Stanley No. 34 rebuild. . .Purists avert yer eyes!

[Matt Evans]

I needed a longer pointer, since I do nearly everything by hand. SO, found this gem at a junk store. I looked at it, and almost passed on it. It was in pretty sorry shape. After not finding anything else I was looking for I went back and took a closer look. My original opinion was accurate, but I bought it anyhow.

List of whats wrong. . .

-broken tote
-deep scratches and the usual paint scrapings on the sole
-some genius had put a 1/16th gasket between the metal and the wood. RUST MAGNET
-slightly horseshoe shaped sole, but not twisted.
- checking, staining in the top of the plane
- did I mention severe rust?

So, since this is gonna be a user, I decided to forget "traditional" restoration. If you get antsy when someone does something not true to the original, you ain't gonna like this. I am also not going to make it all shiny and beautiful, just functional.

First part is diss-assembly.

The bottom of the metal portion was in even worse shape than I thought. So, belt sander and then a general lapping to get it relatively flat and square. Since it isn't the sole of the plane I left the deep pock marks and didn’t worry about it too much.

The rear tote screw snapped, so that needs re drilled and tapped. The gasket was really something. . .what were they thinking? Removed it and scraped the area flat enough to match the bottom of the metal portion.

Continued. . .

[Matt Evans]

The next thing to do was to fix the screw holes. Some of the screws where reusable, but half of them weren't. Filled the old holes with pegs, epoxied in.

During this time I started adding BLO. In my experience, the major checks will lesson, if not entirely disappear, after about 30 coats of BLO.

Trimmed the pegs flush, scraped 'em flat, and set the metal body on the top. After aligning the sole, and clamping it to prevent it from moving, I used a center punch to locate the holes locations for drilling. (for the large screws I used a dead center as a punch. . .it worked pretty well, but a transfer punch would have been ideal)

For the holes that had screws I could salvage I just pre-dilled to accept the screws.

For the others, I used brass inserts. GASP. . . The frog adjustment screws are more often moved, and the screws had disintegrated, so brass inserts it was. 1/4-20 for ease of finding the right bolt to use. I located the holes by screwing the plane to the body, removing the clamps, and setting the frog in place. I lined everything up, and transferred the hole location though the frog, body and into the wooden sole.

I drilled the holes for the inserts, inserted them, and filed them flush. I then put the body back together and made sure every thing lined up.

I wasn't able to get the olde screw out of the cast "bump" for the rear tote. It twisted off, so i filed it smooth with the bump. tapped it with a center punch and drilled a hole. I then tapped it, again 1/4-20 thebolt I have currently is a hair too short, so I will be picking up a longer one next time I am at the hardware store. Or, more likely,I may make another tote for it and use the bolt I have l ready.

I had fiddled with the frog, sanding filing and scraping til the bedding parts were flat and rust free, then fitted the blade and chip breaker and lever cap etc. back into place.

Now all that is left is the sole and doing something about the rear tote, but there have been more threads than I care to remember reading on the topic of making totes and flattening soles of planes.

I am sure that you will see this in use soon, in other posts.

[Matt Radtke]

Bah, I was expecting something crazy. These are sane, reasonable ways to improve a transitional, imho.

[Matt Evans]

Glad you see it that way Matt. . .I have gotten some odd comments from folks sometimes for doing what I consider reasonable fixes because they aren't entirely perfect original hardware etc. . .

*not pictured is the flame shooting chip exhaust and the three point hitch for towing other planes behind it. . .

[Leigh Betsch]

Looks like it will make a nice plane. I also like to rebuild old transitional. I always make a few improvements over the original design, and don't worry a bit about not being original when I'm done, I think they are better.

[Greg Wease]

Matt, you obviously enjoy a challenge! I have refurbed a few transitionals none have been as "needy" as your #34. By the way, I recently acquired a #37 basket case that also had gasket material separating the metal from the base. It appeared to be perfectly cut--perhaps even die cut--and I wondered if these gaskets were ever offered by some entrepreneur, and if so, why. Good luck with your project.

[Matt Evans]

Greg, I thought the same about that gasket. . .Why?

The gasket has only drawbacks to my way of thinking. . .attracts and holds moisture, looks terrible, changes the height of the body from the wooden sole, etc etc.

