Restoring planes

[Tom Bussey]

It is quite cold here in Iowa today. And actually my shop has been closed down since late November. So I have been working on making stuff for the shop come next Spring and regrinding some planes Here are a couple of big dogs I let get away from me.

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And here is where I am at the present, Now all I have to do is reassemble them.

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[Tom Bussey]

Trust me the dark spots in the first two pictures are reflections of something else. I did order a new chip breaker and iron from Lee Valley and they came today. The plane iron is a Hock. And last October I picked up a Lee Valley cap iron cap iron and a PM-V11 blade at a swop meet in Bloomington MN. So I am ready to rock and roll..

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[Stew Denton]

Tom,

They look great, and given your skill, I expect that they will work as good as they look. You did good at the swap meet too. Good job!

(I am still looking for parts for a couple of my planes and finding parts of some of the less numerous Stanley planes, at half way reasonable prices, seems like a battle. I did find a couple of the parts but they wanted as much (or more) for the parts as a complete vintage plane of the same type. Sooner or later I believe I will find the parts though.)
Stew

[Tom Bussey]

What are you looking for?

[Stew Denton]

Tom,

I have a body for a round side 608 but lack the frog, the lever cap, and possibly the frog machine screws. I think I have a knob and a repairable tote, and probably have the parts to attach the knob and tote, but all those parts are still packed up from our move after I retired, so don't know for sure.

I also have the parts for a 608 flat side, but no body.

Again, everything is still boxed up from the move, and until a shop is built they will probably have to stay boxed up. At the present time my time is being used on remodeling the house we moved into, so don't have the time to work on planes, and I don't have room to have them to where I can use them. I have room for my carpentry remodeling tools (barely), and a little bit more room than that, but not enough for many planes, etc.

I figure that sooner or later parts will show up on the auction site for a reasonable amount, via a broken plane, but will have to wait and see. The last time a 608 round side with a broken body showed up, it sold for more than most of the complete round side planes of similar condition were selling for.

I have all of the parts for one other 608 round side, and could put it together for use if the situation was desperate, but prefer to restore it to nice shape before using it. Also, I have a #7 Bailey type 11 that I have restored to beautiful shape, and use it when I need a jointer plane. Since the #7 works well, I am not in a great need now to get one of the 8s working. Still, it will be nice to get at least one of them restored.

I probably should trade off the extra 608 round side body toward a 608 flat side body, and just pay whatever difference there will be.


I had a 608 flat side that I had restored very nicely, but ended up giving to a son in law as a graduation present when he completed his PhD, so am back to not having a #8 in working condition.

Stew bre

[Frederick Skelly]

Always fun to see your work Tom!

[Tom Bussey]

Again I will say that my shop is closed until it it warms up. Because different materials shrink at different rates I prefer not to turn on any of my machinery until at leased 50 degrees, I will be in there long before straightening up and doing the things I didn't want to take time for last year. So I have been confined at home in a 8 X 10 area I share with the furnace. here are some things I finally got done.

I spent some time doing some of these. I have some more totes that I need to sand and get ready to finish as well as some knobs to turn.

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Here is the the Keen Kutter K 8 finished. It has a new hock blade and veritas chip breaker. I changed the front knob after the picture was taken to match the #7.

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Stanley made the #7 plane for Montgomery Wards. So it is actually a Bailey without Bailey cast on on the Body and Wards Master on the lever cap. Here it is finished. Has a new veritas PM-11 blade and Chip breaker.

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This is a really good picture of what the totes look like

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totes of the two planes together.

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[Tom Bussey]

Here age the front knobs.

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And one K5 since I did the original post. I also have a K5C not done. I also have a K4C and a K4in my shop that match. I am working on getting and restoring both flat bottoms and corrugated bottomed Keen Kutter K series planes.

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[Frederick Skelly]

That's nice work Tom!

[Rob Luter]

Excellent work. I’ve refurbed a few and find it very satisfying. I wish I could say the quality of my work approached yours.

[Jim Koepke]

Great looks on the work Tom.

My refurbishing of planes is mostly in the past. Not having any metal working machinery has me taking a different approach. The years of patina are left on and only the one in really bad shape get a repainting. My work is more of a tune up than a spruce up.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Tom,

The planes are beautiful, great job.

Stew

[Jake Helmboldt]

Outstanding! I've been AWOL from the Creek (and woodworking due to mid-life nonsense) for a few years and am now in the process of rehabbing some saws and planes I picked up from an estate sale. What do you use to remove rust, and what do you use for paint/Japanning on the planes?