Thread: From the Stanley vault (photo intensive)

Cheers mate! Never seen the #62 or the Gage plane before, appreciate the explanation.

More info on the #62 from the usual source The Superior Works - Patrick's Blood & Gore: Planes #60 - #70
He doesn't cover the Gage planes, I got my info from "The Stanley Little Big Book 2006" be Clarence Blanchard. They came in sizes 3-7 with both smooth and corrugated soles as well as 8 different sizes of wooden bodied planes.

One more, also...help?

Stanley 85 rebate scraper

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Tilting handles so you don't smash your knuckles in deep rebates
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The small grub screw in the middle is for adjusting the angle of the frog, but it's well and truly rusted in; an impact driver wouldn't budge it and WD-40 didn't bubble which indicates little to no penetration. Anyone have a good, non-destructive method to get rusted screws out? I do have a replacement from a second 85, but Stanley had a thing for weird thread sizes so, even if I drilled the old one out, I likely couldn't re-tap the hole.
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Hi Elan,
They are a pretty rare plane, and I've a real soft spot for them, for sure one of the most interesting planes Stanley ever made.
One of them was in the very first lot of vintage tools I was given, and was one of the tools that got me very excited about handplanes ... way back before I started collecting and using old tools.
I still have it. see pic below.. Very different colour in the rosewood handles. But I know it is all original.

It looks to me like that screw is already getting more damage than it should.
With the tools I have on my jewellery workbench, that should come out without much drama.
I'd love to see it back to "as made"
Do you ever get down to the Mornington Peninsula?
If you would like, bring it down here and we can get the screw out, and restore it back to how it was made.

Cheers,
Peter

Thanks Peter, that's a very generous offer that I'd be glad to accept.
A full restoration might be a slippery slope... I've got over 30 Stanley planes, all USA except for 2 of the early (good) UK ones and they could all do with some cosmetic treatment.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Anyone have a good, non-destructive method to get rusted screws out?

An interesting video on Utube showed a method of loosening rusted wheel nuts. Can't find the link but the method was very simple.

Warm the screw with a cig lighter until it melts candle wax, drip some molten wax on the screw and unscrew.

Do not over heat as the wax will evaporate.

It sounds too good to be true but I think that the molten wax wicks into the thread and acts as a lubricant so that if you move the screw slightly it doesn't gall on the rust and releases. I have tried it with some success on agricultural bolts that initially would not budge and got them off.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Thanks Peter, that's a very generous offer that I'd be glad to accept.
A full restoration might be a slippery slope... I've got over 30 Stanley planes, all USA except for 2 of the early (good) UK ones and they could all do with some cosmetic treatment.

Hi Elan,
Since we moved to the Peninsula I've sold most of my Stanley tool, and patented plane collection. A decision about displaying them need to be made. Room wasn't available, and leaving them packed away in boxes wasn't a favorite option.
I did keep some of the original boxed stuff, and some from the first lot of tools that were gifted to me in the 1980s

My clumsy expression may have mislead you ... I'm confident we can make the SCREW look like it was "as made from the factory."
I'm not a fan of FULL restorations on old tools. Repair/restore/preserve it, to make it functional is usually my first thought. I tend to try and put myself in the mind of the original owner, hopefully a careful one who looked after the tools. I think it's usually the next couple of generations that have allowed the deterioration of the tools.
So I think .... what standard would the careful and proud owner like it restored to?? And handed back to him so he could put it back in his kit, and use it.
When you are here I can run through the usual process I use to do as little damage as possible into the original finish on metal and japanning.

With this screw, it's absolutely critical not to do anything that will damage the casting...screws can be made, a frog for #85 .. not so easy!
I like to use my micro Oxy-Lpg torch to get the heat up in the screw, and use wd40 spray to cool it. Like the wax noted above it sucks in, and can quickly loosen rust...HOWEVER...Since the screw bears down on the bed to lift the frog, it is quite possible the bottom has mushroomed out, and that's contributing to why it isn't moving out.
The screw is 28tpi, 1/4 inch. That happens to be a standard SAE thread count, so I have taps and dies for that. BUT, it is also common with plenty of the screws on the #45 & #55 planes, as well as others. I've got half a dozen spares to choose from. So, looking at the screw in your plane, given it has been badly grunged, I'd drill it out using my dental bits on the flexdrive, clean the threaded hole with a 28tpi taper tap, and make an exact replica screw using the sample of a good one from my plane.

Cheers,
Peter

And another

Early Type 2 (1870-ish) #3 in as-found condition

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It was hard to get the lighting right to see the stamp, but it's dated Dec. 24 1867
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Elan,
There is a huge amount of information hidden in that date!
The Patent date - 24th Dec 1867 refers to US Patent #72,443, one of Leonard Bailey's patents.
It was the key to the use of a back iron on Bailey's favoured thin steel cutting blades.
This is the patent that explains why, and how the familiar hump at the front edge of the back iron is meant to work.

So very few of the 1000s of Bailey type planes I've seen actually have the back iron properly configured how Bailey / Stanley made them.

The Patent describes how the cutting blade is kept from "buckling and chattering" by having the cap iron bear on it at two places, the front edge and another line a short distance above it at the back of the hump on the back iron.
The front edge of the lever cap is to push that hump onto the thin steel blade against the body of the plane and resist that acting as a fulcrum around which the blade will tend to flex.
A simple and elegant idea ... unknown and ignored by so many ... that when correctly set up will work quite well.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=p...fs/US72443.pdf

Cheers,
Peter

Thanks Peter, I did know that that setup was meant to stiffen the blade, just didn't know the actual mechanics behind it

I have had success with this stuff,we used to buy it from Blackwoods but Bunnys now stock it.
The old Penetrene is good stuff now available in a 1 litre trigger container.
I grab the old cans whenever I see them at garage sales.
Re the tilt handles on your scraper they are for knuckle clearance when finishing a cabinet or similar.
The 10 1/4 rebate is what you were probably thinking of re rebate and knuckles.
Love the No3 prelateral I have a 5 similar. Hans had a few prelats at his last sale.
I used to have a full set but sold them off in the 90s to fund house renos.
Same with the 212 and 10 1/4.
H.