The only thing I can think of is that it provided a little "grab" for the metal body on the wooden sole, but that could have been easily achieved by mortising the body into the plane 1/16th inch or less.

Its got me baffled.

[john brenton]

30 coats of BLO? That's a lot of BLO. I like the wood screws in the background...did you make them yourself?


EDIT...nevermind! Just saw the wood screw thread...no pun intended.

[Matt Evans]

30 coats may be a lot of BLO but, stretched out over the course of a few weeks it isn't too bad to do. One of the other wood bodied plans I use I had to do the same thing. Took nearly a month, with a coat of BLO every day or so to get it into user shape.

I do the first 2 or three coats pretty heavy, then just apply a small amount for subsequent coats. Not sure why I do it that way, but it seems to work, so I'm sticking to it.

Glad you like the screws. . .I seem to have a bunch of them around for some reason or another.

[Terry Beadle]

Great plane project. I own two transitionals and they are both nuggets.

I really like the idea of the brass inserts. I think that's a great improvement.

I put a lignum viete(sp?) 3/8ths thick sole on one of mine and it really works great. The Hock blade makes it a real goer.

Also I've read some where ( where is my memory...oh...I forgot ) where one would tape up the mouth good and tight. Then pour BLO in the well of the mouth and keep it filled for a month. You'd know when the body was done when the BLO started showing up in the end grain of the toe and heel. Is that what you do or do you just keep painting on the BLO like a finish?

Thanks for posting....don't forget the shavings photo ! Hoot!

[george wilson]

What else could you really do to make the plane functional? They aren't rare. I don't have a problem with it.

[Mark Baldwin III]

This thread popped into my mind a few minutes ago. I am making a new wooden bottom for my #35 and just took the plane apart. The cast steel/iron/whatever is not flat. It made me think about the gasket on your plane. I wonder if the gasket was meant to take up the slack between the wood and the not-so-flat metal section???

[Matt Evans]

That could be, but why not just flatten the bottom of the cast part then? Thats what I ended up doing, and it worked like a charm. And Stanley had to have decent grinding equipment, so. . .

I dunno. That sounds like a plausible explanation, I just cant see why it would have been done that way, rather than permanently fixing the issue.

[Mark Baldwin III]

That could be, but why not just flatten the bottom of the cast part then? Thats what I ended up doing, and it worked like a charm. And Stanley had to have decent grinding equipment, so. . .

I dunno. That sounds like a plausible explanation, I just cant see why it would have been done that way, rather than permanently fixing the issue.

I would imagine that it was a fix by the user. I'm far from being an expert on anything. The first idea that came to mind when I took mine apart was to flatten the bottom of the casting. How far out of flat was your casting? I'll have to see if I can measure how bad mine is. They must've figured that they could just torque down the screws until everything mated.

[Matt Evans]

I would imagine that it was a fix by the user. I'm far from being an expert on anything. The first idea that came to mind when I took mine apart was to flatten the bottom of the casting. How far out of flat was your casting? I'll have to see if I can measure how bad mine is. They must've figured that they could just torque down the screws until everything mated.

Mark, the Gasket did look die cut. That being said, not sure how out of flat it was. The rust had really eaten into the bottom of the casing, making anyone’s guess. (Not talking thousands of an inch, talking a 16th or more. good thing the castings was relatively robust!) You might be right about the thought though. and someone else mentioned it may have been a common "fix" or aftermarket product.

I haven't had as many transitional as I have Stanley-Baileys, so not sure about the gasket. This is the first one I have seen. Aftermarket, Factory or user made, I still say its gotta go. I think the best fix is to flatten the bottom to a reasonable degree and make the wood match the casting, like you were thinking.

[Jake Rothermel]

That looks awesome, Matt! Maybe it's the romantic in me, but I've always really like transitional planes. IF I ever become a collector, it'll probably be to collect those! I know they're not popular users because of connection problems and the sizes of the mouth but I've just always fancied them. And like George said, your fixes seem logical and totally within the realm of reason to me (I do wish you'd posted a pic of the flame-shooting chip exhaust ::narf!!::); especially for something you intended from the start to be a user. If nothing else, you saved that plane from the camp fire... Well done. Well done, indeed.