Tool review: Stanley 12 scraper

I bought a lot of old tools a while back and now have two Stanley 12 which were part of that lot.  I wasn't a very interested with that tools but, after sharpening properly the blade, the results are great.  If I need to scrape this is now my favorite tool.




In my arsenal I have a few card scrapers, a Stanley 80 and a Lie-Nielsen large scraping plane.  The LN scraper has given me all kind of problems.  It must be my fault but it's definitely a difficult tool to master.

The blade is in bad shape.  Here is how I sharpen it.

Initial condition.



I want to get nice clean steel near the edge on the back because I will be sharpening this blade with a 40-45° bevel.  I use D. Charlesworth "ruler trick" to achieve this.





The next step is to shape a primary bevel at 40-45°.  I use a diamond stone for this.



This blade finally required a rough diamond stone because it's fairly thick and the end was square.
The burr is removed using an Arkansas stone but with a thick ruler.  I want to be sure that I'm on the very edge.



Now it's a standard sharpening like any other blade.  I begin with a coarse stone.



Followed by a fine India stone.



Leather with green compound (25 times each sides).



For the back I keep the blade at a small angle to emulate what I've done with the thick ruler.



The last step is to use a burnisher to form a hook.  I begin with an angle of 45° approx.



With each stoke the burnisher angle is reduced gradually to 15°.



The pressure on the burnisher is not very much, maybe 5 or 10 lbs.
The blade in a Stanley 12 has an approximate angle of 5° forward.  Adding the 15° hook you get a total angle of attack of 20° with a tiny hook.  This is equivalent to have a plane with a 20° blade and a chipbreaker at a few thousand from the edge.

Let's test that tool and see if the blade is sharpened properly.  I use cherry.



If I want to have a heavier shaving I need to tilt the blade forward.



All the shavings are in the middle of the plane, that means that the sole is somewhat rounded.  It also means that it's a newer model (originally Stanley made flat soles).  It is, again, well documented on the excellent website of Supertool.

Now that this tool is all set to work, I use it to clean my workbench top.  It was very dirty because I've restored many tools recently.





This tool is really working nicely.  I've put aside my Lie-Nielsen scraper plane and now use this inexpensive Stanley 12.

For sharpening a scaper like this I follow the instructions from Veritas.

Normand