Thread: Winner winner chicken dinner

Hmmm, there'll be a few green faces reading this post, Yowie. The Mathieson (panel plane?) alone was worth the drive - I think you might have scored the bargain of the year!

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the gauge. I've never used one, and I like the look of them, but have always wondered why the beam is locked by a slot-head screw rather than a thumbscrew. It's neat, but having to scratch around on the bench looking for the screwdriver I just put down, while the stock slips a bit from where I just set it, could become a bit tiresome. Lots of folks must have thought otherwise, several different firms cranked them out, & quite a few were bought, judging by the number of them still kicking around...

Cheers,

Yes, I'd noticed the screw. A bit of a PITA but I guess if you are setting up for a run of something, you can set and forget. I'll see how it goes. Looks pretty at any rate...

Very happy with the panel plane.

A good haul there!

That Stanley isn’t a 4, it’s a 4-1/2 smoother which is slightly wider than a 4. Tall front knob without a ring in the casting, “Stanley” embossed in the lever cap and with a keyhole not the kidney hole points to it being a “type 13 Sweetheart” made between 1925 and 1928. It looks like the cap iron is missing, and the lateral adjustment lever has either been pushed out of camera shot or is also missing. Providing the sole isn’t badly corroded, warped or gouged it can be restored to working condition fairly easily.

Yes. A teeney weeney bit green. Luckily I didn't see any handsaws to covert or the green would be adapted to camo and I would be on my way, knife between teeth.

Nice haul.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by IanW

Hmmm, there'll be a few green faces reading this post, Yowie. The Mathieson (panel plane?) alone was worth the drive - I think you might have scored the bargain of the year!

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the gauge. I've never used one, and I like the look of them, but have always wondered why the beam is locked by a slot-head screw rather than a thumbscrew. It's neat, but having to scratch around on the bench looking for the screwdriver I just put down, while the stock slips a bit from where I just set it, could become a bit tiresome. Lots of folks must have thought otherwise, several different firms cranked them out, & quite a few were bought, judging by the number of them still kicking around...

Cheers,

I’ve acquired one of those gauges too, in a similar fashion (a friend shoved a box of tools into my boot and told me to keep what I want, sell what I could and give the rest away). I was considering soldering a small coin into the slot, making it a reasonable facsimile of a thumb screw and if I wanted to go back to stock, I could lightly sand off the solder. I’m still undecided though, maybe solder is a bit too permanent.

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Yes. A teeney weeney bit green. Luckily I didn't see any handsaws to overt or the green would be adapted to camo and I would be on my way, knife between teeth.

Nice haul.

There is a keyhole saw in there...

Originally Posted by Colin62

..... I was considering soldering a small coin into the slot, making it a reasonable facsimile of a thumb screw and if I wanted to go back to stock, I could lightly sand off the solder. I’m still undecided though, maybe solder is a bit too permanent.

Colin, it shouldn't be too hard to remove a bit of solder, and your idea should certainly make the gauge a bit more convenient. I guess that these gauges were used at particular settings for long periods, so having to use a screwdriver to re-set was only an occasional irritation. I was thinking about myself, really - tools seem to hide from me on the bench all the time these days - in plain view, too!

Anyway, as I said, they seem to have been popular in their day - just google "ebony & brass marking gauge" & you'll dig up dozens of the things. I counted at least 5 different makes in the first 10 I looked at. P'raps they were more convenient to stuff in a toolbox without the thumbscrew?

CT, you've got an eagle eye - I didn't spot the missing lateral lever! I did notice the front knob. It surprises me how effective that raised ring is in preserving the base of the knob, but it definitely makes a difference (Patrick the Leach mentions it in his discussion of the #3). I've only seen a few rimless examples, & every one was damaged, but can't recall seeing any damage to those with the cast ring. I had an old pre-lateral-adjuster #4 that came with a very badly damaged knob. I made a new one, turning the base a bit wider than the original, and under-cut the edge with a small rounded chamfer. The sole was in poor condition, and there was a great chunk out of one cheek, so I set it up as a scrub plane & used it a lot for quite a few years. The knob stood up well, but hard to say if it was my clever engineering, ensuring the stud remained tight, or simply a good tough piece of She-oak, that did the trick...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by yowie

There is a keyhole saw in there...

yowie

Luckily, for you that is, I didn't see that. In fact I had to enlarge the pix to even spot it. However I am booking an appointment with the optician this week for an eye test. Also you may relax as you need not expect a guerilla attack anytime soon as the keyhole saws are on the fringe of my desirable tools spectrum.

