Found these guys today. Stanley no 4, Stanley no 27 transitional, and an old wooden fore plane. I thought the last no 5 I cleaned up was bad, but this no 4 is worse. We'll see what can be done with it
Found these guys today. Stanley no 4, Stanley no 27 transitional, and an old wooden fore plane. I thought the last no 5 I cleaned up was bad, but this no 4 is worse. We'll see what can be done with it
Well, if anything, you will learn your tolerance for fixing up rusty planes. The steel parts look shot on the #4, but the cast is probably OK. If they were super cheap, I would have picked them up for parts planes back in my acquisition days. Now I that I have all the planes I realistically need, I only get things in that are inexpensive and in good condition, or really really cheap (and sometimes free still isn't cheap if the condition is bad enough)
Like Andrew said, they will be good learning experience.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
I fiddled around with it some last night. I didn't pay much for the 3 so I basically got the no 4 for free is the way I look at it. The parts are actually cleaning up pretty good. I'll post some pictures when I'm done and see how it turns out. The wooden ones are in nice shape. Hey, at least the no 4 can't get any worse!
Last edited by Jason Buresh; 10-25-2019 at 1:27 PM.
Well, considering what I had 24 hours agoI'm pretty happy with the outcome so far. The original iron and chipbreaker aren't worth sharpening I don't think, and the wood needs some attention, but it's better than it was
Looking good so far. Usually when they are that rusty the blade and chip breaker are toast.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
You're a braver man than I. I picked up a 1922 Type 6a Bed Rock 607 that needed far less sprucing up than these. Also a 1931 Stanley 5-1/2 in similar shape. Both had some rust and were probably on the outer edge of my skill/tolerance for restoration, but they're both beautiful now: flat, shiny, and very effective. It appears that you will soon resurrect some lovely tools back into the world. But you might need new irons and breakers. Let us know how they end up making shavings, and good luck!
If you get automotive black paint, you can replace the rusty japanning.
https://www.teoma.us/web?qo=semQuery...n_s&rch=intl29
The japanning actually isn't in half bad shape. I will definitely pick up a can of that for the future though. I just picked up a piece of float glass and some sandpaper so tonight's project will be cleaning up the sole and the cheeks. It's been fun to bring it back to life.
So tonight I had the float glass and sandpaper out to true up the sole of a Miller's Falls no 14 I recently cleaned up and I looked at the little number 4 and thought if I brought it this far why not try the iron. I flattened the back and gave it an edge and the thing makes shavings. I'm still going to get a replacement iron, but at least it's not dead.
Nice restore on the Millers Falls.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)