my new plane, basically my first

[cody michael]

I got a mills falls no 15. for 10$ at 1/2 day at estate sale. How did I do on price? It works as is, but I think it needs sharpened and could use cleaned up311304

[Jim Matthews]

$10? That's a smokin' deal.

[James Pallas]

Hi Cody,
my take on planes is this, wipe it off good with mineral spirits or something like that to clean it some, clean up the screws on the working parts, put a bit of oil on the working joints and screws, sharpen up the blade(get some help on this part unless you are sure about it). Rub a little candle wax on the sole. Stand a piece of wood on edge and test it out. If it takes nice shavings you have a working plane. The hard part comes in learning how to use it to get what you want out of it.
Jim

[Chris Griggs]

$10 for a No.15! Wow that's great! MF 15s are great planes and while they're not rare, they don't pop up all that often either. I got an MF 15 from ebay a couple years ago for about $50 and that was a darn good deal. It one of my favorite planes by the way. $10 is fantastic. NICE FIND!!!

[Robert Engel]

Do not try to use the plane as is, you're wasting your time.
If you follow the necessary steps and take the time, you can end up with a very nice usable plane.

The first thing you need is to evaluate whether you even have a using plane or not.
You do this by focusing on 3 things: the condition of the sole and the blade and frog.

Here are the steps I follow to evaluate and refurbish a plane:

1. Completely disassemble the plane including the handles.

Examine, clean and soak all the screws in penetrating oil. I really like PB Blaster.
Make sure you unscrew the blade depth adjuster all the way off as well as remover the frog adjusting screw, if it has one.
Using scotchbrite, 320 and/or 400 grit sand paper, wire brush, etc. throughly clean all the parts.
If a lot of rust is present use something like Evaporust, vinegar, etc. DO NOT use Os Pho are any similar product.
If the plane is severely rusty an electrolysis bath or soaking in Evaporust overnight may be necessary.

Once you've determined all the parts are there and everything is free, wipe everything down, reassemble the plane, tension the blade and make sure the blade is not below the sole.

2. You are now ready to evaluate the sole.

Using about an 80-100 grit sandpaper on a flat surface, rub the sole enough to establish a scratch pattern.
I prefer self adhesive sandpaper in rolls. I use my table saw top but any flat surface will work.
The mouth area and toe are most important and at the minimum.
If the center of the sole behind the mouth is slightly low, that's ok as long as the edges are flat.
Once you've got this established, work up to at least 220 grit.
If you can't get past this point, you have a plane that will not work properly or consistently.
Now you're ready to address the blade and cap iron.

3. The blade need to have a flat back to be able to sharpen it. The cap iron needs to seal down tight to the blade back, so it will need to be honed too.
Flattening the back of the blade is THE most critical part of blade preparation. It can be a time consuming and quite laborious process. You can do it with a flat surface and sandpaper if you don't have stones. You can watch various videos on preparing a plane blade.

Once the blade is sharpened and ready to use, you're almost done.

Optional:

4. Check the sides square to the sole. This is important if you plan to use the plane to shoot the edges of a board.
Once again, check You Tube for many videos on shooting with a plane.

5. Dressing it up.

Re-Jappanning. 5-6 heavy coats of gloss engine paint work quite well for this. It helps to warm up the steel first and make sure it is free of oil.
Refinishing the handles.
Further polishing of the sole, the sides, and the cap iron.

So, you see, you may or may not have a good deal until you do all this. I've trashed many an old $20 plane because I just couldn't get the sole flat without employing a machine shop.

With any luck you can get all this done within a couple hours tops.

The only other thing is that if this particular plane does not have an adjustable frog, you will be somewhat limited on the quality of work it can do.
If there is a screw under the big blade adjusting knob close to the sole, this is the frog adjuster.
You loosen the two frog screws a bit, and then turn this screw to open or close the mouth.

Good Luck hope you've got just a little bit of work to do!!

[Jim Koepke]

Wow, first there is this:


I got a mills falls no 15. for 10$ at 1/2 day at estate sale. How did I do on price? It works as is, but I think it needs sharpened and could use cleaned up311304

Then this:


Do not try to use the plane as is, you're wasting your time.

My expectation was a "send it to me and we won't speak of this again" kind of tongue in cheek comment.

Instead it seems there are rituals to perform before this new pretender to planehood enters your shop and destroys every piece of wood it sees.

I am all for fettling a plane if it needs it. After all, I posted this:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373-Fettling-A-Plane-from-Junker-to-Jointer

But if as Cody said, It works as is,... " maybe just a sharpening and further evaluation is more appropriate at this time. What is the old saying about fixing things that aren't broke?

