Rusty planes in pieces.. anything good?

[Steven Mikes]

Got these for free, anything look worth rehabbing? I know little about older planes.

[Stew Denton]

Steven,

Looking at the planes the second plane from the right looks like a Stanley made after the early 60s and those are not very good quality. The one on the far right looks like it may be a later plane, but I cannot tell for sure, however, if it is then again it is probably of not very good quality. However, if the parts are all there, it will take very little time to put them back together, and they may turn out to be good users, you don't know. From what I can see in the box, the parts look OK, I see no broken parts, and the irons look to have plenty of length left.

That brings us to the two planes on the left. They appear to be vintage planes, but the photos are not good enough to tell much about them. My guess is Stanley. They are likely to be high qualiy planes, and very much worth restoring.

Without good detailed photos of the plane body and some of the parts, it is difficult to say more.

Regards,

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on what Stew said.

See if you can match up all the parts and put them to use.

Do you have a use for hand planes?

jtk

[steven c newman]

Got these for free, anything look worth rehabbing? I know little about older planes.

Left to right:

Base for a Sargent No. 409......Stanley No. 3....needs a "type4" frog, has the frog adjuster hole....Type 5 Millers Falls No.9 size ( may have been sold as a Craftsman)...Stanley made for Sears No.5 ( may also have been a "Victor" model, uses that red chipbreaker for either model..and that chrome plated lever cap)

Maybe a weekend's work..and I'd have all four up and running..IF the bolts for the parts are still there...

[Steven Mikes]

Took some better pictures with a real camera, realized my cell phone shots are just not very clear. The one on the right says No. 4, is it a Stanley #4 smoother?

[steven c newman]

Stanley No. 4, Made in England

That #5 sized plane....gets the "Victor" Lever cap. And the red chipbreaker...whichever 2" wide iron you want with it. Footprint goes to the other #4 body

The # 3 sized plane is also a "keeper"

The one iron with almost no edge left...toss it

[Steven Mikes]

Well over the last couple days I found some time to work on one of these. Since the Stanley #4 at least has all the parts and I don't have a bevel-down plane, I figured it could be a good user if I could clean it up.
Took about 2-3 hours of rubbing things on other things but it looks decent now. I was using 8" long pieces of sandpaper to do most of the sole flattening and blade cleaning. Yesterday I dropped by the local Klingspor and was helped to a pound-pile of 180grit sandpaper belts. Got a huge piece for $1.25 :) Much easier to take full length swipes.

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After a few hundred strokes.....
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Is there any reason to keep going? looks pretty shiny across the mouth now.

The blade was convex across the back face to start with. A few blows with a hammer on a steel plate fixed that. Then it took another eternity of rubbing to flatten the back with all the pitting there was. I used the Charlesworth ruler trick at the end just to make sure the back face was smooth. Ground the front down smooth to remove chips then put a new bevel on and sharpened it all the way up. Dressed up the edge of the chip breaker too after cleaning the rust off. Seems to function pretty well now, as demonstrated in this photo.
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Kind of feel like Luke now when Vader tell him "I see you have constructed a new lightsaber. Your skills are complete. Indeed you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen." :D

[Jim Koepke]

Your images didn't come through for me.

If the plane works to your needs is what matters.

jtk

[Steven Mikes]

Your images didn't come through for me.

If the plane works to your needs is what matters.

jtk

Sorry about that, had to remove them and re-upload.

One thing I forgot to ask, how do I strip the paint off the handles? Is there a chemical way, or just start sanding?

[Jim Koepke]

Sorry about that, had to remove them and re-upload.

One thing I forgot to ask, how do I strip the paint off the handles? Is there a chemical way, or just start sanding?

That is looking especially nice if you are getting a 0.0002" shaving.

Removing the coating depends on what Stanley was using when the plane was made. Usually either alcohol or lacquer thinner will dissolve the coating.

jtk