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From: leach@bedford.progress.COM (Patrick Leach)
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
Subject: Stanley Blood and Gore, LV
Date: 22 Nov 1993 12:36:08 GMT
Organization: Progress Software Corp.
Lines: 291
Sender: leach@tubuai (Patrick Leach)
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  #55 Universal Combination Plane 10"L, (various widths), 15 1/4lbs,
      1897-1962.
      Bought it. Used it. Hated it. Sold it.

  #56 Core box plane, 4"L, 3/8"W, 2lbs, 1909-1923. *
      This is one of Stanley's rarest planes. It was used by patternmakers
      to plane out semicircles 9/16" to 2" in diameter. These semicircles,
      or cores, need to be planed to great accuracy for the casting of
      shafts and the like. The plane's sole, like practically all core box
      planes, is a perfect right angle, with a cutter protruding from the
      vertex.

      I've never made a core box, but the procedure is to layout the diameter
      of the semicircle, and then rough the waste out with chisels, a router,
      whatever. Then, due to simple geometry, a perfect semicircle is planed
      since a right angle is the largest angle that can be scribed in a semi-
      circle; i.e. the sides of the plane make contact with the semicircle's
      endpoints, the sides of the core box, and the cutter sweeps across the
      bottom at a constant radius.

  #57 Corebox plane, 10"L, 7/8"W, 6 3/4lbs, 1896-1943.
      This is another plane designed for pattermaking use. It is larger than
      #56 and thus can cut larger semicircles - up to 2 1/2" in diameter. 
      This plane came equipped with extensions, one for each side of the plane,
      which would then allow the plane to cut semicircles up to 5" in diameter.
      These extensions each fit onto short metal rods, which are screwed to
      both the extensions and the plane's body. There is a turnbuckle-like
      mechanism that keeps the extensions rigid. These turnbuckles are often
      missing on these planes.

      Additional side extensions could be bought - each pair increase the
      plane's capacity to cut by 2 1/2". The maximum diameter semicircle that
      can be cut by the plane is 10". In total, counting the 1 pair supplied
      with the basic plane, there are 3 pair of side extensions. Each has a
      turnbuckle mechanism to secure them. When all the extensions and turn-
      buckles are on the plane, it is a scary looking beast. Examples with
      the extra extensions are rated in the * category.

      The plane, like most of the products Stanley made during the era, is
      nickel plated. The plane is pushed and held with a conventional bench
      plane style knob and tote. The earliest models have beech while the
      later have rosewood for their wooden parts.

      Look for stress cracks on the castings where the side extensions engage
      the plane or each other. Also check that there is no chipping about the
      plane's mouth. I've seen some examples that have replacement screw caps
      (used to secure the cutter in position), using a #78, #180, #190, etc
      that's been reground. A proper screw cap has its sides bevelled along
      its length and the bottom isn't straight across - it looks like this:

			\    /
			 \__/


  #55 (details for those who are into contraptions)....
      This plane certainly is one clever chunk of metal design. With the
      success of the #45, and other Stanley combination planes, it wasn't
      long before Stanley produced this. The timing was perfect for its
      introduction, since metal planes of all sorts had proliferated for
      some 30 years prior, which meant there'd be little objection from 
      those guys trained in the "old school" (they were dead, dying, or
      feeble), and the wooden plane business was all but dead. Also, what 
      pitful few moldings that were fashionable at the time, were simple 
      profiles, which the #55 could handle. Had the complex Grecian profiles 
      still been popular, this plane might never gotten off the ground.

      Put simply, it's a tempermental monster that requires much fussing
      with in order for it to work well. Were you in the need to make a 
      short run of molding, it may be a suitable alternative to a wooden
      plane. However, for any profile that you plan to stick over and over,
      a dedicated wooden plane is preferable. Why? Wooden molding planes
      are self-regulating; i.e. they have a fixed fence, a fixed profile, 
      and a fixed "depth stop." The #55 also has these three necessities,
      but none of them are fixed; they are all variable and require a great
      amount of skill to get them to work perfectly. This fact doesn't rear
      its ugly head so much when sticking a profile with a single cutter
      (say an ogee), but it surely does when using a combination of cutters
      to stick a profile that normally can be found in a wooden plane. It
      also suffers the same deficiency that the #45 does regarding stock
      selection - the wood must be even-grained to minimize tearout, since
      there is no mouth, in the true sense of the word, on this plane.

