My First Plane Restore

[Joey Chavez]

My mother and stepfather took note of my growing interest in hand planes and surprised me with a couple of old planes for Christmas that grandpa had sitting in the basement for several years. Pretty well rusted over, and never having restored anything what-so-ever I was a little hesitant at first but jumped right into it because I felt I could use a fore plane right away. This is a Keen Kutter K6. My total hand plane experience is less than three months old as it is, but this turned out to be a great learning experience in learning how they are put together. My other planes are a Veritas low angle block and jack, much easier to set up and use, but these older planes don't seem as complicated any longer. Thanks for looking.


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[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Nice job! That should be a great user. There's something immensely satisfying about making an old tool work again, particularly when you have a personal attachment to it.

[Jim Koepke]

Looks good, but I think you may be mistaken. If my memory is working that is not a Bailey style plane, but an early Bedrock.

jtk

[Jared Withers]

Very impressive! My grandfathers plane is one of my most cherished tools. What was your method of rust removal?

[Joey Chavez]

Jim, you're correct. I've been reading The Handplane Book, but I was confused between the two.

[Joey Chavez]

Thanks Jared, I ended up using Naval Jelly and a wire wheel on a bench grinder.

[James Owen]

Nice restoration. It's always fun to use a tool that you have a close connection to. Beautiful shavings, too!

[Stewie Simpson]

Great job Joey. That was some challenge you took on.

[Jerome Hanby]

That looks great! Did you paint or japan the black part?

[Joey Chavez]

Thanks Jerome, I left the original japanning on and just cleaned it up.

[Brent VanFossen]

Great jog. Nice pictures, too.

[Ron Bontz]

Excellent job and great gift. Congrats.

[Don Jarvie]

Nice job. Maybe you need to head over to the basement and see what else is lying around getting all rusty. :D

[Tony Shea]

Very well done. Looks as though you got the sides polished real nice. What'd you do to get such a high polish? Was there much for pitting, seems as though it isn't bad. And how about the sole, is it flat enough to get decent shavings? It seems as though the old KK is a very nice user.

[Joey Chavez]

Thanks everyone.

Tony, I actually wanted to buff out the sides and sole, bought a cheap buffing kit and realized I really don't know much about buffing and took it back and figured I could learn that later. The sides did have some minor pitting, I went ahead and sanded, went 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, and 1000 grits. I went to 320 for the sole. The sole had some significant pitting, I had a heck of a time trying to work that flat, sore arms and shoulders by the next day. There is a small hallow right behind the mouth, although I was getting some really nice shavings off it I wonder how well it would turn out if I really try and flatten a decent size board. I think I'm going to play it safe and camber that orginal blade some and use it more as a roughing plane. I wanted the Veritas LA Jointer so I'll let it do the flattening.