James Spangler
01-31-2022, 12:03 PM
We’ve had several weeks of cold weather here in the upper Midwest, and I’ve had few honey-do projects around the house. So I’ve had extra time in the workshop in the back of the garage with the electric space heater going full-blast restoring a couple of planes.
I’ve had this one on the shelf for some time, a Bailey No. 5, Type 12 with rosewood tote and knob – missing the iron, chip breaker, lever cap, and the small screw for the tote. Otherwise in fairly good shape with little rust on one side, but quite a bit of surface rust on the other side and bottom. I’m very happy with how this restoration turned out.
472819472820
I was able to replace the missing parts, and I’ll acknowledge here that yes, I am using an iron and lever cap from a newer vintage than Type 12, but they’re what I had on hand. My goal was to transform this into a good-looking user, not necessarily for the purest/collector.
When disassembling this plane, I discovered that the screw at the base of the frog holding the metal clip that hooks into the frog adjustment screw was seized. After scrubbing away rust with a wire brush and soaking with penetrating oil, I was able to remove that screw with the following rig:
472821
Clamping the frog to the benchtop in this way allows me to use a large screwdriver with a square shank and a wrench. I lean into the screwdriver with my body weight and twist with the wrench. I’ve loosened many seized screws in this way without much muscle power.
I lap the bottom and sides of the base with zirconia alumina sanding belts cut open and clamped to a flat surface. For me, these last much longer than aluminum oxide on cast iron (the Norton Bluefire belts seem to last the longest).
I usually start with 80 grit, but will resort to 60 grit first if a lot of lapping is needed, and then step through finer grits until I get the surface I’m after. For this plane, I finished with 1000 grit silicon carbide.
If the original shellac finish on the tote and knob is still fairly nice, I’ll just clean, buff, and follow-up with paste wax. But in this case, I wanted to sand and refinish the rosewood. I’ve always hand-sanded the tote to remove the old finish and any shallow nicks, but with some arthritis in my finger joints, that’s becoming harder to do. However just recently, I’ve discovered the sanding mop which you can mount to your drill press – great for sanding contours. I first saw these in a Klingspor catalog, then found some SMC postings about them, and ended up buying the following sanding kit (from Amazon):
472823
The company name is “Line 10 Tools, Inc.” (likely made in China) and the product seems to be well constructed and seems nearly identical to but less expensive than those sold by Klingspor. The 80 grit wheel mounted to my drill press makes quick work of sanding off the old finish, even in the deep contours of the tote, leaving my fingers pain-free. 😊
After a final sanding, I apply a coat of shellac, and then several coats of Minwax tung oil. And yes, I know this product has little or no actual tung oil, but it’s easy to apply, produces almost no streak/overlap marks, and you can add coats to increase the luster that you’re looking for.
For sharpening, I obtained a Worksharp machine to flatten/polish the back of the iron, another purchase to lessen the pain on my fingers instead of using the coarse diamond stone. (I have a love/hate relationship with the Worksharp, but once I figured out the right technique for using it and the best PSA sandpaper discs, it does a good job for me). I then use an 8” CBN wheel to hollow-grind a bevel at 25 degrees, and then several flat stones to hone and polish a secondary bevel at 30 degrees.
After all that, here are some photos of the finished plane, and a few more photos on a follow-up post.
472824472825472826472827
I’ve had this one on the shelf for some time, a Bailey No. 5, Type 12 with rosewood tote and knob – missing the iron, chip breaker, lever cap, and the small screw for the tote. Otherwise in fairly good shape with little rust on one side, but quite a bit of surface rust on the other side and bottom. I’m very happy with how this restoration turned out.
472819472820
I was able to replace the missing parts, and I’ll acknowledge here that yes, I am using an iron and lever cap from a newer vintage than Type 12, but they’re what I had on hand. My goal was to transform this into a good-looking user, not necessarily for the purest/collector.
When disassembling this plane, I discovered that the screw at the base of the frog holding the metal clip that hooks into the frog adjustment screw was seized. After scrubbing away rust with a wire brush and soaking with penetrating oil, I was able to remove that screw with the following rig:
472821
Clamping the frog to the benchtop in this way allows me to use a large screwdriver with a square shank and a wrench. I lean into the screwdriver with my body weight and twist with the wrench. I’ve loosened many seized screws in this way without much muscle power.
I lap the bottom and sides of the base with zirconia alumina sanding belts cut open and clamped to a flat surface. For me, these last much longer than aluminum oxide on cast iron (the Norton Bluefire belts seem to last the longest).
I usually start with 80 grit, but will resort to 60 grit first if a lot of lapping is needed, and then step through finer grits until I get the surface I’m after. For this plane, I finished with 1000 grit silicon carbide.
If the original shellac finish on the tote and knob is still fairly nice, I’ll just clean, buff, and follow-up with paste wax. But in this case, I wanted to sand and refinish the rosewood. I’ve always hand-sanded the tote to remove the old finish and any shallow nicks, but with some arthritis in my finger joints, that’s becoming harder to do. However just recently, I’ve discovered the sanding mop which you can mount to your drill press – great for sanding contours. I first saw these in a Klingspor catalog, then found some SMC postings about them, and ended up buying the following sanding kit (from Amazon):
472823
The company name is “Line 10 Tools, Inc.” (likely made in China) and the product seems to be well constructed and seems nearly identical to but less expensive than those sold by Klingspor. The 80 grit wheel mounted to my drill press makes quick work of sanding off the old finish, even in the deep contours of the tote, leaving my fingers pain-free. 😊
After a final sanding, I apply a coat of shellac, and then several coats of Minwax tung oil. And yes, I know this product has little or no actual tung oil, but it’s easy to apply, produces almost no streak/overlap marks, and you can add coats to increase the luster that you’re looking for.
For sharpening, I obtained a Worksharp machine to flatten/polish the back of the iron, another purchase to lessen the pain on my fingers instead of using the coarse diamond stone. (I have a love/hate relationship with the Worksharp, but once I figured out the right technique for using it and the best PSA sandpaper discs, it does a good job for me). I then use an 8” CBN wheel to hollow-grind a bevel at 25 degrees, and then several flat stones to hone and polish a secondary bevel at 30 degrees.
After all that, here are some photos of the finished plane, and a few more photos on a follow-up post.
472824472825472826472827