It's ok for girls to cry, right?

[Jaze Derr]

Especially over tools? I know guys aren't supposed to cry, but I might fall back on my feminine side (I do have one, I guess...) and cry over the state of my planes.

I was working on a project in early April, and walked out of the shop fully intending to return the next day. Well, I sprang a leak, ended up in the hospital that night having emergency abdominal surgery.

Suffice it to say, the project never got finished. In fact, when I finally got back down to the workshop last week, I didn't even remember exactly where I was in the process. So I treated myself to a rolling tool cabinet and started to organize my tools.

I picked up my planes, where they had been quietly laying on the workbench for 6 months. And nearly dropped them in dismay:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/5153240386_8e962407f1_z.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/5152632963_a080e80c27_m.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1150/5152632985_9ed8971599.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1137/5152633009_2cc99fb7ff.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/5152633029_8a3c9a6263.jpg

Now, these aren't Lie Nielsen planes, but they are still the nicest hand tools I have ever owned, and I was very proud of all the time and effort I put into learning how to sharpen and use them.

Discovering them in this condition seriously has me about to cry. How do I fix these?!?

[Deane Allinson]

Not a major disaster. A little fine grit sand paper will most likely fix them up. Start with some thing like 220 grit wet dry and start polishing them out, you can go courser but they don't look that bad in the photos. Move on to finer grits to remove the previous scratches. You can turn them into mirrors if you want to. Some of my best users have some pitting.
Deane

[john brenton]

They look nice. Who's the maker?

[Sean Hughto]

Doesn't look very serious. Some fine sandpaper - like 400 or 600 - should take care of it. Or you can buy soemthing like this:

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?grp=1245

[Jaze Derr]

They look nice. Who's the maker?

They are WoodRiver from Woodcraft, and one Veritas plane from Lee Valley. They are nice, especially for a novice to learn on.

[Gary Hodgin]

My woodworking times come in spurts. When I return to the shop I never know what I'll find. I take all precautions I can but always find some rust here and there. Your's doesn't look too bad and if you follow the above recommendations you should be able to return them to their original condition or near so. Your planes look nearly new compared to a 608 I bought. Now it works and looks great. Took a while but got it there. You have some nice planes and they're worth the effort.

[Charlie Stone]

go ahead and cry. Hell, if my planes got coated in rust, I might let a tear well up. Glad you got the leak fixed.

[Andrew Arndts]

I have taken some in much worse condition, and returned them to, well I sold them for a nifty profit... Get some Renaissance wax and put a thin coat on all unpainted surfaces after you fix them up. They aren't bad enough to make you cry. Maybe beat your head up against the cellar wall perhaps. but no tears.;)

[Mike Cutler]

Jaze

They should clean up just fine.
It's Okay to be upset. It means that you care.;)

[Tony Zaffuto]

They'll be OK, though you'll have to donate some elbow grease! Get some silicon carbide paper (start with a 220 grit and only go heavier if you have to). Put the sandpaper on something known to be flat (granite plate, top of your jointer, etc.) and give a couple of spritzes of WD40 and go to town!

We've all been there at one time or another, though we seldom talk of of it!

[Andrew Gibson]

Almost every plane I own started out as a rust ball. I would be willing to bet with a little love with some 0000 steel wool and some paste wax the rust would come right off, you might be left with a bit of patina. I don't mind the patina, all my planes have it, but I don't own any planes less then about 50 years old. I may feel differently if I had something shinny and new.

Make sure you take the irons out and remove the cap irons and make sure the irons are free of rust. I found that mine like to try to rust right where the cap iron bears on the iron.

I am jealous of your LV scrub, I want one really bad right now. once you get them cleaned up make sure to post a gloat, we all looking at tools after a bath.

[Jon Toebbe]

As others have said: very fixable. The orange rust streaks are mostly surface rust. They'll be good as new with a bit of work. That said, I'd cry, too. You've got the "before" photos. We'll all look forward to seeing the gleaming "after" shots in a few days. :)

[Steve Branam]

Ouch on both counts! But the emergency plane surgery will be a lot easier than the emergency abdominal surgery.

One thing that this shows is the moisture content of your workspace across a summer. You might want to look into some ways to manage that in your tool storage. They might have gotten rust spots even if you'd put them away properly. I'd be interested to hear what people have to recommend there.

[Casey Gooding]

Evapo-Rust will take care of your problem quickly and easily. A quick coat of wax after and you'll be back in business.
I know how you feel. I'm just now able to start picking up tools again after shattering my arm in early March.

[John Coloccia]

Crying will simply lead to more rust. Bleeding too. Whenever I cut myself, no matter how badly, the first thing I do is wipe down the tool and spray with camilia oil. After that's done, I decide if I need to go to the hospital. By this time it will have started to hurt pretty badly, so I may wimper a bit but I'm nowhere near my tools so it's ok.

[Don Dorn]

They do look like very nice planes - I don't blame you for being upset. Hopefully you'll take the good advise given here and bring them back to life. It's obvious that people here are "feeling your pain".

[Jim Koepke]

Jaze,

Hope your recovery is quick, both from the surgery and the rust that fell upon your friends.

I have rust that looks worse on some of my users. It seems some of the planes I have bought over the years were lapped on the sides without the rust being fully removed or stabilized. Now days, any tool that has a nice patina on the surface is left as is.

When the tears are wiped away, find your preferred method to remove the rust and get back to the project that was left on hold or start a new one.

Keep in touch,

jtk

[Jaze Derr]

Almost every plane I own started out as a rust ball. I would be willing to bet with a little love with some 0000 steel wool and some paste wax the rust would come right off, you might be left with a bit of patina. I don't mind the patina, all my planes have it, but I don't own any planes less then about 50 years old. I may feel differently if I had something shinny and new.

Make sure you take the irons out and remove the cap irons and make sure the irons are free of rust. I found that mine like to try to rust right where the cap iron bears on the iron.

I am jealous of your LV scrub, I want one really bad right now. once you get them cleaned up make sure to post a gloat, we all looking at tools after a bath.

haha, the scrub is my favorite!! It's the one I'm kissing in my profile photo :)