Stanley 102 plane

After years of wanting one, I finally spent some time on eBay and tracked down a Stanley 102 plane. This is a very common plane among violinmakers because of its size, relatively light weight, and simple design. This model was made from 1876 to 1962. I took a chance on an auction with fuzzy photos; won it for $8 plus $10 shipping. It arrived today, one day ahead of schedule. Here it is, next to my modern Stanley block plane (with a Hock blade) that I use for my daily work. It's actually not a bad plane, and works well for fingerboards, bridges, and nuts. But I have high hopes for the 102, once I get it cleaned up.



Here's the imprint on the top of the blade. I just like the lettering.



Not perfect by any means, but I've removed some of the rust, flattened part of the sole, sharpened up the blade, and run it across some fir scrap. It cuts.



Oh, and also today, my youngest, my son, graduates from high school.

Cutting the outline of the violin back

Flattened the inner surface of the back with a combination of planes -- block and jointer -- and then traced the rib outilne. Again cut with the jig-saw, with a new blade. The combination of new blade and hard wood was quite nice. Here I am doing some preliminary arching with a toothed blade in the block plane. I think this is a particularly attractive piece of maple, and hope I do justice by it.

Thinning ribs prior to bending

Thinning down curly-maple rib-stock with a toothed-blade in my block-plane. And getting a lot of use out of my hyphen-button.



The toothed blade allows one to cut through the curly maple, which has grain in all directions, with a minimum of tear-out. I actually like this part, and it is easy to build a nice pile of tight, curled shavings in a few minutes.