Thread: Fixing up an old Mathieson Plane

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L-R Tigre, Mathieson and a mystery brand, possibly Pinie.

The Tigre is going to get some work done to it and I suspect this will become my scrub plane.

The Mathieson was cleaned, the iron sharpened and the sole trued up and takes some very nice fine shavings, but still needs some adjustment on my part. Definitely my new smoother.

The mystery plane on the right had a more extensive job done to it. Sole trued up, all the old finish scraped and sanded off, edges faired, especially at the rear and given a coat of linseed oil. Starting to think this will be my go-to small jack plane.

The 17" Mathieson Jack plane will be seen to next. I was practicing plane restoration on these smaller ones.

Starting to wonder about the Mathieson Jack Plane. It seems stable for now, with the sole trued up and fresh linseed oil applied. Main issue now is that the iron is really worn down quite far. I may look to find another in better condition. Starting to eye off the back half of the plane as a nice chunk of European Beech which may make a good mallet head. Waiting for the toe end to split before I do that though.

They do tend to be stable during the cooler part of the year. I see your reasoning as there are better planes out there. Hope it holds together until you find one. As to mallet heads we have better local woods. Early in my woodworking I bought a beech mallet but never really liked it. A bit light and not as hard as our local woods. I hate seeing wood go to waste so having a bit of beech laying around could be handy for your future plane repairs. Whatever you do please dont make a lamp out of it. That offence will get you tarred and feathered.
Regards
John

How is Tas Oak for mallets?

Have not tried it as I think it may split from being bashed about. That is just gut feeling so perhaps others can comment on it. Spotted gum works well and ironbark if you want serious weight. I have used both and they can take the punishment. There are many other woods that would likely make a decent mallet. They are quite quick and easy to make and even if you have not picked the best wood it will still do the job for a while.
Regards
John

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Fixed up this beastie. Mathieson 22" Trying/Jointer Plane. Took a fair while with a long strip of 80-grit sandpaper on the bench top to flatten the sole. It had a massive hollow behind the mouth. Then cleaned up with 120-grit and 240-grit until it was smoothed. Linseed oil on the sole and the whole lot rubbed down with my home made paste wax with fine steel wool. The iron was sharpened on a Norton Oil-Stone, and stropped using Chromium oxide on a scrap of a wide leather belt. I really need to go and get myself a big piece of scrap leather and make a proper strop.

I took some 42x19mm pine and before I knew it, I had made it into 32x19mm pine. It was a lot cheaper than trying to acquire a Stanley No.7 or restoring any of the No.7 or No.8 planes that were listed in my price range. I paid a princely $45 for this plane, and it is now ready for the next 100 years of woodworking.

Yes, I go have the set of Trying, Jack and Smoothing planes. All Mathieson made-in-Glasgow and all with original ironmongery and cleaned up nicely.

The Jack plane which had the worrying cracks seems to be holding up well. I've not done anything to repair the cracks, but a good cleanup and some linseed oil and paste wax seems to have swelled the wood a little and closed up the worst of the cracks. I'll just keep using it until it breaks then I'll have a nice big bit of century-old Scottish beech for a project of some sort.

Well done HM. I too have given up trying to purchase a #7. I made my own wooden try plane using an original Matheison iron and it works beautifully. Probably about $20 of timber in it but a lot more in labour

I'll second the well done. The crack may behave if you can protect it from big changes of temperature and humidity.
Regards
John

My hope is that regular applications of thinned linseed oil and paste wax will keep the wood hydrated appropriately and the construction of a timber tool chest (I'm planning on a Dutch style one for its compact size and reasonable portability) will all help keep it in good condition. The thing has managed to survive a hundred years, so it may well out-live me!

Gday Hartley,
I too am down the Rabbit hole. I have a wooden 16" jointer plane i am restoring as well as another 18" i bought on ebay which is on the way.
Im struggling with getting a good ribbon off my 16". Its just busts of wood in chunks and clogs the mouth. I have the chip breaker set about 1mm behind the blade edge and the blade about 0.5mm above the soul.
I joined the forum to see if i could find anyone who could help me to breath life into the old plane

Hi Stuart. How big is the gap between the blade and the front of the mouth? And is the wedge holding the blade firmly to the bed?

Hi, also think 0.5mm sticking out for the blade is huge. Not sure how much experiences you have with wooden planes. And I am still on the learning curve myself, but this video has helped me lot to get started and understand how to set up these planes. Maybe it helps you too.

YouTube

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Good to know others are going down the hole as well.

One tip I've found restoring some old wooden planes. If you think you will eventually, get a long, cast-iron soled plane. I bought a No 7 and had the sole flattened at a machinist shop to dead flat and square at the sides.

The particular reason? You can then use it to flatten the sole of all the wooden planes now, with no sandpaper or tiles/glass/granite plate at all necessary.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Stuart. How big is the gap between the blade and the front of the mouth? And is the wedge holding the blade firmly to the bed?

The gap in front of the mouth is about 3-4mm. Yes the wedge is holding the blade firmly. But on viewing another You tube video Ive found the Wedge prongs are hanging over the front of the chip breaker. I will have a closer look at adjusting the wedge prongs and post some pictures.