Another wreck

[dickm]

Had a few minutes round the Thainstone car boot on Sunday, and spotted this sad relic of a Stanley No 6. "It was my grandfather's; he was really proud of his tools". Unlike his offspring, it seems! But it's quite an oldie, judging by the flat front knob and the small brass adjuster and for £3 would have been a shame to leave it to its fate. It'll never be a collector's item, but will see what some citric acid and elbow grease will do. Not sure if there's a lever cap lying around my workshop, but can probably find something.

 

[AndyT]

I like the sales pitch!
Apart from needing a new handle and lever cap, it's possible that there's the ghost of a plane inside the ectoplasm... I shall watch with interest to see what you can bring back to life.

 

[Hot stuff]

Is there a boot sale every weekend at Thainstone?

 

[dickm]

Is there a boot sale every weekend at Thainstone?

Yes. BUT............. you have to sift through several thousand pieces of carp to find anything you'd even think of buying. Basically, it's kids clothes/toys/cheap adult clothes/utterly tasteless ornaments for 99.9% of the time. A few cheap tools, mostly in the "handyman" category and just now and then the odd semi-precious gem.

I used to find that ScotAds gave much better hunting, but that seems to have nearly died now, with the same adverts appearing for months if not years. Steam/vintage car fairs usually throw up something useful, and there's the big one at Crathes w/e of 18-19 Aug if you fancy a trip to Deeside.

Of course, the real problem may be that my workshop already has all the semi-precious gems it needs, so will only accept diamonds!

 

[dickm]

I like the sales pitch!
Apart from needing a new handle and lever cap, it's possible that there's the ghost of a plane inside the ectoplasm... I shall watch with interest to see what you can bring back to life.

Made a start taking off the worst of the rust/paint etc, and the basic plane is not that bad. My guess, without doing a proper detective job, is that it's early 20th century. Sadly, made two discoveries;-
1. I don't have a spare lever cap to fit, except for..............
2. ..............The one on the wreck's reasonably fettled identical twin, which was already sitting in my toolchest.

So will just practice insetting a bit of rosewood on to the rear handle and keep scouting for a lever cap. Unless someone wants to reward me for yesterday's elbow grease with a small profit on it as it stands!

 

[sploo]

My guess, without doing a proper detective job, is that it's early 20th century.

From what I can make out in the photos, maybe a Type 11 (http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanle ... _study.php)

 

[dickm]

My guess, without doing a proper detective job, is that it's early 20th century.

From what I can make out in the photos, maybe a Type 11 (http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanle ... _study.php)

Thanks, Sploo. I had that page bookmarked somewhere on my system, but couldn't find it. Haven't checked the fine detail, but it's certainly consistent with that period.
There's a bit of rosewood somewhere in the stash that could match the missing bit of the rear handle, but stuck for a lever cap. The iron is unbranded, so no idea where that came from. Will see how it sharpens up and try the beast with the cap off its twin.

 

[sploo]

My guess, without doing a proper detective job, is that it's early 20th century.

From what I can make out in the photos, maybe a Type 11 (http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanle ... _study.php)

Thanks, Sploo. I had that page bookmarked somewhere on my system, but couldn't find it. Haven't checked the fine detail, but it's certainly consistent with that period.
There's a bit of rosewood somewhere in the stash that could match the missing bit of the rear handle, but stuck for a lever cap. The iron is unbranded, so no idea where that came from. Will see how it sharpens up and try the beast with the cap off its twin.

No worries. Somewhere under there I suspect there's a very nice plane waiting to be uncovered :wink:

The low knob and frog design would point to it being old. It looks as though there's no raised ring for the front knob, so the best pointer would likely be the presence and number of patent dates behind the frog (assuming there are some).

 

[dickm]

Checked the patent dates, and it's actually a bit earlier than we thought. According to the Timeline it's a type 9, where
The Patent dates "Mar.-25-02" "Aug.-19-02" are cast into the bed, immediately behind the frog.

So now I just need to source a contemporary lever cap, repair the rear handle and get a proper blade........................

 

[DTR]

Yes. BUT............. you have to sift through several thousand pieces of carp to find anything you'd even think of buying. Basically, it's kids clothes/toys/cheap adult clothes/utterly tasteless ornaments for 99.9% of the time.

Sounds like every bootsale I've ever been to.

Good luck with the #6, I'm sure it will make a very nice tool once you're done with it, especially given its vintage

 

[sploo]

Checked the patent dates, and it's actually a bit earlier than we thought. According to the Timeline it's a type 9, where
The Patent dates "Mar.-25-02" "Aug.-19-02" are cast into the bed, immediately behind the frog.

So now I just need to source a contemporary lever cap, repair the rear handle and get a proper blade........................

Nice! That's "proper" old

 

[dickm]

And proper wrecked!

 

[sploo]

And proper wrecked!

Salt and vinegar bath overnight for all the metal components except the frog and the brass adjuster, rub with steel wool, wash and soak with some water and bicarb then wash, dry, and oil.

New rear tote, scrape and shellac the front knob, get a new cap, put together, flatten the sole, and you'll have a lovely plane.

The brass depth adjustment wheel can be easily cleaned by slipping a 6mm bolt through it, putting a nut on the other side (gently) then spinning it in a cordless drill and holding some steel wool against it. Same drill + steel wool trick works well for the knob and tote nuts, and even the various screws. Don't use a drill press though - too dangerous if the steel wool gets caught.