Stanley No 78 Rebate - Fillister Plane.

    Stanley No 78 rebate - fillister plane

                                                      1884 - 1984 could be later

                           This simple and robust plane is in big demand at the moment, "it seems".

                           I decided to learn more about its history, and keep my brain active.

                           So why not do a type study on the No 78.

                           Soon found out that it hasn't changed much over 100 years.

Type - 1 - 1884 - 92, U.S.A. 8 1/2" long plus handle [actually measures 8 3/8"] x 1 ½" w.

The handle is beautiful and slender, it allows your hand to rest on the bottom, and top of the handle fits nicely between the thumb and index finger, allowing the downward push pressure. On either side of the handle, it displays a beautiful curlicue pattern.

The blade system is very simple , [but no adjustable lever] the blade is unmarked.

The cap is cast and japanned, with an attractive Victorian ornate screw knob.

The main body is cast and japanned and has patent dates, Pat - Jan 30- 83 & Pat - Oct - 23 - 83.

Right hand side, outer body, has Stanley No 78, and both sides of plane are machined.

The blade rebate system has two function position, one for regular rebating and the other for close up ending function.

Added accessories are, 3" x 1/4" diameter threaded rod, to attach a 5 5/8" long fence, that has an extra hanging hole. [fence can be worked on either side of body]  

Also has a depth stop at the right-hand side of the plane.

Type - 2 - 1883 - 99, U.S.A.  [Mainly the same as Type - 1]

Except; body has "S" marking, cast just behind first blade rest and the cap locking knob, which is now 5/8" diameter with a very fine vertical knurling. [this will now remain on all No 78 planes]

Type - 3 - 1899 - 1902 U.S.A. [mainly the same as Type - 2]

Except; body marking "S" is replaced with marking "B".

Blade marking now Tm "JJ" or Tm "P".

Now unexplained break in dates, the "B" cast finished production 1902, and the new body shape that was introduced 1909, not to worry, could be many reasons. 

Type- 4 - 1909 - 24 U.S.A. [still 8 1/2" long plus handle]- [still measures 8 3/8"]

Now, new body shape [and will stay like that till end of production]

Handle is more bolder and clumsy, lacks beauty, has no more hand rest at bottom, the pattern displayed on either side of handle is now shaped "fish scale" like.

The main body has patent markings, Pat- 6- 7 - 10.

The right-hand side, outer body has "Stanley No 78" written in script, in a beautiful scroll.

Blade markings, Tm "T" or Tm "V".

Type- 5- 1925 - 35 U.S.A. [mainly as Type- 4]

Except; body length now 8 1/4" plus handle.

Now; finally has long awaited "blade adjustment lever".   

No more patent No's, replaced by, No 78 made in U.S.A.

Right-hand side, outer body, has "Notched" Stanley.

The sliding fence, has no more hanging hole.

Blade markings, now Tm "AA".

Type - 6 - 1935 - 61 U.S.A. and also England [Mainly as Type - 5]

Now blade markings, Tm "BB"  & made in U.S.A. or England.

Type - 7 - 1962 - 64 U.S.A. [Mainly as Type - 6]

Except; all body and accessories are "STANLEY BLUE".

Blade markings, notched Stanley & made in U.S.A.

Type - 8 - 1964 - 74 ? England.

Blade markings; notched Stanley & made in England.

Rest stayed the same.

Type - 9- 1974 - 84 ? England. (May be even later)                                                                                                              Blade markings as Type 8.                                                                                                                                                      Rear Handle "now" pattern on either side is a "Pebble look", no more "fish scale".                                                              "Now" rear of Cap has markings, 256 & 3/1X. or 256 & 1-C.                                                                                                 "Now" rear of Depth Stop has markings, X1 & 26.                                                                                                                 "Now" Depth Stop, Nut is 1/2in dia and slotted.                                                                                                                    "Now" std Fence is back to the extra hanging hole, and has markings of 1/ X1.                                                                  "Now" Fence Nut is 1/2in dia and slotted. 

Gerry G.

Gerry's extensive ongoing research into Stanley Spokeshaves and Planes  cannot be adequately covered in these brief articles. He is more than happy to talk to interested parties on the subject. If you wish to contact Gerry please email our secretary at samualwayneh@gmail.com who will be happy to forward your details on. 

