My wife and I have had the same dining room table since we first bought it in Dubai around 2004. It's serve well, doing everything a cheap Malaysian mahogany table could be asked to do. Taxes by candle light during power outages in Africa, expat Thanksgivings with strangers, improvised photography studio; you name it, it has been there. But time has worn it out, the repeated moves have left it dinged up and enthusiastic maids have left the finish.....pledged to the edge of waxdom. I'm tasked with building a new diner table. Which means I have to mill wood. I don't want to sink a lot of money into wood working tools; due to it not being a main hobby and not being sure how long we will be on 120v. So, that means hand tools, which I'm totally ok with. A few days of research and I know I'm not buying new, so it's over to fleabay. I am now the proud owner of a No.5 jack plane, a No.4 smoothing plane and a No.220 block plane. Hopefully there will be a No.7 joining plane in the mail soon. All old tools, made in the US and in need of some love. This thread is about the first project, the No.5 This is it. It's not in great shape, but it wouldn't be as much fun if it were. Or as cheap. The tote and knob are incorrect for the plane and both damaged; the tote broken and the knob cracked. The threaded rod of the knob is bent. And you can start to see how badly the finish is chipped. It's that way across the entire base. As seen here at the tote base and around the patent dates. First a total beak down is needed. The cap iron is badly rusted and it had dings. Rust we can fix, the dings...well, I'd hate to have to get a new cap iron. Finding one that is correct is doable, but likely expensive in relation to the total cost. Buying a new one would work, but it would be....wrong. The iron and chip breaker are badly rusted. Also, the iron is bent, indicating a fall. It's also a sweetheart blade made in Canada, so not original to the type 11. Still, a nice blade. I'll be replacing both with modern ones from Veritas. I'll keep the old ones, but more modern irons and chip breakers are thicker, less likely to chatter and easier to hone. Aircraft stripper is the only thing I know of that will easily handle the japaning. It's a tough finish, and took 3 applications to get it all off. The stripper is nasty stuff though, when they say well ventilated area, they mean well ventilated. [ Evapo-rust, on the other hand, is an great product. I'm not sure what it is, but it works miracles. While those soaked, there was time to get the brass back to it's proper luster. The lovely contrast of steel and brass just makes old tool a delight to use. I ordered a replacement pack of screws and bolts from Stanely/Bostitch. You can't order them individually any more, but I do think it's interesting that the design has changed so little that you can still order new parts that fit a hundred and four year old tool. I also ordered a new knob and tote set made from walnut. His lead time is 4-6 weeks, but I think it's worth it. I might pick up a $15 dollar set from Stanley to get me started, though. I did a basic 200 grit check for sole and wall flatness. It actually looks good, in spite of the pitting. I'll have to re assemble it to properly flatten and tune it, but right not it looks ok. It's a jack plane, so it's slightly less critical. I got the sole and walls taped up and trimmed. The threaded attachment points were stuffed with qtips and the frog contact points were carefully taped and trimmed. I left the bent rod in the knob hole to give myself a solid point to lift it. I was going to use a bright red enamel to paint the frog and base. It would have made it uniquely mine. Since I have no intention of ever selling them, I didn't think it made a difference. My wife, on the other hand, felt that a classic tool deserved a classic look and insisted on a period correct finish. I love that she has strong opinions on such things and hate that she's right. Semi-gloss black simply looks right. This is where it stands this morning. It looks very good, for a tool intended to be used. Once the cap iron is polished, the new blade and chip breaker arrive, and the new wood is installed it will be a very nice tool to have in my tool box. The No.4 and No.220 are in the rust removal stage. I'll have them cleaned up by the end of the day, and then can inventory what needs to be replaced or repaired. Thanks for reading.
Looking good! I've got an old No7 in the garage that I always meant to restore but just never got round to it. I'll have to put it on the 2015 jobs list now!
Looking good so far. My #4 is one of my most favorite tools in my shop; it's such a joy to use when the blade is properly sharpened and honed, and the wood shavings seem to just roll right off the top. As for the table, are you planning to build a new table or will you refurbish the existing one?
Looks really lovely I have only 1 plane, a 9.5 block plane and it cost me an absolute arm and a leg as I wanted a decent tool. I've used it about 4 times
Updates??? Seeing this has inspired me to get a busted up No4 from eBay for about £18 delivered and renew it.
Great thread, lovely tools! Sorry I missed it before now. Most of Dad's old woodworking tools including his jack plane belonged to his father, so they're this sort of vintage. We have a few very nice Record mechanics and engineer's vices in the garage and workshop as well. Old tools are really built to last!
Nice restoration of a very versatile tool there. My dad's a joiner, if I can gather a good selection of his planes I'll upload a pic or two. He has more than 10 though I don't think he could list them all. Some he uses everyday and some I think he picked up second hand and has never used.
This is so cool! There is a boat load of old tools in my dads shed that have been passed on to him so it would be nice if they all got this kind of treatment one day - it seems like it would be a very enjoyable thing to do. Good work!
