James Spangler
02-13-2023, 11:46 PM
Some time ago I was contacted by a fellow creeker who asked if I could refurbish a plane he acquired at a yard sale (as some of you may know, my retirement hobby is restoring old tools). Here are two photos of his yard sale find.
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I had goosebumps when I learned it was a Bedrock 604 (yikes!). I hardly ever get my hands on one to restore. Perhaps most Bedrock owners take special care of them and never give them up. Anyhow of course, I agreed to his request. He asked that I leave the tote and knob untouched and use my judgement on whether the japanning needed work. Otherwise get it in working order.
When I received his Bedrock, I was pleased to see that it was primarily a surface rust issue. Even the iron was in fairly good shape and had good length.
Here is the refurbished plane.
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After a bath in Evapo-Rust and cleaning all parts, I could see that the japanning was in great shape, only needing a few touch-ups with black paint. The only problem I found with this plane was with the tote. The top nut in the tote was sunken in a bit, bottomed-out so it couldn’t be tightened further, and the tote still felt loose. After removing the tote’s nut and bolt, I placed the tote back on the plane and determined that it did not sit flat on the plane bed – it would rock forward and back (yuck). In fact, the japanning had a slight hump in front of the raised socket with the threaded hole. Rather than mess with the japanning, I sanded a shallow depression into the bottom of the tote in front of the large hole to clear that hump. With that, the tote sat flat on the bed without rocking. I also put a washer under the brass nut to raise it up to allow it to be tightened without bottoming-out. Problem fixed.
With that and with a tune-up, this plane worked its magic in the workshop as you might expect.
I’ve been to many a yard sale and estate sale, but never found anything like this. It was a pleasure to work on it and a fun winter project. :)
495442495443
I had goosebumps when I learned it was a Bedrock 604 (yikes!). I hardly ever get my hands on one to restore. Perhaps most Bedrock owners take special care of them and never give them up. Anyhow of course, I agreed to his request. He asked that I leave the tote and knob untouched and use my judgement on whether the japanning needed work. Otherwise get it in working order.
When I received his Bedrock, I was pleased to see that it was primarily a surface rust issue. Even the iron was in fairly good shape and had good length.
Here is the refurbished plane.
495444 495445495446495447
After a bath in Evapo-Rust and cleaning all parts, I could see that the japanning was in great shape, only needing a few touch-ups with black paint. The only problem I found with this plane was with the tote. The top nut in the tote was sunken in a bit, bottomed-out so it couldn’t be tightened further, and the tote still felt loose. After removing the tote’s nut and bolt, I placed the tote back on the plane and determined that it did not sit flat on the plane bed – it would rock forward and back (yuck). In fact, the japanning had a slight hump in front of the raised socket with the threaded hole. Rather than mess with the japanning, I sanded a shallow depression into the bottom of the tote in front of the large hole to clear that hump. With that, the tote sat flat on the bed without rocking. I also put a washer under the brass nut to raise it up to allow it to be tightened without bottoming-out. Problem fixed.
With that and with a tune-up, this plane worked its magic in the workshop as you might expect.
I’ve been to many a yard sale and estate sale, but never found anything like this. It was a pleasure to work on it and a fun winter project. :)