Friday, March 4, 2022

Stanley #113 Circular Plane

Quite some time flew since my last post. Never would I have believed how much busy I could be while working from home. I have more personal time but find many ways to keep me busy so at the end I need even more time!
I have always been interested about circular planes and never had a chance to try one...well until now.
Few days ago I was lucky to find one in almost perfect condition for a very reasonable price so I pulled the trigger on it.

Stanley #113


This is a Stanley #113 type 4a dated back to 1903. Except some missing japanning it is in perfect working condition.

Scale for curvature

The interlocking gears are showing a numeric scale from 0 to 3 in each directions. However I have not been able to find the meaning of the numbers if there is any.
I love the dovetail assembly of the body and sole and on this one it is tight. I saw a lot of these planes with this assembly being loose.

Stanley Rule & Level Co.

The knob used to set the sole curvature is labelled with "Stanley Rule & Level Co.".

Dovetail riveted to sole.

The dovetail pin is riveted to the sole and the rivets are ground flat to the sole. No damage there either.

I did not resist very long to give it a try so I took a scrap wood piece and tried it. I was expecting it to be quite difficult to handle but to my surprise it is not. Set the curvature, then start on one side of the curve than on the other side and done.

A planed curve.

I now need to put it at work, I am sure I will have soon a project where I will need some curved design, just to enjoy it.



 

4 comments:

  1. Wow, good for you. I had a chance to buy one (much newer one) about 4-5 years ago, but passed. Wish I had picked it up. It's certainly not an every day tool, but when you need it, that plane could really come in handy.

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    1. Indeed not an everyday tool but I can already foresee some usage :)

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  2. Congrats, its a fun plane. Guessing you maybe familiar with Patrick Leach Stanley Blood & Gore site, if not go read what he had to say on that plane including typical damages. The iron/cap iron/lever cap may look familiar but they are not interchangeable with the bench planes series.

    Bob

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    1. Hi Bob,
      This one has none of the typical damage like loose dovetail etc. This is the fist thing I checked based on his web site :) I now need to get familiar with it. Planning convex for is quite easy but I must admit concave one looks a bit more difficult, I will find out with time.

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