By the way Cody, I would have likely ripped my pants trying to get my wallet out on that deal, good show.

jtk

[cody michael]

Wow, first there is this:



Then this:



My expectation was a "send it to me and we won't speak of this again" kind of tongue in cheek comment.

Instead it seems there are rituals to perform before this new pretender to planehood enters your shop and destroys every piece of wood it sees.

I am all for fettling a plane if it needs it. After all, I posted this:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373-Fettling-A-Plane-from-Junker-to-Jointer

But if as Cody said, It works as is,... " maybe just a sharpening and further evaluation is more appropriate at this time. What is the old saying about fixing things that aren't broke?

By the way Cody, I would have likely ripped my pants trying to get my wallet out on that deal, good show.

jtk


Lol I grabbed it in a hurry when I first saw it, I didn'treally check it out ttill I got home. I checked it out and thought I got a great deal, I also go a older woodworking vice, and a bunch of random odds and ends. My wife got sad because every garage sale I went to I found awesome stuff.

I may try to do a light restore on it, and I'm sure as is, with a sharp blade I would be a limiting factor over the tool!

I also got 2 stones from the sale, I think they are cheap but I paid like 50cents, 1 looks just like.one I got from harbor freight, I will post more pictures when I can, all my uploads were failing earlier

[cody michael]

Here are some pics

[cody michael]

Some more, thanks for your advice

[Jim Matthews]

I would bet the price of your plane that once the blade is sharp, you're good to go.

There's so little that can go wrong with these.
I wouldn't even move, let alone disassemble the frog
until I evaluated it for performance - as it is.

When you buy a car, do you take it straight to the shop for service?

Give it a test drive, then you'll know for sure.

[ken hatch]

Do not try to use the plane as is, you're wasting your time.
If you follow the necessary steps and take the time, you can end up with a very nice usable plane.

The first thing you need is to evaluate whether you even have a using plane or not.
You do this by focusing on 3 things: the condition of the sole and the blade and frog.

Here are the steps I follow to evaluate and refurbish a plane:

1. Completely disassemble the plane including the handles.

Examine, clean and soak all the screws in penetrating oil. I really like PB Blaster.
Make sure you unscrew the blade depth adjuster all the way off as well as remover the frog adjusting screw, if it has one.
Using scotchbrite, 320 and/or 400 grit sand paper, wire brush, etc. throughly clean all the parts.
If a lot of rust is present use something like Evaporust, vinegar, etc. DO NOT use Os Pho are any similar product.
If the plane is severely rusty an electrolysis bath or soaking in Evaporust overnight may be necessary.

Once you've determined all the parts are there and everything is free, wipe everything down, reassemble the plane, tension the blade and make sure the blade is not below the sole.

2. You are now ready to evaluate the sole.

Using about an 80-100 grit sandpaper on a flat surface, rub the sole enough to establish a scratch pattern.
I prefer self adhesive sandpaper in rolls. I use my table saw top but any flat surface will work.
The mouth area and toe are most important and at the minimum.
If the center of the sole behind the mouth is slightly low, that's ok as long as the edges are flat.
Once you've got this established, work up to at least 220 grit.
If you can't get past this point, you have a plane that will not work properly or consistently.
Now you're ready to address the blade and cap iron.

3. The blade need to have a flat back to be able to sharpen it. The cap iron needs to seal down tight to the blade back, so it will need to be honed too.
Flattening the back of the blade is THE most critical part of blade preparation. It can be a time consuming and quite laborious process. You can do it with a flat surface and sandpaper if you don't have stones. You can watch various videos on preparing a plane blade.

Once the blade is sharpened and ready to use, you're almost done.

Optional:

4. Check the sides square to the sole. This is important if you plan to use the plane to shoot the edges of a board.
Once again, check You Tube for many videos on shooting with a plane.

5. Dressing it up.

Re-Jappanning. 5-6 heavy coats of gloss engine paint work quite well for this. It helps to warm up the steel first and make sure it is free of oil.
Refinishing the handles.
Further polishing of the sole, the sides, and the cap iron.

So, you see, you may or may not have a good deal until you do all this. I've trashed many an old $20 plane because I just couldn't get the sole flat without employing a machine shop.

With any luck you can get all this done within a couple hours tops.

The only other thing is that if this particular plane does not have an adjustable frog, you will be somewhat limited on the quality of work it can do.
If there is a screw under the big blade adjusting knob close to the sole, this is the frog adjuster.
You loosen the two frog screws a bit, and then turn this screw to open or close the mouth.

Good Luck hope you've got just a little bit of work to do!!


Good show Sir. A post worthy of Mark Twain.

Thanks for the laugh,

ken