A Restored #8

[Jim Paulson]

Here are some before and after pictures of a #8 that I bought on ebay. I am happy with the way it turned out. I did everything from flatten the sole to strip off the old paint, and then I treated it to a new iron. The neatest thing of course is that feeling you get when after the fettling is done (is it ever done?) the shavings come like they are supposed to.

I don't plan to flatten a #8 again and repainting is not my preference, but it worked for me here.
I also learned something about purchasing planes on ebay. A #8 is bit tougher to see condition from pictures on ebay. In this case the condition was better than I had expected. Thanks for looking. I am excited by how well the new IBC A2 iron is doing on tiger maple too. It makes it all worth it. Thank God there is no tear out with a 15 degree back bevel.

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[john brenton]

Those IBC irons are so much more attractive than the Hocks. (No offense to Ron). I don't know why he leaves the top square.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Looks great! I keep telling myself one of these days I'll clean my vintage planes up to that level of niceness. It hasn't happened yet, but when I see planes like this, I get tempted again...

[Jim Koepke]

Nice restoration job. At one time my thoughts on a #8 were that it wasn't really needed since a #7 was already in my shop. Now that there is a #8 in the shop, it gets used more often than the #7.

Those IBC irons are so much more attractive than the Hocks. (No offense to Ron). I don't know why he leaves the top square.

Everyone has their own favored shapes. If someone sold a blade with a round top, there are likely some who would favor that blade.

jtk

[Chris Griggs]

Nice restoration job. At one time my thoughts on a #8 were that it wasn't really needed since a #7 was already in my shop. Now that there is a #8 in the shop, it gets used more often than the #7.



Everyone has their own favored shapes. If someone sold a blade with a round top, there are likely some who would favor that blade.

jtk

I haven't used an 8 all that much but when I did I really liked it a lot. I'm sorta of the feeling that at the point I'm going larger than a 6 I might as well skip the 7 and use an 8.

Great restoration. That will be a very valuable asset to you shop.

Thanks for sharing.

[Jim Koepke]

I haven't used an 8 all that much but when I did I really liked it a lot. I'm sorta of the feeling that at the point I'm going larger than a 6 I might as well skip the 7 and use an 8.

Don't let that feeling dissuade you from picking up a #7 for a good price at a yard sale. My #8 does the heavy work and then the #7 takes a few passes as a final finish.

jtk

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks for the kind words. I plan on using it quite a bit. I totally agree that switching between the #7 and #8 might be a possibility for me too. Not right away though because this #8 is now in far better shape than my #7. I didn't have the courage to try flattening the sole of a #7 before this #8 project. Working on the #7 is another future project I guess.

Jim

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks for the kind words. I plan on using it quite a bit. I totally agree that switching between the #7 and #8 might be a possibility for me too. Not right away though because this #8 is now in far better shape than my #7. I didn't have the courage to try flattening the sole of a #7 before this #8 project. Working on the #7 is another future project I guess.

Jim

Jim (Paulson), how did you flatten the sole by the way - must have been tough??

Jim (Koepke), I saw a video on youtube once that IIRC was you flattening a jointer plane sole I think on a giant piece of granite.

Curious if this Jim did anything differently, and what he used as a flat surface.

[Jim Paulson]

Chris,

Thanks for asking about the details. I flattened the sole on a 3 foot long by 6 inch wide piece of 3/8 inch thick float glass. I've had it for awhile. Earlier, I attempted to get a 1/2 inch thick piece and was unsuccessful, but 3/8 inch thickness was available and it has given me satisfactory flatness. It would have been better to have had 4 foot in length, but I made it work.

After much time on the 80 grit self sticking sandpaper (comes in rolls), I got the sole true within a few thousandths. The sole on my #8 was concave, therefore high at the toe and heal. It took some time and sandpaper to reduce the toe and heal so that the sole was straight and flat. Based on the advice of folks on the forum, I made frequent sandpaper changes whenever the cutting efficiency dropped a lot. I lost track of how many strips of 80 grit I used.

I also swear by the 24 inch straight edge that I bought from Rockler. When the 80 grit gave me sufficient results then I went to the 120 and 220 grits.

The thing is the plane is now really sweet to use and performs far better than my #7 (I used the #7 without flattening it). Now I'm convinced that my time and money spent on sandpaper (perhaps $30) was well worth it. The new iron was a big help too. I was happy that I didn't have to use a file this time to the sole.

On the sides I used the same deal, but I didn't worry about them being square to the sole or completely flat since I don't plan to use it for shooting.

Hope that helps,

Jim

[Chris Griggs]

Cool. Thanks for sharing good thing it was concave - I imagine a hump would have been a lot harder to get rid of. Again, nice work - because of the work you put into it that's a tool you'll always love more than anything you can ever buy new.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Nice Job on the rehap. The plane looks great and from the sound of it, it performs great. Did you have to do any filing on the mouth for the new IBC blade to fit or is the new blades thickness compatible with the original frog\bed\mouth design?

[Andrew Teich]

Where did you get the sandpaper? I have searched the stores locally and only found sandpaper rolls available at Harbor Freight. They do not have the self adhesive back and while they should be adequate for a #4 or #5, they are too narrow for my #7.

Also if you wouldn't mind sharing some insight on how you got the lever cap looking so nice, or more details on the whole restore. I have read several threads but have yet to really get to work on my set of planes. Too many other projects to do before it gets cold out there.

[Jim Paulson]

Joe,

Thanks for commenting. I've enjoyed your posts. I don't rehab planes that much and when I do it is with the minimalist approach in mind. This is the first time I went so far as to strip the paint.

Regarding your question, yeah this rehab didn't require me to do any filing and the new IBC plane iron was accomodated by adjusting the frog. So far I haven't had to use a file to open up a mouth in any of my stanley bailey metal plane castings. I have gotten close to doing it already and I understand that it might be necessary depending on the iron thickness. Fortunately, it wasn't required here.


Andrew,


Whether you use self stick sandpaper or spray adhesive to hold the sanding belts it wouldn't matter. I have purchased sandpaper rolls from Klingspor already, but you may want to keep an eye out for deals to buy sandpaper belts in bulk on ebay or the internet.


I used a fine wire brush on my grinder to clean up surface rust on smaller parts like the lever cap and the chipbreaker. Screws were cleaned by wire brushing and evaporust. Overall my rehab was done mostly by using wire brushing, sandpaper, scotch pads and paint stripper. I also used tape a lot to keep the paint isolated to where I wanted it to go.

I was blessed to have only slight surface rust to deal with. I hope this helps.

Take care,
Jim

[Erik France]

That No. 8 turned out nicely. Luckily, my large plane buys from ebay didn't need much flattening.

Klingspor is a good source for paper. Have you tried their Sandflex blocks? I really like them for cleaning up iron parts. I use the fine one quite a bit for touch ups on my planes, especially if I put 'em to bed leaving fingerprints on them. I got my first set from Garrett Wade for twice the price. They sell as the 'Woderbar Rust Eraser'.

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks Erik,
I haven't tried the Sandflex blocks, but I'll certainly check them out.

Here is a picture of the #8 making shavings in the tiger maple. I've got 6-7 of these 13-14' wide boards to surface for two tables. I love the grain of this wood. This stock has more knots than I was hoping for, but I still think it will be nice for a colonial tavern table. Plus I got it for a good price. I'll be trimming off some of the knots along the edges.

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