Refurbish Hand Planes?

[Jay Knoll]

Hi everyone

I have a plane that used to be my Grandfather's. It was kicking around in the bottom of a tool chest. I had a stuck garden gate and grabbed the thing because I figured it was so beat up that I woudln't hurt it working on some painted wood.

Anyway, without any sharpening or tuning the thing worked great.

Now I'm wondering if I should get it fixed up so I can learn to use it properly. Frankly I don't want to spend a bunch of time learning how to fix it up. Too many projects on my list so I'm looking to find a firm that provides this service.

I don't know it the plane is worth any investment. It is a Bailey No 5, approximaely 14" long, the iron has Fulton stamped in it. Lots of nicks on the iron. The sole of the plane has several deep scratches.

Any advice?

Thanks for your help

Jay

[Richard Gillespie]

Jay, I started out late this summer with the intent of starting a plane refurbishing business. I bought a number of planes and started working on them. I found that it was taking about 4 or more hours each to tune up a plane. That included rust removal, repair of totes and knobs, flattening soles, irons and frogs. First time flattening backs of irons prior to sharpening can be very time consuming. I didn't even try to improve the looks by repainting (Japanning) the iron or re varnishing the totes. On top of all that you have to consider shipping costs.

I now have over two dozen planes in various stages of tuning that I've got to decide what to do with. Among them, are some favorites that will stay in my collection, however.

I saw a guy from Texas trying to sell some tuned planes on Ebay but I don't remember his name. I was left with the impression that he wasn't getting the bids he wanted selling them that way.

If the plane has deep personal attachment for you, the above costs may be worth it. However, most of us, out of curiosity and wanting to save money, learned to do it ourselves. I must warn you that if you do that, you may very well start sliding down a slippery slope towards other hand tools.

[Jim DeLaney]

Hi everyone

I have a plane that used to be my Grandfather's. It was kicking around in the bottom of a tool chest. I had a stuck garden gate and grabbed the thing because I figured it was so beat up that I woudln't hurt it working on some painted wood.

Anyway, without any sharpening or tuning the thing worked great.

Now I'm wondering if I should get it fixed up so I can learn to use it properly. Frankly I don't want to spend a bunch of time learning how to fix it up. Too many projects on my list so I'm looking to find a firm that provides this service.

I don't know it the plane is worth any investment. It is a Bailey No 5, approximaely 14" long, the iron has Fulton stamped in it. Lots of nicks on the iron. The sole of the plane has several deep scratches.

Any advice?

Thanks for your help

Jay

Your plane is a fairly common, not very valuable model. But... if it has some nostalgic/emotional value... try Mike in Katy. http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mike_in_katy/PlaneWood/Default.htm ... He does restorations, for a very reasonable price. He also makes some of the finest reproduction totes & knobs that I've ever seen, also at very reasonable prices.

[Scott Brihn]

Hello Jay,

Mike in Katy, TX did a wonderful job on a #5 I inherited from my father. The quality of work, price and turnaround time all exceeded my expectations. For shipping I built a wooden box and placed that inside of a cardboard box packed with newspaper. I plan on doing business with him again in the future.

Regards,

Scott

[Alan Turner]

I have my father's No. 5 Stanley Bailey, probably from the 50's, I think someone told me, since it has the black painted handle and tote. I tuned it up, and it is a fine plane to use, esp. with a sharp iron. Do ti, or send it to Mike in Katy. But, he does not true the sole or lap or sharpen or hone the iron.

[Bob Smalser]

Please don't pay money to have someone redo a Stanley 5....there's all sorts of sites that show you how:

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl

Here's a preview of two articles I'll write soon...one on plane rehabs without the fancy tools the TV and magazine shills are trying to sell you...and one article on the same with those two old framing chisels in the pic below...one of them apparently used to cut nails.

Note the two smoothers in the bottom pic...a 3 and a 4...each set for a different depth of cut...both looked worse than the 19-dollar Stanley 5 Type 16 above I'm doing the article on.

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40494865.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40494863.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40496286.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40494860.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302197/40495831.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302197/40496271.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302197/40495817.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40495338.jpg

Will have it out in another week or less. Will be for users, tho...not restoration of rare planes, an entirely different subject.

[Lee Schierer]

I have refurbished several hand planes myself that I inheirited from my grandfather, father and father in law. It is a bit of work, but well worth it. First, disassemble the plane entirely and remove all the rust from all the parts. Do not use rust remover chemicals. I use a fairlly soft wire brush mounted in my drill press running at high spped, being careful not to remove the paint. Clean the wood parts with a rag and mineral spirits, followed by a couple of coats of paste wax. Get a piece of 1/4" or thicker plate glass and glue some 220 grit paper to the surface. It should be larger than the sole of the plane. Carefullly sand the sole until it is cleaned up in all areas. It will also be flat. Do the same with both sides and edges of the iron, then sharpen the iron with the scary sharp method. Make sure the cutting edge is sharpened sqare to the sides of the iron. Lightly lubricate the threads of all the pieces during assembly. Apply a wiggly line of parafin to the bottom before using it and it will slice shavings so thin you can read through them.

You'll thank your ancestor each time you use it for leaving it to you, I know I do.

[Richard Gillespie]

I'm looking forward to your article. I have over two dozen planes I'm in the process of restoring and tuning. I haven't even considered what I was going to do about the totes and knobs other than gluing the broken ones.

I've devoted most of my energy to flattening tuning and sharpening. As a side lite to that. I've been surprised by the differences in hardness of the CI soles among different plane manufactures. Miller Falls seem to be soft. Sargent and Craftsman made by Sargent are hard as a rock. Stanley seems to vary plane to plane or year to year.

It was suggested to me that it is because of the amount of carbon added to the mix. I wouldn't know but I don't care if I never try to flatten a Sargent plane again. It's bad enough trying to first time flatten irons.

[Bob Smalser]

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40548914.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40548921.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40548925.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40548193.jpg

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40548180.jpg

Not exactly the plane iron, but I strop them on the 8" wheel with KnifeMaker's Green Rouge

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40548176.jpg

Note the hair above the edge bevel:

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/40548188.jpg

[Bob Smalser]

Here's a high-end, well-tuned Stanley 60 1/2 that works like a dream...and it was free when I acquired it 30 years ago, and would cost mere pocket change today.

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302194/41447357.jpg

Note the odd mouth adjusting knob...it's the elevation wheel from another junk block plane. The Stanley was missing mouth plate and knob and was free...I merely filed out another one, brazed on a stud to mount it and affixed it with the old wheel I happened to have on hand.

The end result was a tad shy of perfect flush with the sole, so I built the bearing surfaces up with a tad more braze, seen as a bright spots in the pic.

It remains my only block plane to this day.