Sometimes we have to make rabbets which do not run throughout the piece: they stop more or less close to one of its ends.

The Stanley 78 is a metal rabbet plane with adjustable side fence; it  is able to mount the blade in a further position as well as in the standard choice. This setting (bullnose) allows you to work close to obstacles, for example near stiles and rails intersection or in the case of a blind rabbet.  However, even though the plane works in bullnose configuration, the short sole needs a void space for a correct job. 

 For this purpose a mortice can be cut at blind rabbet extremity by using a saw  and a mortice chisel.

A scrap piece can be clamped for adsorbing the plane shots and avoiding the damage of the blind edge.

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Tha Cold War is Finished for Planes Too

Giovanni, a friend of mine, kindly gave me a Russian plane as gift. I heard some negative opinions about and this models are not so frequent. Unluckily, the blade and cap iron were not original and the plane came equipped with a recent Stanley iron and cap. Iron is 2" wide and the plane is about 10" long, so a smoothing plane. The body is cast iron, well done; the hard wood handles offer a comfortable grip but have curious nuts requiring a dedicate screwdriver. 

Not a common future, the knob is inclined forward and I found the grip more comfortable than an ordinary one. More, it helps to provide more pressure on the anterior plane portion when the plane shot has incoming.                                                        

I had to add a washer to the rear handle for fixing it better. 

The aluminium frog shows a fine surface on which the blade seats well. It can be moved like the Bailey planes. The frog did not seat well on the base, so I had to use a file for slightly trueing the critical points.

The Y lever is malleable iron, too much thin and with a lot of lateral tolerance.

The lateral lever is very short and this does not permit of moving the iron easily. I changed the iron, utilizing a vintage Stanley iron and chipbreaker. 

Of course was necessary to do some corrections, such as the lateral lever substitution with another one longer, the thickening of Y lever where it engages the chipbreaker (I used a little bit of soldering material).

I flattened the sole, sharpened the blade and tried the plane.

Despite the defects, I obtained thin shaves on soft woods as well as on harder ones.

Unfortunately I cannot verify the quality and performances of original blade and chipbreaker, but after all this Russian plane (with a good blade) showed capability for a fine job, although the regulation systems were quite weak and could cause troubles with a harder use.

A Russian body with an American heart. It works!

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