Stanley 603 user restoration

[Andrew Nemeth]

This is my fifth Bedrock restoration over the last few months. It is a Stanley Bedrock 603 I acquired from an online auction site. I must admit, I was looking for lots of rust when I bid on this one. I was looking for a challenge and wanted to find out what was really possible. My only real criteria was that the main castings (body and frog) had to be intact, I figured I could find the rest if I needed. Unfortunately, my before photos are MIA so I have included the auction listing photographs. As you can see there is lots of surface rust, a few blooms of rust, replacement knob and tote with replacement hardware.

[Andrew Nemeth]

I sprayed the frog down heavily with wd-40 and let it soak for a few days before dis-assembly. After getting everything apart I used a wire brush to clean everything up before soaking all of the ferrous parts in evaporust. I had previously used citric acid to derust but I thought I would try something new. Honestly, evaporust works but I'm not sure it was worth the cost. It was faster than citric acid but the end results where about the same. The only jappaning left intact was a bit under the tote and the inside walls of the main casting adjacent to the frog. I used a little bit of ez-strip to remove what was left. Then a little more work with wire brushes.

[Andrew Nemeth]

I used duplicolor high temp engine enamel to re-coat all the jappaned parts. I then lapped all of the machined surfaces as they were all very pitted and no longer had adequate contact to mating surfaces. I also salvaged a period correct rosewood knob and tote with hardware from a donor Stanley No. 3. They needed to be completely refinished as they had been dipped in a very thick coating of something and appeared almost black. I swapped out the 1" adjuster nut for a 1-1/4" nut from the same donor plane. I will probably end up replacing the iron and cap iron with aftermarket upgrades as the stock blade is very pitted, is already on the shorter side, and has a pretty significant radius (I guess I would need to grind at least 1/8" off to true it up). I plan on keeping the original blade and nut with the plane for whatever historical value a future owner may find in them.

[Chris Griggs]

Super Awesome!

[Jim Koepke]

Nice save.

The #3 is a good size plane and sees a fair share of use in my shop.

jtk

[Cody Cantrell]

That looks fantastic Andrew. I would be interested in how you removed the lateral adjustment lever and how you reattached it.
Cody

[Jim Koepke]

Hopefully Andrew can show us a different option to what I posted here as a part of my thread on taking an old junker to a respectable jointer:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373-Fettling-A-Plane-from-Junker-to-Jointer&p=1156007#post1156007

This does depend on how the lateral was attached. Newer planes often use a rivet that was hollowed on one end and then rolled over when it was pressed in position. These require some filing. It also may be that the lateral lever has been removed before and peened excessively when replaced.

It really comes down to seeing and understanding what each individual situation is at hand and proceeding accordingly.

jtk

[Mitch Barker]

Nice glamour photos too...

[Bob Jones]

Nice glamour photos too...

No kidding. I think it winked at me. ;)

[Andrew Nemeth]

Oh this old thing... I just pulled it out of the closet
I used to do a lot of photography, mostly landscapes but I did quite a bit of studio photography to document my portfolio when I was back in college. I just happened to get my photo gear out when this project came up. The plane was sitting on plate glass painted gray on the underside with a piece of matt board as the backdrop. All of the photos where taken in the shade outside on a sunny day. No photo editing other than color correction.

@Cody- I have to take another frog apart soon to smooth the action of the lateral adjuster. I'll try to take some action shots while I'm at it.

@Jim- I read your thread several times the last few months. Your insight has been very helpful, thank you. I didn't do anything too far off what you recommended. I was thinking of photographing a whole restoration to make another tutorial but I'm just not sure if there is enough necessity to justify the time involved. There are quite a few resources available online about Stanley restorations, including your guide in the FAQ section. I suppose if there is intrest, and I can provide something new, I would consider it again during my next restore.

[Cody Cantrell]

Thanks for the link Jim. I wasn't sure if you replaced the entire pivot pin or not.

Thanks Andrew I will keep an eye out for it.

Cody

[steven c newman]

Looks good! I've been doing the same to a few of my "old Rusties" that show up at my door step. 262463262464A before & after. Stanley Four Square Junior Jack plane

[Andrew Nemeth]

I've been fortunate enough to be able to reuse all the pins I have removed. In hindsight it might have been easier to replace them with new pins as I had to clean some of them up quite a bit to get them to go back together properly. None of the pins I have appear to be hollowed out on either end. The real trick to the process for me was properly supporting the frog with special attention paid to the areas right around the holes and using properly sized punches. Although I have not had to do it, filing off the peened portion of the pin would probably reduce the stress placed on the casting when driving the pin out. I have just used an undersized punch allowing the peened portion to fold back up around the punch as it enters the hole.

[Mike Brady]

Nicely done and well worth the effort. I remember the great satisfaction felt upon finishing the come-back of a rusty beater tool. For me its been a couple of years since I did one.

[Jim Koepke]

There are quite a few resources available online about Stanley restorations, including your guide in the FAQ section. I suppose if there is intrest, and I can provide something new, I would consider it again during my next restore.

Even if it is the same, sometimes another person's wording may make more sense or reinforce that the method works.


Thanks for the link Jim. I wasn't sure if you replaced the entire pivot pin or not.

You are welcome. The pin wasn't replaced. It stayed in the lever and then was reinstalled into the frog.

jtk

[Chris Hachet]

Very impressive....btw... I am in Columbus and would like to possibly get together with another hand tool fan...

[Andrew Nemeth]

Chris, I think there are several members here who are hand tool users that live in and around Columbus. I don't know if it has ever happened before, or if anyone else is interested, but a get together could be a lot of fun.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

If someone wants to set something up :-)

I will be contacting Chris Hachet by PM since he may want to see my stones