Restoring hand planes

[coastie]

Just bought a Stanley Bailey no5 on ebay,sole is lighly pitted with rust,blade looks 100% some light rust on sides,handles have a little varnish left on them,otherwise doesn't look in bad nick.
Where do I start,lapping the sole to remove the rust?Pulling it apart and oiling everything, buffing with brass wire brush?
I'm in your hands guys.
I don't want to make it a collectors item,just a good usable plane.:confused:

[DarrylF]

Must be the day for it - just bought a batch of 6 planes, including a #5 on eBay myself :)

This is a pretty detailed run through (with pics):
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=handtools&Number=748878&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=

Also take a look at http://www.rexmill.com

I'm sure Derek & others can contribute something other than links :)

[coastie]

Just spent a week fiddling with no5 Stanley,sharpened it with scary sharp method cuts like a hot knife through butter!
Sole was a bit more pitted than I would have liked, looks like it has been put away wet,by the time I cleaned all the crap it reaveled was very badly pitted,tried emery paper,sandpaper but had little effect. I will now get it surface ground, only $25
Turned out to be a good user, little expensive but I'm not going to resell it .Will give it to one of the grandkids.Have to do some more cleaning up on it and reenamel all the steel work,should look good when I'm finished.
I'll catch up with the p...k that ran me up on ebay ,I'll get square.
Darryl you had a chance to fiddle with yours yet?(Planes I mean)

[DarrylF]

I've made a start - still got a hell of a lot to do though :)

The #4 has two cracks around the mouth, one of them running around & about 10mm up the side. They're not open or anything, and don't seem to move, but it still sucks, especially since it's the oldest of the bunch. Contemplated taking it over to a mate's place and hitting it with the MIG, but I'm not sure that the result would be :) The blade's all used up too. If nothing else the tote & knob should look good when refinished.

I started removing the pink paint from the #220 block plane and wound up giving up and wire brushing the japanning off and respraying it. The blade etc is good. Still have to refinish the wood knob. This model doesn't have lateral adjustment and I have 2 other decent block planes, so I'm not sure I'll keep it.

The #4 1/2 has a bit of rust under what's left of the japanning, so I'll get rid of all the japanning, remove the rust and respray as well. Other than that it's not bad.

At least the #71 is perfect and has nice rosewood knobs :)

I started looking at the #5 and #7. Rust is fairly bad on both - even rust on the frog on the #5. I think they will both need rust converter and stripping back.

If you have a wide bench mounted belt sander think about using that to flatten the soles etc - you'd be surprised how good a job it does.

I'm not sure I'd worry too much about pitting. Unless it's really bad it's not going to affect the use of the plane. It affects value because it points to a history of less than perfect care.

BTW - for cleaning up the mouth they all seem to say use a file, but buggered if mine fit :) I have one of those small diamond files, about 3/4" x 1.5" mounted on the end of a handle. Does a nice job for the fine work and fits in the tight spaces.

[Sawdust Producer]

Hi all,
Here`s another link to look at

http://www.yesterdaystools.com/tuninga1.htm

[Anthony Clancy]

Hi.....re mouth cracks..."think I'll take it to the mates place and hit it with the MIG" This made my pretty uncomfortable. You under examination might be less blaise about the statement but others may be damagingly mislead by such a simplification and maybe on a much more valuable plane than a Stanley 5. .

The crystaline structure and graining of the plane base through nature and age as well as the varying thickness needs a lot more expert planning than "hitting it with the MIG".

What's idle "macho" chatter among pals on a public forum might lead to others doing horrible things. My suggestion...? ........before welding any handplane make inquiries ...with the plane in hand...... of a welding firm with a specialist metallurgist so that age, repurcussions, method,penetration, material, temperature and attack can all be considered as a package in such welding. MIG is a wonderful development but it's not a magic wand. The considerations of cast iron (and steel) peculiarities and changes with age are always pertinent......For another thing...why not just seek out another plane and keep the spares?...like colt revolvers the quality isn't anything to write home about and has been well exceeded by others.

[silentC]

I'd say he's moved on to other things by now. It was 5 years ago after all :)

[toolbagsPLUS]

Hey coastie,

I came across this site the other day and I reckon it is the best I have seen for plane restoration, Lot's of pictures and not to many words, (my type of site)
http://www.majorpanic.com/handplane_restor1.htm:2tsup::2tsup:

Have several planes to do up myself and am following this advise, very clear and easy to follow.

So Congratualtions to whom ever this site belongs to.

Cheers

Steve

[MrJamieR]

Steve

"majorpanic" (web site owner) is a forum member. The thread that details his plane restoration is a personal favourite.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=29549

All I've got to do now is figure out where to get the satin finish epoxy he uses. It looks like it has just the right amount of gloss. The finished plane looks fantastic.