Sympathetic Tool Restoration.

Vic W.

 My last article described restoration and major repair of a Spiers plane, and expressed misgivings about the value of doing such repairs (Benchmark Vol 17 Nos 3 and 4 April-May 2018, reprinted in HTPAA's Toolchest Issue 129 August 2018).                 

This article shows my approach to restoration where repairs are not needed. In all such cases the aim is to alter as little as possible. 

A Mathieson infill panel plane was generously donated by a member of the public to the Handtool Preservation Society of WA, on the condition that it be held by the club for its numerous public display events. I volunteered to restore it for that purpose. 

According to HTPSWA President Kim Mitchell, the plane had been preserved 50 years ago with a generous wax coating. The rosewood infills are in remarkably good condition with a lot of original finish intact. The main issue was the rusted steel body, which suggests the wax coating had degraded over time.

 Cleaning the Rosewood Infills 

This was the quickest part of the job as the infills needed no more than a light clean mainly to remove the wax residue. My usual cleaning recipe applied and wiped off with soft rags provided a good start. 

For new readers the recipe is:  3 parts of mineral turpentine,  3 parts raw linseed oil,  3 parts white vinegar,  1 part of methylated spirits. Since these ingredients unmix readily you need to frequently shake their container to re-emulsify them. 

This recipe has good pedigree. I first read of it in an article by Melbourne handtool luminary, the late Frank Ham in HTPAA’s Toolchest Journal Vol 14 No 1, Issue 63 of February 2002. He described it as “the British Museum mixture”. (I prefer to use raw linseed oil instead of boiled as Frank Ham presented it)

The old wax coating took a few repeated applications. I also lightly cleaned the gunmetal screw lever with this mixture.

 The Mathieson Trademarks on front of the infill and on the screw lever came into view during this work. They were so well hidden that I think a past owner might even have tried to conceal them. This reminds me of a comment made to me 20 years ago by a Sydney collector whose opinions I respect, that Mathieson tools had not been favoured by collectors in the 20 years or so before then. How things have changed!

 After cleaning, I used a French polishers method to rejuvenate the preserved polish: 2 parts raw linseed oil, 1 part methylated spirits, (also mixed vigorously to emulsify them). 

I rub this on sparingly with my fingers and rub it off soon after with a soft, clean cloth. This step does not add, remove or compromise any original finish but sometimes brightens it considerably. I learned of this from Ray Bellinger, who used to give French polishing talks at the Perth Woodshows.

 Cleaning the Steel Body 

When presented with a surface rust coating, you don’t know what sort of horrors might be lurking beneath. I started by lightly scraping the rust. The purpose of this is to skim over the steel substrate without biting into it, and to clear off the loose surface rust. After this you can get a better idea of the state of the metal underneath. In this case the steel was not too badly rusted with mostly scattered rust pits. 

In cases of bad rust-pitting, you might have little choice but to file the surface down to bare metal. This would of course irreversibly alter the tool, and result in an unnatural shiny surface. I opted for a gentler approach to preserve as much of the original metal surface as possible. 

I rubbed the turps-linseed-vinegar-metho solution onto the body with 240 grit emery cloth. This was also done as gently as possible, aiming to avoid biting into the metal.

In my experience it is very common for this work to soften the rust coating to the point that it coalesces into gummy beads that smear across the metal and can be easily wiped off with a turps-soaked cloth. This plane did the same and I wonder if the degraded wax coating applied 50 years ago has allowed most rust to form within it rather than the underlying steel. 

After this I used a wire brush to clean out as much rust from the scattered pits as I could. This keeps the original surface that left the Mathieson factory, even though it is altered by the ravages of time. I gave the metal a final light waxing that will need to be kept up over time. The resulting plane looks more like an authentic antique tool than one with a shiny bright steel surface would. If I owned this plane I would try to live with it in this condition rather than file the surface down to bare metal.

We may be tempted to restore tools a lot more than this, especially if we are new collectors. My most considered view, based on experience is that many of us come to regret doing that as we learn to appreciate the finer points of tool restoration. In this article I have not touched on restoring the plane to usable condition. The Sydney collector whose opinion I respect once told me that a tool is not collectible if it can’t be used, but that will have to be another story. 

