At my local car boot last weekend I bought myself two cheap No5 planes... Cheap in make and price.
Cost was £5 and other than No5 stamped on the heel they're just as plain as any other low price tool.
Why did I buy them?
The idea was to learn how to restore them or make them useable before I buy something nice and make a hash of it.
This is plane number 1 and is identical to the second plane (I'm working on).
Both have copious amounts of grease on everything... The second plane had a lot more rust on the base
After dismantling and a good clean I noticed the mouth opening due to the thick paint wasn't flush with the frog so i gave that a little filing till it was, still needs a little more doing to clean it up.
Then came sharpening the iron, the iron in the first plane is unusable or needs a lot of work... This iron had a bit of an edge to it and after a few minutes was nice and sharp although there are two recesses on each edge so still a lot to be done.
A bit of 600 and 1200 wet and dry took care of the sides and base, whilst it is square the base isn't 100% smooth all over and pitting is obvious... I'll keep working on it and see how good I can get it.
Did I say square?... I meant almost square maybe 1/32 or 1/64 I can't measure it.
Then I looked at the handle, i was expecting it to be pine heavily stained but after a little sand I'm pretty sure it's beech.
As I quite like beech and had a nice big block of it I looked at making a new one... It was just possible with the small drill bit I had.
I altered the height to fit over my hand more between thumb and index finger, also adding a little more at the front but when it came to test fitting this added extra at front of handle denied me access to be able to tighten the screw so it had to be cut off.
The part that fits in your palm I made it a bit bigger and rounded to make it more comfortable.
The whole process of cutting and making the handle was a nightmare... I have a cheap scrollsaw with even cheaper toolstation blades which can cut upto 3/8" easily but this handle is 7/8".
Then there was the drilling, that was a bit of a hassle but I managed to find away but despite my best clamping efforts I still managed to drill slightly off centre before countersinking the rounding over which left it looking like this.
More to follow.
Cost was £5 and other than No5 stamped on the heel they're just as plain as any other low price tool.
Why did I buy them?
The idea was to learn how to restore them or make them useable before I buy something nice and make a hash of it.
This is plane number 1 and is identical to the second plane (I'm working on).
Both have copious amounts of grease on everything... The second plane had a lot more rust on the base
After dismantling and a good clean I noticed the mouth opening due to the thick paint wasn't flush with the frog so i gave that a little filing till it was, still needs a little more doing to clean it up.
Then came sharpening the iron, the iron in the first plane is unusable or needs a lot of work... This iron had a bit of an edge to it and after a few minutes was nice and sharp although there are two recesses on each edge so still a lot to be done.
A bit of 600 and 1200 wet and dry took care of the sides and base, whilst it is square the base isn't 100% smooth all over and pitting is obvious... I'll keep working on it and see how good I can get it.
Did I say square?... I meant almost square maybe 1/32 or 1/64 I can't measure it.
Then I looked at the handle, i was expecting it to be pine heavily stained but after a little sand I'm pretty sure it's beech.
As I quite like beech and had a nice big block of it I looked at making a new one... It was just possible with the small drill bit I had.
I altered the height to fit over my hand more between thumb and index finger, also adding a little more at the front but when it came to test fitting this added extra at front of handle denied me access to be able to tighten the screw so it had to be cut off.
The part that fits in your palm I made it a bit bigger and rounded to make it more comfortable.
The whole process of cutting and making the handle was a nightmare... I have a cheap scrollsaw with even cheaper toolstation blades which can cut upto 3/8" easily but this handle is 7/8".
Then there was the drilling, that was a bit of a hassle but I managed to find away but despite my best clamping efforts I still managed to drill slightly off centre before countersinking the rounding over which left it looking like this.
More to follow.
