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Terek Johnson
11-13-2006, 12:58 PM
Howdy everybody!
How much should one recondition an old plane?
Over the years I've bought several old Stanleys. The first couple I bought I gave a very thorough cleaning and tune-up (which is to say removed the "patina" and other signs of age). I bought these planes to use them, but now I'm reading about the importance of maintaining the original integrity of the tool. So... what's the proper way to clean up an old plane so that you can use it, but still maintain it's antique-ness. Thanks.
One other quick question related to this subject: I spray my planes with this stuff called Topcote. It's basically wax in a spraycan. Any opinions.

Mike Henderson
11-13-2006, 2:11 PM
As far as I can tell, the only people who care about patina are the collectors. If you're going to use the plane, clean it to your satisfaction. The things you do to it will be part of the "patina" in the future of the plane.

Furniture collectors like patina because it helps to verify that the piece really is old and and not a later reproduction (patina is very difficult to fake). But old tools have many other marks that indicate age so the patina is not a major age indicating factor. Also, old tools do not have enough value to make them worth reproducing (fakes).

Me, I clean my planes quite a bit. I use the planes and I like them to be good looking. I believe that your environment affects your work - and that clean, sharp, well tuned planes will encourage me to do better work.

I do this with my wooden planes as well as my metal planes.

But that's just my belief.

Mike

My feeling are exactly the same as expresed by Chuck Stanford (below). He just has a better facility with the language.

Corvin Alstot
11-13-2006, 2:14 PM
If these are standard bench planes and not rare, I would do whatever you
thought was appropriate (some like patina others like to make them shiney
and add new japan to the bodies).
I like patina but YMMV.

Chuck Stanford
11-13-2006, 2:18 PM
Clean 'em up good. You don't want dirt transferring to your project. A grungy plane gets everything dirty. I like the soles polished up pretty good. They push easier. That's what they're for.

Collect the beautiful furniture you make with your tools, not tools themselves. Any competent workman is going to keep his tools cleaned, oiled, tuned, and ready for use for their intended purpose. That's what you should do with yours.

Leave the collecting and angst over patina to the museums. Stanley bench planes were made by the millions. Except for a few rare and usually unuseable models, they should be considered tools for work and not for the creation of a backyard museum of unused tools.

Tyler Howell
11-13-2006, 2:23 PM
I like to leave them as close to "well traveled":rolleyes: as I can.
You don't want to wipe off or cover up all those years of skill, karma and experience that has been build up.
No rust, paint slatter or spoog. Just good old arn;).

James Mittlefehldt
11-13-2006, 4:05 PM
I have a 07c Ohio tool plane that was pressed into service when my 06 committed suicide by jumping off the bench. It had rust all over it not pitting mind just rust, so with sandpaper in hand I cleaned it as best |I could and painted it with black rust paint.

Is it collectable? Probably not now, but does it do it's job? yup it does and while it may not be on anyone's list of desirable tools for the mantle piece or display case it would serve anyone who wanted to actually plane wood with it.

Clean em and use em.

Terek Johnson
11-13-2006, 5:20 PM
Thanks for the feedback guys, advise well taken. Being the eternal pragmatist that I am, I think I was on the same path as most of you: tools are for using not looking at behind glass. But sometimes I get caught up in the Antiques Roadshow syndrome: "this thing might be a valuable antique that will pay my kids college tuition some day..." The funny thing is that even if I did have a Stanley #1 in mint condition, I'd still want to use the lil' bugger not just put it up on a display shelf. Chuck's advise is probably the best: "collect the beautiful furniture you make with your tools, not the tools themselves." Amen.

Terry Bigelow
11-13-2006, 5:35 PM
As Chuck stated: They are tools for work, not for backyard museums of unused tools. Couldn't have said it better myself. I think Leonard Bailey would wonder what all the fuss is over cleaning up a rusty old plane! How can you use it like that?? I "collect" Stanleys for use not for decoration and see nothing wrong with cleaning them up for use. What else are you going to do with them?

Chuck Stanford
11-14-2006, 7:12 AM
Thanks for the feedback guys, advise well taken. Being the eternal pragmatist that I am, I think I was on the same path as most of you: tools are for using not looking at behind glass. But sometimes I get caught up in the Antiques Roadshow syndrome: "this thing might be a valuable antique that will pay my kids college tuition some day..." The funny thing is that even if I did have a Stanley #1 in mint condition, I'd still want to use the lil' bugger not just put it up on a display shelf. Chuck's advise is probably the best: "collect the beautiful furniture you make with your tools, not the tools themselves." Amen.

A crispy No. 1 might be worth a few thousand. Even the most casual woodworker with a little patience can easily make one piece of furniture, one piece, worth as much or more.

I figure my user tools are worth tens of thousands of dollars based on the furniture that I should be able to build before Father Time says no more.

The guys who sit around and polish and put socks on planes have fixed their value at whatever that can get on EBay at any given moment instead of using them to build pieces that will be worth far more than the tools ever could be. This is what is so wonderful about handtools - a modest investment can produce thousands of dollars worth of furniture. The value in a tool is the work that it can do, not some ultimately arbitrary value set by auction, online or otherwise. Accumulate a set of tools that are fit for purpose and get on with building.