Started working on a project, a Stanley 55 combination plane. A couple of the handles were broke, rust and plating peeling off. It's a mess. In order to restore this plane, I need to nickel plate it again. This means all the wood handles must be removed. Not an easy task. Stanley used steel pins inserted into just one side of the handles. So they needed to be extracted. I made a fixture to drill a small hole into the pins. Then a screw was inserted and the pins pulled. This same fixture will be used later.

55 Pin Fixture 1.jpg

Next I decided to clean up the main body and work on the handle. Plan "A" was to fix the handle and use again, but it would have been a noticeable fix. Decided to make a new handle out of walnut. Plan "B". (Note: This handle looked like a stained hardwood but did not match the fence handles at all, so I will replace them all with walnut).

Several steps were needed. First I squared up a blank and used the bandsaw to cut a slot for the frame. Then I started to fit the angled frame. Once I had the blank fitted to the frame I moved it under the frame and marked the oval hand hold area onto the wood.

55 Handle 1.jpg55 Handle 2.jpg55 Handle 3.jpg

Finally the rear of the handle, the horn, and the radiused areas were done. After a good sanding a couple coats of Teak oil were put on.

55 Handle 4.jpg

I will need to make some new pins (later) but will use the fixture again to drill the holes in the handles. I plan on lining up the bit with the hole, slide the handles on and then drill the holes through the wood. Keeping with the original design the holes will not go all the way through.

55 Pin Fixture 2.jpg55 Pin Fixture 3.jpg