Tough Braces. Made in WA.

The three models of the Major, apart from their sweep sizes, are basically the same with some minor dimensional differences to the head and the housing of the chuck and ratchet across various examples. This is to be expected for a tool which was made in the thousands over a 20 year period. Shown above a 10 inch & 14 inch versions.

There are a number of subtle differences across the models. Below illustrated differences  between two heads, knurling on chuck shells and the bend radius of the rear section of the  frames. 

      Under head profile.                          Knurling on chuck shells.                     Radius of frame bend.  

                                                                             Head and Handle Construction

          Exploded View of Head.                             Cut-away Head.                             Cut-away Wrist Handle.

Bearing cup pressed onto 3/8” dia. shaft, nine 3/16” balls sandwiched between two hardened bearing washers, which sit inside the bearing cup. A larger diameter flat washer provides a rudimentary bearing cover, followed by the hub and all secured by the “C” clip. The head is pressed over the hub and locked in place by two hardened pins.

The cut-away (right) shows the method of locking the two parts of the head together and how the head shell is locked to the hub by two hardened pins (one visible).

The cut-away of the wrist handle shows the tube locked inside the outer shell. This tube turns on the frame of the brace and does not use ball bearings.

                                                            Major Chuck

.                                                                                   Spindle.

 The steel spindle has twelve ratchet teeth machined near one end where it is 7/8” diameter. There is a shoulder machined where it steps up to 15/16” for the threaded section that holds the chuck shell and jaws. At the rear, the spindle has a boss with a flat machined on one side, this boss protrudes through a hole in the back of the housing, has a lock washer located on the flat and is held in place by a wide headed flat screw. The purpose of the lock washer is to avoid the screw loosening when the ratchet is employed.                                                                                            There is a thrust washer located inside the rear of the ratchet housing which takes the wear from the rotation of the shaft when in ratchet mode. There are two styles of thrust washer, one the usual shape, the other with a small tab out to the side. The tab locates in a recess in the housing to stop it turning so that all the wear occurs between the washer and the shaft. The other "non-tab" has the danger of rotating with the shaft and negating its intended purpose of reducing wear to the rear of the housing. I consider the tabbed thrust washer to be an improvement, therefore a later model brace.

Tabbed Thrust washer.                                 Plain Thrust washer.            Thrust washers, lock washer & screw

 Two types of thrust washer in position inside the housing.  

                                             Major Ratchet pawls, Pins & Spring.

The ratchet pawls are located in the housing by two pins and are held in engagement with the teeth on the spindle by a coil spring running between them behind the pivot pins. A rotary collar normally in the central position with pawls locked on the spindle is turned one way to select forward ratchet and turned the other way for reverse.  The upper part of the pawl locates in a groove machined inside the selector.  Part of the groove is blocked or pressed in to create a cam, when this cam encounters the top of the pawl it causes the pawl to pivot on the retaining pin and lift clear of the spindle.

                                          Ratchet Selectors.

                                                           Pressed Cam                                                                                  Machined Cam

There are two styles of ratchet selector, a small section of the selector wall is pressed in to create the ratchet activating cam. The machined cam example appears to have been made with a thick wall and then a section of about 80% machined out to create the groove that the top of the pawls ride in with the unmachined section becoming the cam.    My Initial thought was that the latter may be an early example and possibly superseded by the pressed type which may have been cheaper and quicker to produce. But since discovering the two types of thrust washer, as documented above, and that the example of the machined cam also incorporates the tanged thrust washer turns this theory 180 degrees, leading me to believe the machined cam is, in fact, a later improvement.  

In researching this article I dismantled fourteen braces. Eleven had the pressed cam ratchet selectors, three had machined ratchet selectors. Of the eleven, seven used plain thrust washers with no recess in the housing while three had tabbed washers with, obviously, a recess in the housing. One had a recessed housing but used a plain washer.  This single example may be transitional but more likely the original thrust washer has been replaced by a plain washer for whatever reason. It would seem logical that the company, after upgrading the housings, would immediately start fitting the tabbed washers.                                                                                                                                                    The three machined ratchet selector examples all utilised the tabbed washers.

