Stanley 81 question

[Doug Miller]

I just inherited a Stanley #81 cabinet scraper. The rosewood sole is badly worn. Any suggestions for making (or purchasing) a replacement?

The tool is not a collector's item (one handle has been broken off and rewelded). I intend to

*use* it, not put it on a shelf, so the objective here is repair, not restoration.

It looks to me like any tight-grained hard wood, cut to the proper dimensions, should do the job, and I have a plentiful supply of rock maple, beech, and yellow birch, so I think I'm good there. I'm just not sure of the best way to go about cutting the slot. First thing that occurred to me was to clamp the piece securely to the table saw, and raise the blade through it (after setting the correct angle, of course), then finishing the slot with a fine hand saw. If anyone can suggest a better way, I'd appreciate it.

[dadiOH]

Can't say it is better, just different...you could cut the wood through, recess a portion of one piece then glue back together. Or, just afix the halves AS halves to the body bottom.

[Leon]

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While the wood that you have on hand is hard, I would think that harder still might be the better choice. Ipe is pretty hard and what Steve Knight used as the sole of his hand planes, IIRC that is what the soles of my planes are made of.

Cut the slow with your plate joiner, aka biscuit cutter. or drill out the slots like a regular mortice and file out the angle. Or double side tape it to the the bench and use a tilt base trim router with a straight bit.

[scritch]

Another good reason to use ipe is that it is waxy and slick.

[woodchucker]

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Hmm, I would not choose maple. Maple has a lot of sap (sugar) and burns when heated. I think the back and forth might not make the best bottom.

For domestic, I would choose walnut.

I would drill the slot, using a bunch of holes then chisel them out, or mortise.

My #80 doesn't have a base and I like it a lot. Round all edges and corners.

If you have a dremel and router base, you could build a wedge (taped to the bottom) and make a small fence and rout that way. But a table saw... are you kidding, thats like taking a bulldozer to a flower bed.

[Scott Lurndal]

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I'd use a coping saw. Drill a starter hole, and cut the slot. Clean up with a file.

scott

[Father Haskell]

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Beech. Scribe the slot, rough it out by whatever method that works, file to finish.

[Roy]

Doug,

Good suggestions so far. Here's my take.

Replacement wood - You list three you have on hand. Beech was the wood of choice for plane makers for a few hundred years. But I'd pick the one you have that is quarter sawn. You can replace it in a decade or two with a fancier wood if you need to. I'd drill a hole and cut the slot with a coping saw, bringing it to final width with either rasp and files or sandpaper glued to a stick.

My $0.02, and I hope you are better at turning burrs on scrapers than I am.

Regards, Roy

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