      Stanley loved to claim that this plane "will do a greater variety of
      work  than can be done with a full line of so called Fancy Planes."
      This, as any person knowledgable of wooden planes knows, is utter 
      propaganda. What this same person recognizes is the truth to Stanley's 
      claim that the plane is more compact, and thus lighter, than a full 
      line of "Fancy Planes," but big deal. Unless you're a mobile workman, 
      these facts are meaningless. For an operating cabinetshop, there's 
      plenty of room for all the "Fancy Planes." What Stanley didn't say is 
      that their metal beast, with one cutter in it, weighs a minimum of 
      7 3/4 lbs. There is no wooden molding plane (other than a wider than 
      usual cornice plane, of a profile the #55 couldn't produce anyway) that 
      weighs that much.

      The plane is pretty much the same as the #45. It goes a bit further
      by facilitating cutters that require irregular bearing points across
      their width. For example, a simple bead can be cut with a #45 since
      both sides of the profile are in the same geometric plane. Two skates,
      one at each side of the bead are positioned; one skate, on the main
      stock is fixed, and the other, part of the sliding section, is secured 
      to the arms. This same principle is used on a more complex profile, like
      an ogee; the cutter is fixed in the main stock, and the sliding section
      is positioned to the other side of the cutter. Problem is, this part of
      of the cutter is incapable of cutting since the skate, being only later-
      ally adjustable and not vertically adjustable, precludes it from making
      contact with the wood.

      To address this deficiency, the #55 has a vertically adjustable sliding
      section, which allows the skate to be moved up or down to expose the
      leftmost (to the main stock) portion of an irregular cutter. A long
      threaded rod accomplishes this. Also attached to the sliding section is
      an auxiliary skate, or bottom, which is likewise adjustable both 
      vertically and laterally. This auxiliary bottom is used as extra support
      to prevent the cutter from gouging into the work (hey, wooden molding
      planes don't do that). Where this bottom is used is on profiles like
      ogees, or compositions using the hollows and rounds cutters.

      The plane can only hold one cutter at a time. Its position from the
      the board's edge is regulated by an adjustable fence. There are two
      of these fences, which can be used on either side of the plane. The
      fence that's normally used on the left side of the plane comes with
      an adjustable face (made of rosewood), which can be tilted up to
      45 degrees so that chamfers can be worked. This same face also has 
      a fine edjustment mechanism to allow greater accuracy when positioning
      the cut's location on the board (the fact that the plane has this
      feature ought to give an indication that setting the plane up is a
      task unto itself). 

      The right fence also has a rosewood face that can be titled up to 45
      degrees, but it uses conventional wood screws to do that. It doesn't
      have the fine adjustment that the left fence does. Instead, this fence
      has a flat outside (the side opposite the rosewood face), which makes
      it possible to flip the fence around and use this face as a fence.
      Since the fence is supported by curved arms, this feature allows the
      plane to be worked farther from the edge than it normally would be.
      The earlier models of the #45 also has this same style of fence (it
      could be titled for chamfering), but it was later re-designed to act
      like the #55's left fence; i.e. it, too, has the fine adjustment fence.

      It's very important to position the left and right fences properly in 
      order for the plane to work. Since the rosewood face can pivot, cata-
      strophic (in the planing sense) results can occur if particular attention
      is not paid during set-up. The rosewood face must be perfectly parallel
      to the side of the cutter. If it isn't, the plane will bind - the cutter
      will tend to draw the fence tighter and tighter to the edge, the deeper
      it cuts - or the plane will ride off the board - the cutter pushes the
      fence away from the board's edge, the deeper it cuts.

      Other than missing parts, there are a few things about this plane that
      should be inspected before you purchase one. Make sure all the parts
      can be loosed by hand. Stay away from those examples with rusted parts;
      parts may be siezed and may break when you try to back them out. The
      metal rods should have a smooth surface to them; if there's any rust at
      all on them, the fences will bind when you move them. This can be fixed
      by removing the rust and then spraying with a machine oil, or, if they
      are badly rusted, replacing them. Make sure the rosewood on the fences
      is nice. You want these rosewood strips smooth and flat so the plane
      tracks well. If they aren't, you can face them up with a smoothing plane
      provided there is enough rosewood left before you hit the heads of the
      fastening screws. Replacing these rosewood strips is no easy chore since
      they are molded on their backsides to allow their pivoting. There is
      one metal part that I've seen broken on many of these planes. It's part
      #42 below. This L-shaped part has a lot of stress put on it by the center
      bottom (skate), if the workman isn't careful when starting the plane.
      It's very easy to smack this piece on the end of the board, which then
      causes the piece to move backward at the bottom, and forward at the top.
      This piece sits in a shallow track, which can break out over time. It
      was a poorly designed mechanism and was never re-designed. When using
      the plane, take care to secure this part in place tightly and don't let
      it whack the end of the board.

