Peter57 16th September 2013, 12:51 AM My Dad's garage burnt down a few months back now and with the help of NRMA insurance (they were a pleasure to deal with) and help from family and friends he now has a shed again and some toys to play with. One of the victims of the fire was his trusty Stanley 4 1/2. It sat on the bench beside him and was the go to plane whenever he was working on a job. Unfortunately, it was pretty much in the main area affected by the fire so it took a bit of a beating. I've slowly been working on bringing it back to life. The clean up was pretty easy, fettling the sole took a while and thanks to a combination of some Greg Ward rosewood and the nifty Lee Valley on-line templates I was able to replace the tote and knob. Added a new Lee Valley blade and now's it's as good as it ever was.
Gave it back to dad tonight :)
Here's the before and afters.
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artme 16th September 2013, 01:20 AM Great job on the restoration!! Dad will be pleased!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:
Just a couple of Questions:
Do you think the fire affected the metal in any way?
Is that a wider than usual plane?
IanW 16th September 2013, 09:16 AM You certainly cleaned it up nicely!
Did you replace the frog & lever-cap - they look like new?
It looks like the fire was only hot enough to char the woodwork, so it should not have affected the plane body. The blade would be the part I most worried about, but you wisely replaced that, so it should be better than new (& even more valued by its owner!) :U
Cheers,
jimbur 16th September 2013, 10:02 AM Very nice work. I have just used the Lee Valley template to make a temporary handle in elm for my 'new' no8 while I fix up the rosewood one. That's my excuse for it not being as neat as yours anyway.:B
ps the only problem I found with the template, especially as I was using a coarse grained timber, was the suggested size for the rod. It only leaves a 1/16" lip. I ended up plugging at the top and re-drilling to a smaller size.
Poppa 16th September 2013, 12:41 PM Great job. Those new handles look superb.
Peter57 16th September 2013, 01:51 PM Thanks guys,
I really enjoyed the whole process. The fact that I was restoring something that Dad had used for years made it even more enjoyable.
The plane is a normal Stanley 4 ½. I think dad purchased it in the 1950’s so the adjuster was Bakelite. I replaced that with an adjuster and yoke from an old plane I had for spares.
The body of dad’s plane was pretty good, including the frog. I simply electrolysed away all of the oldpaint, scrubbed madly then repainted it. I put it together with the tote, knob and blade from my own plane, adjusted it roughly then fettled the base. That took a bit of work as it was fairly uneven. More from decades of use than from the heat I think. The blade and cap iron were heavily pitted so I replaced them. There something about lots of heat, then lots of water and then lots of waiting while insurance doesits investigation that make for some pretty nasty corrosion of steel.
The lever cap cleaned up nicely, a little red paint and a lot of polishing and it looks presentable. Turning the knob was the biggest challenge. I had not turned in anger prior to this project so a lot of maple and pine was sacrificed while I figured out how to turn a knob that looked close to the original.
I think the old man must have liked it because he gave me an old Disston hard back saw to restore next. It was the only one of his handsaws that made it out alive, but badly scarred. The rest were totally destroyed.
cheers,
orraloon 16th September 2013, 02:41 PM A really great job and a very good deed.
Regards
John
Twisted Tenon 16th September 2013, 08:01 PM That must have been a very satisfying process for you. One question though, what type of paint did you use for the body of the plane?
TT
Peter57 16th September 2013, 11:41 PM TT,
I just used a spray pack epoxy/alkyd from the big green shed. It took forever to develop some decent hardness. Dried within a few hours but was easy to damage for weeks after. Eventually the system develops a half decent hardness and damage resistance.
It was fun and I have another to restore for myself. I've worked up a paint that will bake hard (paint design is my day job). All I need to do now is wait until the wife's away so I can use the oven (or do it a work and avoid the domestic blitz). I've tried it on some test pieces and it bakes quite hard and glossy after 1 hour at 120 degrees C.
I read about japanning and my take on it is that it was just the reliable/easy option of the day. The asphaltum is just a very cheap black pigment and was easy to obtain in the days before black oxide pigments. Spar varnish was simply a half decent industrially available clear.
Cheers,
Peter
Colin62 17th September 2013, 12:32 AM I reckon you've done a great job there. I like the fact that you restored the plane rather than just finding another and replacing it. Well done.
pmcgee 17th September 2013, 01:30 AM I think the old man must have liked it because he gave me an old Disston hard back saw to restore next. It was the only one of his handsaws that made it out alive, but badly scarred. The rest were totally destroyed.
cheers,
I saw the original thread ... it's great the insurers are not being ... typical :)
Let us know what his other saws were ... year ... maker ... pitch ... there might be some replacements easily found and sent.
Do you still have the old blades?
Cheers,
Paul
Peter57 17th September 2013, 11:49 PM The saws were all totally trashed. Dad's set were a few Sandviks he bought in the 50's and he had Grandpa's Disstons, plus a few he'd accumulated over the years.
they all ended up like the attached photos and were sent off for recycling.
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Twisted Tenon 18th September 2013, 12:01 AM TT,
I just used a spray pack epoxy/alkyd from the big green shed. It took forever to develop some decent hardness. Dried within a few hours but was easy to damage for weeks after. Eventually the system develops a half decent hardness and damage resistance.
It was fun and I have another to restore for myself. I've worked up a paint that will bake hard (paint design is my day job). All I need to do now is wait until the wife's away so I can use the oven (or do it a work and avoid the domestic blitz). I've tried it on some test pieces and it bakes quite hard and glossy after 1 hour at 120 degrees C.
I read about japanning and my take on it is that it was just the reliable/easy option of the day. The asphaltum is just a very cheap black pigment and was easy to obtain in the days before black oxide pigments. Spar varnish was simply a half decent industrially available clear.
Cheers,
Peter
thanks Peter. Sounds like you are on a winner. Are you going to market it?
TT
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