A cleaned up Type 11 Stanley No 4 1/2

[Dominic Greco]

Hi Gang,
Here's a neat Type 11 (at least, that's what Hyper Kitten's On-Line Stanley Bench Plane Type Study (http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/dating/dating_flowchart.html#Types%201-20) tells me it is) that I got from Ebay last year. From the patent dates, and lever cap hole I believe it's one of those "tall handled" type 11s you hear about. And the online type study seems to confirm that. It appears to have a rosewood tote and knob although the tote looks like it was stained. But from what I could see when I disassembled it, it's definitely rosewood.

Before:
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/No45_Before_1.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/No45_Before_2.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/No45_Before_3.jpg

Aside from some surface rust and staining on the sole, It was in pretty decent shape. The original iron was so pitted that I ended up ditching it and installing a new Stanley iron I had laying around.

I just wire brushed the rusty parts and flattened the sole on my lapping plate. And as far as flattening the sole, not much was needed. I applied DyeChem and gave it a couple passes on the sandpaper. Pretty much all of the blue was removed in those first passes. That tells me that the sole it pretty darn flat. I confirmed this with my straight edge. The fact that some of the staining remained doesn't really bother me. I've gotten to the point that this kinda stuff doesn't bug me as long as it doesn't hurt the performance.

After I sharpened and honed the iron with a slight camber, I tried out this gem of a smoother on some tricky grained ambrosia maple. From what I've seen, this wood can be a real PITA to plane. I think it's a combination of the "softness" and the reversing grain. As you can see, I was getting some nice full width shavings. After that I tried it out on some walnut. I think you get the picture!

After
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/No45_After_1.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/No45_After_2.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/No45_After_3.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/No45_After_4.jpg

Thanks for viewing!

[Barry Rowland]

Really great job! You should have many years of enjoyment out of it.

[Phillip Pattee]

Looks good. That one is a keeper. It seems to perform well, and you haven't even put in an after market blade or chip breaker.

[Dominic Greco]

Looks good. That one is a keeper. It seems to perform well, and you haven't even put in an after market blade or chip breaker.

Thanks for the compliments! I'm pretty pleased with the performance as well :D

To be honest, I'm not sure if a thicker after market blade would work. From what I've read, for a LN or Hock Iron to work with this plane (and the 5 1/2), you may need to use a file to open up the mouth. With the newer Stanley blade installed, it's a pretty tight fit. And I've tried backing off the frog as well.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice plane, I got lucky and found a #4-1/2 type 6 in an antique shop after losing bids on eBay about a half a dozen times. It is now one of my favorite planes.

jim

[Terry Beadle]

Loooooking gooood!

That's a beauty. You've given it new life and a very high wow factor.

Thanks for posting some geat shots too.

Beautiful!