PIP: Stanley # 31 rehab

[steven c newman]

I had picked up an old trans plane at a yard sale awhile back. Got the metal parts cleaned up, iron worked on a bit267603Now decided to rework the wood parts a bit. Remove the handles, tote as a pattern, the knob had a split starting and was pretty worn down. Had a spare of each, just needed to re-define the spare tote to match. 267604 and a spare knob cleaned up an installed. Now, about that wood base ";)casting" I picked up my "new" Wood River #4 V3 and set about removing the old scarred surface on all the sides. After awhile, things started to look a bit better, so I placed the hardware back on..267605267606267607Somehow, I don't think that corner was from wear out. Might leave it alone. Now to figure out what to finish with, maybe a coat or three of BLO? :D

[Chris Griggs]

That will make a great user Steven. I'm a big fan of transitionals. Keep and eye out for the jack plane sized ones. They make AWESOME coarse scrubing/foreplanes.

[Frederick Skelly]

Looks good Steven. How's she cut?

[steven c newman]

The last owner before me had ground a big camber to the iron, so it takes a big, old curly shaving. This plane is as long as a Stanley #8, and about half the weight. Iron is 2-3/8" wide instead of the #8's 2-5/8" iron.

Might just square the edge off? This would be used like a #7 jointer?

[Clayton Lambert]

yep, a plane that long is typically used as a jointer- cool find :)

[steven c newman]

Got the iron squared up, plane cut a bit funny. Was digging in on one side? Got to checking the mouth area, and the wooden bed...... a bit out of whack.. maybe 1/8" ? Got out some tools, and squared the mouth opening to the plane's sides. Opened up a bit, but this being a jointah plane, not a biggie. Shaved the bed to match the new mouth. 267813267814267816Cleaned and sanded the original knob up, added a coat of BLO to all and sundry267817267818Not too bad for $15?

[steven c newman]

Gee, all that work to get this old Jointer plane up and running again, and not one reply? 24" long, with a 2-3/8" wide iron, more like a #7? Plane seems to work a lot better now, and even looks a bit better than that mess that I brought home.

[Andrae Covington]

Looks good, nice quartersawn figure on the one side. I use a #28 with a cambered iron as a fore plane. The tote had been snapped off, then nailed back on. Not a pretty repair, but it works, so I've not bothered to replace it. I probably would have if the piece had been missing like on yours though. Interesting that the bed was out of square. I wonder if things got misaligned in manufacturing, or if the wood just moved that much.

[Frederick Skelly]

Pretty nice, and the price makes it all the sweeter. I haven't tried a transition plane yet. Still too much to learn with what I already have. But seeing yours has whet my appetite to try one.

Enjoy!
Fred