That saw looks to be one of the adjustable type with a wing nut to secure the blade. That would mean that it is either adjustable for sawing in different positions or it once had interchangeable blades and may have been sold as a plumbers' set.

This is a Simonds offering just as an example (from 1912)

Nests of saws.jpg

Regards
Paul

Yowie, viewing your photos filled me with sadness due to being only able to see 50% of the brace. Do you realise this is blatant toolism or perhaps you are pandering to the plane droolers in our midst. You mention "A few of the auger bits will be put into service" how you're going to do that with half a brace will be interesting to see.
Cheers
Geoff.

Yowie that's a good score. Those tools obviously belonged to a hard working craftsman, or craftsmen as the case may be. They are hard worked tools that could obviously tell a lot of stories if they could talk.
Enjoy them mate! Cheers.

Ah Geoff, I already have a brace that was my fathers that I prefer to use. I shall post a better photo on the weekend for you.

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So I have started the resto on the Mathieson. the sole is seriously out of square so put a few hours into it. My 3yo daughter Clara put a minute or so into it too. Still a few to go. The sides of the plane are miles out so I am not going to flatten them, just make them look a bit shiny. The blade took serious flattening as well as I think it had been dropped. One corner was quite low. I thought about flattening the whole blade but it was miles out so gave the top half a bit of a wire brush instead. Chip breaker likewise had been dropped and was a bit bent. Only took five minutes to make it useable again though. End of the day I took some 2thou shavings so not too bad. I find it is a real pita to adjust the plade. Any tips? When you tighten the screw, the blade moves. I think the end of the screw isn't very round. I shall give it a clean up and see if it improves it.

A few photos of the process, as well as a couple of photos of some of the other tools from the new collection.

Originally Posted by yowie

.... I find it is a real pita to adjust the plade. Any tips? When you tighten the screw, the blade moves. I think the end of the screw isn't very round. I shall give it a clean up and see if it improves it....

Yowie, from what I can see of the end of the thumbscrew, it does look a bit too 'blunt' to me. To prevent slewing of the blade as you tighten, a sharp point is best, but that tends to bite into the cap-iron making it very hard to get a fine adjustment, and is not practical (I've tried it!). On my planes, I aim for a nicely-rounded point (I'll try & get a pic later) - it might take you a bit of trial & error to fix the end of your screw, but if you can figure out a way to hold it in a drill or something to spin it slowly while you put a bit more of a rounded point on it with a file, that should eliminate or greatly reduce your slewing problem.

Irregularities in the blade bed, or high spots on the sole/chatterblock can affect smooth setting. If the plane is jumping from not-cutting to too rank a setting without anything in between, check the blade bed & make sure it's as flat as you can get it, & that the back of the blade is smooth & clean. It seems like it's pretty good if you can already get 2 thou shavings..

There are many techniques for setting, mine is to sit the plane on a very flat piece of hard wood, insert the blade trying to get the cutting edge straight, and barely touching the wood, then with the lever-cap still just loose, push the plane forward an inch or two. That should force the blade back evenly so it is not cutting. Tighten down a bit, then gently tap the blade forward til it just cuts. Now fully tighten and with luck, all will be well. With some planes, the final tighten will increase the depth of cut slightly - this is due either to a very slight convexity of the blade bed, or flexing of the blade assembly. It can be a useful feature or a nuisance, depending on circumstances, but you soon learn to live with it.

If you use the plane a lot, you will become so used to setting it, you'll find it's no slower or more difficult than using a screw adjuster, but these are hand-made tools & each infill has its own little quirks & peculiarities that you need to sort out. That's part of their 'character'.

Cheers,

Your brace looks like a Millers Falls No 32 maybe?
Cheers,
Geoff.