One of the joys of working in a well equipped shop is that it is much easier to maintain and restore tools. A case in point is my latest Craigslist find.
I picked up several old planes for a few bucks. Stanley 3, 4, 5, and 78 , a couple of Craftsman, some non marked ones. Most were pretty rusty and banged up. I wanted to get a couple of the better ones in working condition right away -- a Stanley No. 4 and a No. 5. I had to fix a broken rear grip on the Jack plane and mostly just clean things up and lap the bases.
After I sharpened the irons, they were cutting gossamer curls off a maple test piece.
OK back to the nasty ones. The easiest way to pull rust and paint off is electrolysis. I'll let you follow this link to find how to set it up. It is a very thorough article covering a very simple subject. To quote the author, "this ain't rocket science." But for the Antiques Roadshow groupies, don't do this unless you're sure it didn't belong to Alexander Hamilton or whomever. ;o) It will probably devalue it as a collectible. But then, I'm using a tool -- not putting it in a museum.
Here is the Stanley No. 3. It is suffering from a broken rear grip, missing front grip (and the screw is broken off in the metal stem), and an unholy amount of dirt and rust everywhere. Look and weep for the wasted years of neglect and disrespect ;o) I see the top of the frog is busted too, but that shouldn't impact it's function.
You gotta wonder what the hell happened to these tools. Do people just empty boxes of tools out the second story window?
The plane body is dangling in the electolysis solution tonight, so we'll see how it looks tomorrow.
I have a couple of paying jobs to do, so it might be a few days before I can post the results. Don't you just hate it when responsibility raises its ugly head?
I picked up several old planes for a few bucks. Stanley 3, 4, 5, and 78 , a couple of Craftsman, some non marked ones. Most were pretty rusty and banged up. I wanted to get a couple of the better ones in working condition right away -- a Stanley No. 4 and a No. 5. I had to fix a broken rear grip on the Jack plane and mostly just clean things up and lap the bases.
After I sharpened the irons, they were cutting gossamer curls off a maple test piece.
OK back to the nasty ones. The easiest way to pull rust and paint off is electrolysis. I'll let you follow this link to find how to set it up. It is a very thorough article covering a very simple subject. To quote the author, "this ain't rocket science." But for the Antiques Roadshow groupies, don't do this unless you're sure it didn't belong to Alexander Hamilton or whomever. ;o) It will probably devalue it as a collectible. But then, I'm using a tool -- not putting it in a museum.
Here is the Stanley No. 3. It is suffering from a broken rear grip, missing front grip (and the screw is broken off in the metal stem), and an unholy amount of dirt and rust everywhere. Look and weep for the wasted years of neglect and disrespect ;o) I see the top of the frog is busted too, but that shouldn't impact it's function.
You gotta wonder what the hell happened to these tools. Do people just empty boxes of tools out the second story window?
The plane body is dangling in the electolysis solution tonight, so we'll see how it looks tomorrow.I have a couple of paying jobs to do, so it might be a few days before I can post the results. Don't you just hate it when responsibility raises its ugly head?
And after her bath....
This group of four turned out very nice...the No.3 and No.5 on left didn't even need the electro-bath. All are a joy to use. I used some black motor block paint for the block plane....gee, it looks new.
Top left is a Stanley No. 5 (jack) and bottom left is a Stanley No. 3 (smoother). Both cleaned up nicely and the irons sharpened well. I had to work on flattening the frog for No. 5...but both make nice, fine shavings now. The two on the right are not Stanley planes and will sit in the cabinet until some need arrives ;o)
The No. 3 is a type 15 1932 .and is a sweet smoother... look at these full width, lacey shavings .
The No. 5 is a type 5 from 1888. It is flat and true, and sharpened well. It's a great Jack/Fore plane with a special spot in the shop.
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