      The following parts come with the standard plane (for detailed 
      descriptions of parts common with the #45, reference my brain
      dump on that plane):

	#16 Main stock 
	#23 Cutter bolt
	#24 Cutter bolt wing nut
	#25 Cutter bolt clip and screw.
	#27 Cutter bolt adjustment screw.
	#28 Cutter bolt adjustment wheel.
	#29 Arm set screws.
	#30 Sliding section.
	#32 Thimble - a hollow screw which rides on an arm, and is used with
		      the next part number to secure the sliding section to
		      the adjustable bottom. There are a pair of these, one
		      for each arm. 
	#33 Thimble check nut - the nut that tightens #32.
	#34 Adjustable bottom - this is the skate that is raised or lowered for
				irregular profiles.
	#37 Adjustable bottom screw - engages part #34.
	#40 Center bottom - the auxiliary bottom fixed to the sliding section.
	#41 Center bottom adjustment nut - engages part #40 to regulate its
					   depth.
	#42 Angle iron and adjustment screw - holds part #40, and has a 
					      threaded rod to receive part #41.
	#43 Angle iron thumb screw - two of these, one secures part #42 later-
				     ally, another secures part #40 vertically.
	#50 Left fence.
	#51 Left fence thumb screw - holds the fence to the arms with two of
				     these.
	#52 Tilting guard plate - a strip of rosewood that is part of the left
				  fence. It can be adjusted to a particular
				  angle.
	#53 Tilting iron with swivel - the part #52 attached to. It, in turn,
				       attaches to part #50, and allows the
				       the rosewood strip to pivot.
	#54 Left fence adjustment screw - the screw that allows a finer set
					  to the fence by moving parts #52 and
					  #53 laterally.
	#56 Right fence - similar to the left fence, but without the fine ad-
			  justment features of the left.
	#57 Right fence tilting plate - a strip of rosewood that can pivot, 
					like the left strip, with two simple
					wood screws.
	#58 Right fence thumb screw - like part #51, but made for the left
				      fence.
	#60 Long arms.
	#61 Short arms.
	#70 Adjustable depth gauge.
	#71 Adjustable depth gauge nut.
	#73 Adjustable beading stop.
	#75 Slitting cutter stop.
	#76 Thumb screw.
	#80 Cam stop
	#81 Cam stop set screw.
	#85 Spurs with screws.

      The plane was originally provided with 52 cutters, which proves contrary
      to the popular misconception that the #55 was named thus due to fact that
      it came equipped with 55 cutters. It was later offered with 55 cutters,
      but this was long after the plane was out on the market. The following
      cutters are provided with the plane, usually in four separate wooden
      boxes:

	1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 7/8" plough.
	1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" beading.
	1/2", 3/4", 1" Grecian ogees. [Grecian ogee and astragal]
	5/8", 7/8", quarter round and bead. [Cove and astragal]
	1/2", 3/4", 1" reverse ogees.
	5/8", 7/8" Roman ogees.
	1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 1" rounds.
	1/2", 5/8", 3/4", 1" hollows.
	1/2", 3/4" quarter hollows. [Ovolo]
	5/8", 7/8" quarter rounds. [Cove]
	1 1/2" sash.
	1/4" match.
	1 slitting tool.
	1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" fluting.
	1 1/4" filletster.
	1/8", 3/16", 1/4" reeding. [Each cutter has two beads side-to-side]

	1 additional cutter was added from 1922 on:

	13/16" plough

	3 additional cutters were added, one was deleted, making for a grand
	total of 55 standard cutters offered from 1925 on:

	3/16" match.
	Two 3/4" chamfering cutters [left and right.]
	3/4" bead was eliminated.

      Optional cutters could be purchased at an additional cost. Stanley also
      took special orders for custom cutters. Blanks cutters could be pur-
      chased, too. The following 41 cutters were offered:

	3/8", 5/8", 7/8" Grecian ogees. [Grecian ogee and astragal]
	3/8", 1/2", 3/4", 1" quarter round and bead. [Cove and astragal]
	3/8", 5/8", 7/8" reverse ogee.
	3/8", 1/2", 3/4", 1" Roman ogees.
	3/8, 7/8" rounds.
	3/8, 7/8" hollows.
	3/8", 5/8", 7/8", 1" quarter hollows. [Ovolo]
	3/8", 1/2", 3/4" 1" quarter rounds. [Cove]
	1 1/2" sash. [Ogee, which differs from ovolo of the standard cutter]
	3/16" match.
	3/16", 5/16", 7/16", 5/8" fluting.
	1/8", 3/16", 1/4" reeding. [Each cutter has three beads side to side]
	1/8", 3/16", 1/4" reeding. [Each cutter has four beads side to side]
	1/8", 3/16", 1/4" reeding. [Each cutter has five beads side to side]

      OK, that's enough now. My head hurts....
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Leach
Just say Take two aspirin and call me a fool for doing this...
etc.
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