 The tabbed thrust washer and the machined ratchet selector cam are improvements through the journey of the Major brace manufacturing and evidence of the Tough company not content to rest on their laurels but to continually strive to produce a reliable tool with an ongoing reputation for excellence.

                                                                TOUGH MINOR.                                             The Tough Minor was offered in two sweep sizes 10 and 12 inch ratchet models plus a 10 inch non-ratchet model. Tough’s advertising touted the Minor as “a first quality brace for heavy duty, moderately priced.”  Cheaper to purchase than the Major, the Minor is still a very good quality brace.                                                                                                 The Minor ratchet housing is cast steel, the head and handle are made from Bakelite with colours varying from green to red. All the heads appear to be similar in construction  I have seen three handle versions.        

Minor 10in Ratchet Brace.                     Minor 10in Non-Ratchet Brace.              Three Different Handle styles.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The handle shown at the top (R H Photo) is in two halves held in place by two double turns of copper wire soldered in place. This handle is a bit of an anomaly, in the past, this style would have been used on a cast brace or where the frame was bent prior to putting the handle on. This style was made popular by USA brace manufacturer John S. Fray, in the second half of the 19th century and well into the 20th, where they used pewter rings to hold the two halves together. Though not as frequently seen as the one piece handles the two-piece could be an early version or simply a marketing feature.              The one piece handles illustrate that Toughs were using machinery that bent the frame after the handle was in position. Nothing new about this process which was patented by  Harry Bartholomew in the USA in 1861 (US Pat 32347) and widely adopted by all brace manufacturers by the time F & R Tough started making braces in the mid 1940’s. The one-piece handles shown here have different shape profiles.

HTPSWA member the late Frank Bowyer bought a 10” Minor new in 1948 prior to building his house and it was of the one piece handle variety.                        

                                 Cutaway Minor Bakelite handle bears directly on the frame and end ferrules.

                                                     MINOR HEAD

As with the handle the head is made from Bakelite. It has a steel hub cast into it that rotates on the shank. The hub is 7/8” OD, ½” ID, 1 3/8” long and protrudes from the base of the Bakelite by 3/8”. Unlike the Major the Minor head does not run on ball bearings, instead it has two hardened steel discs which act as thrust bearings between the base of the hub and the end of the shank. The shank has a groove machined in it about ¾” from the end and the hub has three hardened screw rivets inserted which locate in the groove to keep the head in place.

                                                            SPINDLE COMPARISON.

      TOP: Type 1 Spindle, 12 Ratchet Teeth.                                                  Lock Washer & screw.

        BOTTOM: Type 2 Spindle, 13 Ratchet Teeth.

  Though both spindles are the same diameter (15/16”) the type 1 has 12 teeth, cut deeper with narrower lands. The type 2  has 13 teeth. In both examples the rear the spindle has a boss with a flat machined on one side, this boss protrudes through a hole in the back of the housing, has a lock washer located on the flat and is held in place by a wide headed flat screw. Unlike the Major there is no thrust washer between the shoulder of the spindle and the inside of the housing.

                                                                                                                      MINOR RATCHET

Minor Pawls Pins & Spring.                                                    Two pawls showing with and without rivet finger grip.

The ratchet pawls are located in the housing on two pins and are held in engagement with the teeth on the spindle by a brass leaf spring.  The pawls are disengaged by pressing the upper end in with your finger, press the pawl back down to reengage. On the model which I think is the earlier the pawl has a smooth surface which may have resulted in difficulty in gripping it, which has been alleviated on later models by the addition of a small rivet pressed into a hole in the pawl.

Of significance, the 13 toothed spindle is from the brace with the non finger-grip pawls.

                                      MINOR JAWS.

NOTE:  Care should be taken when using brace jaws in a type study as many hardware outlets stocked these as spares in the event of damage or breakage of the originals. 

