Thread: Restoration of my Granddad's Stanley #4.

Another issue I'm having is the tote twisting slightly, even with the nut done up rather tightly. Because of the condition of the thread in the base, I really don't want to strip it.

My idea is to fill the hole in the bottom of the tote with some timbermate, then press it onto the base so it takes the shape of the conical pin. Hopefully stabilising everything?

If anyone knows of a better way to stabilise the tote I'm all ears

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As the knob was rotating freely, I did plan on filing a bit off the stud. But I really don't want to alter the stud as I'll do plan on making a new knob/tote at some point. So I put a washer I had spare under it, and it's now solid as a rock. I also put a washer from a tek screw under the tote nut to raise it to just below the surface, looks better to me, not sure if that's where it's supposed to be. Because it's compressible, it actually helped hold it in place, similar to a spring washer. I think with the modification above, the tote should be as solid as the knob when finished.

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I couldn't help but test it out after putting it back together. I see why number 4's are called smoothing planes. Hooley dooley! Never seen anything like it.

I grabbed a scrap of cedar I had and gave it a go, very pleased with the result. The surface is silky smooth!

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I do have an issue with it wanting to skip just have it's engaged the work piece. About half way between the mouth and the back of the sole. Once the entire sole if on the surface, it's fine and continues. I find I have to press harder here to ensure a full shaving. I suspect it's because the sole still isn't flat, it still has a slight hump in the middle. If I'm taking a thicker shaving it's not a problem, but I suspect I'm taking a shaving that isn't a consistent thickness. Been a fun little project so far! I think with the sole flat and the other little modifications completed, it should be a good user I just need to fight the urge to get the belt sander out to tackle the sole... or do I!?

Kenour,
That's a great write up there.
Even better for s first plane restoration.
Don't use a belt sander to flatten the sole.
There's heaps of information out there on how to flatten a sole.
But most and me included just use the sand paper stuck to a long flat surface (32 mm will work)trick

Matt

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Don't use a belt sander to flatten the sole.
There's heaps of information out there on how to flatten a sole.
But most and me included just use the sand paper stuck to a long flat surface (32 mm will work)trick

Matt

But... I really really want to... There's quite a bit of pitting to get rid off, sanding is getting tedious.

I'm using some 120 I had handy, would it be worth going to a more aggressive grit just to get rid of the majority of material? Or should I just learn how to scrape

pitting is only an issue if it is right on the front edge of the mouth. If that area is flat and leve lwith both the heel and toe it's all good.

Basically is the pitting affecting the performance of the plane or just your pride.
I know how nice it is to have everything perfect.
You could drop down to 80 grit if you need to. Then go back to 120 grit.
But you really only need it flat around the mouth toe and heel.

The pitting in mainly in the centre of the plane where it's slightly convex, so getting rid of that area can't be a bad thing right?

I'm not sure if it's technique that's causing the 'skip', or the convex sole. It's quite different to my buzzer Quieter and leaves a better finish.

Nice work !


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Originally Posted by kenour

The pitting in mainly in the centre of the plane where it's slightly convex, so getting rid of that area can't be a bad thing right?

it could be a really bad thing

on a #4, the center of the sole is approximately where the frog attaches. If you take too much off the frog screws will start to poke through.
When flattening the sole, the blade needs to be in the plane and cinched down with the lever cap.

A couple of things.
A few years ago I was into planes pretty solid.

By far the best to clean them up is electrolisis ..... I had a bath running pretty much continuously for over a year ..... nothing else comes close on plane bodies.

as far as the black paint/ japan ...... a black ethch primer ( wattyl superetch), followed by black quick dry enamel then baked at 100C from cold for an hour, is pretty damn rugged.

I did some experiments with authentic Japan ...... yeh it works ..... my moderised formular.

50/50 shelac flakes and asphaltum ( fron an art store), disolved in as little GP thinner as posible with equal parts of thinner and boiled linseed oil.
The asphaltum and shelac will take some time to disolve and never realy completely
it looks brown and muddy in the jar ..... it still looks brown and muddy on the job and will remain tacky till you bake it. ... only then does it go black.


1 hour at 100C from cold seems to do the trick.

never seen a plane that did not need a few strokes of a file on the frog and a scrape where the frog mates ...... carefull file work on all machined surfaces pays dividends.

when flattening the sole ..... don't be afraid to go to 60 gritt if its singing Major Tom.
3 feet of sand paper stretched out on the sawbench works well.
I did a new record #7 ..... it was bowie, hard work even with 60 gritt.

On the tote ..... its often worth flatening the bottom of the tote.

Don't be affraid of trimming the rods in the tote and the knob.

The joy of a well tuned plane can not be underestimated ...... and a plane has to be pretty damn uggy to not be worth saving.

cheers

I would love to give a traditional finish a go in the future, am really happy with this killrust product so far.

I was doing some reading after I choose it, and there was a plane restorer that said it was a very good choice and gave a finish pretty close to the original (can't for the life of me remember where I read it), so that was good to hear.

I'll give the sole another going over with a lower grit at some point, it's actually taking a good shaving at the moment, I just want it perfect I mean, this is a labour of love after all!

Hi Ken.

Sorry I missed this thread until today. Nice work on rehabbing your grandfathers plane.

Some comments:
- the plane looks to have a ground flat all along the top of both "wings". This suggests it's a very early English plane (= good). Stanley began making planes in UK after buying JA Chapman in Dec 1936. I would guess they stopped machining the top edge of the "wings" somewhere between the very late 1940s and mid-1950s (probably about the same time as they started making the tops of the irons curved instead of flat). The ground portion on the top of the wings would have been unpainted (like all the other machined faces).

- the top of the cap -iron is flat - I would think that's original to the plane. The top of the worn-out cutting iron is curved - I would think it's a replacement. So for some reason your gradfather changed out the original cutting iron - possibly because it was worn out - in which case it's been well used to wear out TWO cutting irons .

- if you haven't thrown out the USA plane body, you can look up to see how old the replacement parts are here RexMill.com Hand Planes 101 The Resource It looks to me to be a type 16 or newer (1933 >).

Cheers, Vann.

before you work on the sole of the plane, check it out with a straight edge..... your problems may have another cause.

cheers

Don't do it kenour. I did it to a #4 last year, stuffed it as the belt sander was far too aggressive and not dead flat itself. the sole will take on the shape of the sander, which is NOT a precision device.

And to be clear, my sander was actually a Sheppach linisher style, which i thought was a cut above a plain belt sander.