Block plane blade

[Bod]

I call it the "without a ruler" trick :lol:

I call it the "concentrate effort at the tip" trick

Seriously though, it is capable of salvaging an utter disaster of an iron like this one so except for the very worst cases, in the hardest of steels, I don't see the point myself.

I would have considered that plane to be beyond help, but you have inspired me to try, at least to recover an old blade.

Bod

 

[ED65]

I would have considered that plane to be beyond help...

Yeah me too, bought it assuming some parts would be gonners and I'd have it as a parts donor. To my amazement however none of the screws into the body were seized, although one of the aluminium nuts was so corroded it split apart when attempting to take that handle off. Handles were toast however, woodworm + rot had turned them into sponge.

Anyway the iron, totally usable after cleaning and honing (no grinder work necessary). Here's the de-rusted iron before and after honing. Sure the main part of the iron looks like it was gnawed on by rats, but the business end is all that matters.

...you have inspired me to try, at least to recover an old blade.

I think everyone should, test the truth of the reasonably common advice to avoid pitted irons.

To date I've actually never had a plane iron that was so pitted it couldn't be recovered, even with thin original irons in basket cases like the one above and this one.

Heavy rust doesn't mean you'll always find really deep pitting, but where you do it is worth starting work on something properly aggressive like a good 80-grit paper. I've done it on finer but it's slow going and you might as well plough through the steel as fast as possible before moving to your coarsest normal sharpening surface.