None of the examples of Minor braces that I have use the “alligator” jaws, all are smooth, sprung type. The one on the far left has a pin rivetted behind the spring in the rear of one jaw the other end of the pin “floats” in an oval hole in the opposite jaw. This jaw has a narrow groove in its face designed to grip round drill shanks while the other three have the grooves designed to grip the square tapered tang of a standard auger bit.  Dimensions are variable with length from 2 3/8” to 2 1/2”  the width similar to the major, 13/32”.

WARNING: Some braces were harmed in writing this article.

My thanks to fellow HTPSWA member Bob W. for his assistance with historical facts of the Tough family.

Geoff E.

Family Heritage Tool Storage.

My wife Marilyn’s family lived in South Fremantle and ran the blacksmith shop in Hampton Rd. On her Uncles passing in the 50's the shop had been left as was with work still in forge and his apron hanging on the wall. Came the 80's and the Aunt passed, and we had to clear the property for sale, hence many blacksmith tools came home as well as his carpentry tools. This day it started, my interest in family items salvaged from days of old set me off to clean and preserve these items. Now my background is from a family of plumbers and sheet metal workers, so I loved using my hands. Using these old planes and saws was a distraction from my real work. You know what happens next, more tools are needed and Gregsons Auctions with its monthly treasure sale became a draw card. Where to keep all these hard won treasures, in a cupboard of course. Now to bring all these tools back to life and use them as intended, this was my project, a slab of sheoak was acquired which was then hand sawn to the many sections I needed with of course all the many hand planes to dimension the wood, I harvested some old Sheoak off my block to finish my project which added another touch of history to the cabinet. Mulberry was used for the panels. Tools are in fitted trays in the drawers with larger ones on the shelves or hanging up for access. 

Les W.

               Split Chuck Braces

On November 1st 1859 Nelson Spofford of Haverhill Massachusetts, USA was awarded a patent (US25984) for a brace with a bit holding socket split in the middle and clamped together by a thumb screw.

The manufacture of this brace was soon taken up by John S Fray and Horace Pigg at Bridgeport Connecticut. The Fray & Pigg partnership was dissolved in the late 1860's and John Fray continued on his own making them right up until his company takeover by the Stanley Rule & Level Co in 1909. Production of the Spofford brace was continued by Stanley until the late 1920's.

On September 16th 1879 John Fray was awarded patent No. US219,574, for an improvement to the previously mentioned Spofford design, which Fray had been manufacturing for close to twenty years. This new  patent retained the split frame but utilised a threaded "gib-shaped" binder with wedged shoulders which interacted with a pair of rectangular slots in the jaws.  The threads on the extremities of the wedge correspond with the threads on the inside of the chuck shell or sleeve.  After an auger bit is inserted in the chuck the shell is tightened and the cone on the inside of the shell squeezes the ends of the chuck against it. At the same time the tapered shoulders of the  wedge  are forcing the lower sides of the chuck against the bit.   

Nelson Spofford had another patent awarded on November 16th 1880 (US 234,624) for a hinged split chuck brace.  The photo's of the brace below are unbranded and look nothing like the hinge depicted in his patent drawing, neverthe less, a brace of this style appears in a 1901 catalogue of Canadian  Hardware company, Caverhill, Learmont & Co (P588) as Spofford's Brace. Available in three sweeps, 8, 10 and 12 inch. 

On December 14th 1880 Gardiner Holt of Springfield Mass. USA, patented (US235532) a split chuck brace with the locking bolt across the line of the bit. The bolt was provided with a cut-out section within the chuck which allowed the bit tang to pass through. Rather than a thumbscrew as used on the Spofford brace, Holt's design used a bolt and wingnut which could be removed and replaced from the opposite side to better suit the operator.

On March 13th 1883 Henry V. Smith of Plantsville Connecticut USA. patented (US274040) a split chuck brace which he claimed was superior and cheaper to produce than the Spofford brace. In his words "... to simplify the construction and cause the two parts of the jaws to work parallel to each other". The supporting shaft visible in the third photo is spring loaded to assist the jaws to open.

Note: the thumbscrew on this example is not the original.

On June 24th 1884  William Ives, a prolific inventor, came up with the idea of a pair of steel jaws (US301058) with long tails which were placed in the mould prior to the casting of the body . Strictly speaking this is not exactly a split chuck brace but the fact that the jaws spring open as the sleeve is unscrewed and grip the bit when tightened in a manner similar to the split chuck, I've decided to include it here. This brace differs from the others in that it utilises a ratchet. 

