Stanley No. 11 1/2 Cleaning Question

[Troy Wilkins]

The recent post about how much cleaning is recommended for planes got me to thinking. I just bought a Stanley No. 11 1/2 floor plane at an auction. I bought the plane with the thought that I would most likely resale it. I have no use for a floor plane and I believe it will be worth more to a collector than to me. The plane is dirty and rusted. There is no significant pitting, mostly just surface rust. There is a fair amount of japanning left. Given the fact that I intend to sale the plane at some point, would I be better off to do just minimal cleaning and leave it alone? Part of me would like to completely refinish the plane, but if that is discouraged I will leave it alone.

-Thanks for looking.

[Ryan Cathey]

This really depends on your customer base. If it's for users make it shine but if it's for collectors I suggest no more than blowing off the dust. Once again it depends completely on your buyers. How's that for a definite answer?!:D ;)

-Ryan C.

[Clint Jones]

Most likely nobody will be buying this plane as a user. Maybe but highly unlikely. To clean it I would take it apart and to make sure all screws move freely. Considering most of this plane is jappaned I would just wipe off any dust or build up from the surface. For the blade and sole you can use a very fine steel wool to remove the surface rust. The wood hadles I would just wipe off with pledge. I would then oil all the screws and adjustments so that they move freely and put the plane back together. DO NOT USE SANDPAPER! DO NOT USE SANDPAPER! DO NOT REFINISH OR REPAINT (Or at least I wouldnt) But its all up to you its your tool. As a collector I would prefer buying a plane like this without it being cleaned up and if it were repainted and shined up I would probably not consider paying 1/2 of what its worth untouched. If you would like to sell it I would be interested just name your price and we can work something out