed those dates from their products). But, irons are consumables and were routinely replaced, so there’s no guarantee it’s the original after all these years. More tellingly, there’s no patent date on the cast iron body, which implies it was made after 1905. So, I believe I have a 1906-1938 plane with an earlier replacement iron.
Stanley didn’t crank these out by the millions. You don’t need one of these to put a bevel on the edge of a board — A bench plane or spoke shave will do the job just as well, albeit requiring more effort and skill. But Stanley perceived a demand, and thus we have this No. 72 chamfer plane. It was in production for fifty three years, so they must have perceived something correctly.
This example wasn’t exactly cheap, at $385. I indulge my enthusiasm for vintage hand tools about once every quarter or so. Hell, 25 years ago, my dad would take his Social Security check to the casino every month and gamble it away on the slots, all while chain smoking those foul smelling Camels. I don’t smoke anymore and I do at least have something to show for my personal vice, so hey, I’ve got that going for me..
Onward.. The cost for this tool is more reasonable than you might think.
First, it’s in very fine condition. There’s no rust pitting, the cast iron parts are fully intact with no cracks or chips, the rosewood tote and knob are undamaged and retain most of their original finish, and the black Japanning is almost all there.
Second, it’s a relatively scarce model and these don’t show up for sale all that often.
Third, a new high-end hand plane from, say, Lie-Nielson, can easily cost $300-$400. In that light, my outlay for this piece of American woodworking tool history isn’t all that excessive.
Fourth, as far as I know, no current manufacturers produce a plane like this.
Hey, those are my rationalizations/justifications and I’m sticking with them..
I bought this from Jim Bode Tools, a reputable and trusted online seller (and buyer) of vintage tools. He posts new stuff for sale every day. Check it out, it is tool-porn nirvana.
Upon receipt, there was the usual grunge and some light surface rust. I took care of that with about an hour’s worth of gentle cleaning — Soap and water with some bristle brushes, followed by a scrubdown with a WD40-soaked gray (fine grit) scotchbrite pad. That cleaned up the rust without much affecting the overall look. Then, I gave it a couple coats of paste wax and some 3-in-1 oil for the screw threads. This is a case where the tool is better off being preserved rather than getting a Full Monty restoration.
Preservation doesn’t have to mean leaving the iron less than sharp, though. This iron was pretty good to begin with, and it didn’t take much work to tune it up. A hard core collector-purist type might object, saying I took something like twenty bucks off of the value by sharpening it, but in my view, a tool should be functional. I’m sure there are examples where this isn’t true, but those would probably be cases where the tool in question is worth thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. I do not possess any such tools. That I know of…
Here it is, back in service. With care, there’s still a century or three of life left in it. I’ll do my part to keep it going..
Take care and stay safe, everyone!
/Damn, I still need to go get that third booster..
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