Another of this style of chuck which is a lot more recent than the above are these two, one with a flat profile thumbscrew , the other using a knurled knob. Both branded AECO AUSTRALIA  on the chuck, and although  a few examples are owned by HTPSWA members we are unable to find any information on where or when these were made.

Coincidentally, as I was writing this article Nigel was holidaying in South Australia and he came across this smith made brace in a mining museum at Moonta. This is another example of a split chuck brace, an extension of the frame which is divided and widens toward the front. A ring encircling this extension, once the bit is in place, is driven forward to tighten the two jaws, thus locking the bit in position. The museum refers to this as a Costeen auger, in this case used for mining, but could well be used in other occupations.

Robin, a fellow HTPSWA member, has one similar to that above in his collection and he allowed me to examine it. It's a whimble, that is, double cranked, about 3' 81/2" long with a 14'' sweep, made from 5/8" round bar with the split chuck forge welded to the end.  The rotating handles are pipe and as can be seen from the wear at point of contact with the ferrule  this brace has done a lot of work.  The chuck itself is offset with one side making three quarters of the socket and the other side being quite flat. It's about 2 1/4" deep and tapers from 27/64" at the bottom, to 1/2" at the mouth. I found that by putting a small piece of wood between the flat face of the chuck and the shank of a square tapered bit, it held it firmly and enabled me to bore a hole successfully in a piece of pine.

Whilst traveling through Barraba in the North West plains area of NSW I came across this specialist axe. The attachment on the handle end caught my eye  and on closer inspection I discovered it had a tube running down the handle to a spray head either side of the axe head.

It was on display at the local Mens Shed and luckily the owner was available to explain how it worked.

The top assembly is actually a trigger pump arrangement that feeds the liquid poison via a pressure tank carried as a back-pack.

The axe is struck into the tree and held fast. The operator then squeezes the trigger assembly forcing liquid down the tube the spray heads which are directed at the incision made by the axe.

This is repeated several times around the tree, the poison then kills the tree as its absorbed by the sap under the bark.

These were supplied by the poison suppliers and could be fitted to any standard axe. The  Keesteel or  Kelly style axes were preferred having the flutes and grooves that help the poison to penetrate however this unit was fitted to a Hytest branded axe.

Unfortunately the owner couldn’t remember the poison supply company name but mentioned there were several at the time so further research is required for this part. If anyone knows of one of these or has seen other styles I would be keen to see pics etc

Many thanks.

Nigel B.

                           THE HUMBLE PENCIL.

While visiting the Lakes district in UK we stopped off in Keswick the home of the Derwent pencil.

Now I've never really given any thought to the humble pencil , so a chance to drop in to the museum I thought may be of interest.

I was not let down, albeit, only a small museum it was packed with many interesting displays.

Being a tool collector these little planes immediately caught my eye. Simple hollowing and rounding that were used by the early cottage industry makers before the industrial reveloution took over with mechanisation. Still today they are made in to half's in a  cedar timber billet which is then planed in to shape and then sawn producing 6 or 8 pencils from each billet.

There were other tools on display such as the  fly press for making pen nibs and the micrometers etc used in making the name stamps. Even today each pencil is individually printed with part number, colour and lead style. No longer the simple graphite filled grey,  there is now several hundred different colours and styles. 

Many of us grew up with these and who knew the Lakeland pencils by Derwent were named after the area ..The lake District  with Keswick being on the shores of Derwent Water.

Another very interesting pencil was the WW2 secret map pencil that was issued to RAF crews to help escape if shot down over enemy lines.This humble looking pencil with its lead tip and rubber or eraser end worked and looked like any other pencil right down to the the military green color  but this one contained a detailed rolled map of Europe made of extremely thin paper that was was rolled up and inserted inside, it also had a tiny compass hidden under the metal band at the eraser end.

They even distributed them to POW camps through red cross packages with maps showing escape routes depending where they were.

These pencils were made after hours in the factory by special workers sworn to secrecy.

The Lake district is a magnificent place and if there, a visit to this museum is a must.

Nigel.