Got hold of an old stanley smoothing plane for next to nothing at a car boot sale today. After stripping to clean it just needs a new adjusting nut so im happy enough, however the base has alot of work needed, ive tried some wet and dry on it to no avail. Can anyone offer some advice to get this tool back to working?
help with old plane
- Thread starter rich.h
- Start date
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jimi43
Established Member
Coarse wet and dry should sort it out but do it with the iron and cap iron in and locked down but retracted below the mouth.
Use a sheet of float glass...or some marble or granite off-cuts...anything flat really and stick the wet and dry paper down on this with water. Then I usually make a fence out of a long piece of wood and run the side of the plane up against this to give a more pleasing look to the flattened surface.
The thing to look out for is that the front, rear and around the mouth are all on the same level. Ideally the bits in between would be lower or the same...not raised. You need to remove any raised areas caused by poor initial machining or subsequent corrosion
A perfectly flat sole along the entire length is not necessary and indeed...Japanese planes are deliberately made lower to reduce friction.
You don't need a polished surface...just a clean and smooth surface. Do the same for the sides if you want cosmetic improvements..but there is no real need as you probably won't be using this on a shooting board.
You couldn't get any more poorly maintained as this bootfair find from a while ago...
You don't have to go for a full restoration but it's fun doing it...
Some pictures would be helpful....
There are plenty of restoration threads on the UKW...just use the search engine with key words like "restoration" or "restore" etc.
Cheers
Jimi
Use a sheet of float glass...or some marble or granite off-cuts...anything flat really and stick the wet and dry paper down on this with water. Then I usually make a fence out of a long piece of wood and run the side of the plane up against this to give a more pleasing look to the flattened surface.
The thing to look out for is that the front, rear and around the mouth are all on the same level. Ideally the bits in between would be lower or the same...not raised. You need to remove any raised areas caused by poor initial machining or subsequent corrosion
A perfectly flat sole along the entire length is not necessary and indeed...Japanese planes are deliberately made lower to reduce friction.
You don't need a polished surface...just a clean and smooth surface. Do the same for the sides if you want cosmetic improvements..but there is no real need as you probably won't be using this on a shooting board.
You couldn't get any more poorly maintained as this bootfair find from a while ago...
You don't have to go for a full restoration but it's fun doing it...
Some pictures would be helpful....
There are plenty of restoration threads on the UKW...just use the search engine with key words like "restoration" or "restore" etc.
Cheers
Jimi
If it's really bad you can attack the rust with a wire brush (a hand-brush is less agressive). But Is the sole itself heavily rusted or pitted?... If sole has been corroded too badly you may need to flatten it out, which will take material off, if the raise portion is central rather than at the ends, and the amount of damaged material to remove is large you risk increasing the size of the mouth; it becomes a balancing act.
In terms of taking material off more quickly than wet and dry, you could try extremely coarse emery by hand or try using a linishing machine (or a belt sander with an appropriate belt; which is essentially the same thing).
Do you have pictures or a more detailed description of what's wrong with the casting?
In terms of taking material off more quickly than wet and dry, you could try extremely coarse emery by hand or try using a linishing machine (or a belt sander with an appropriate belt; which is essentially the same thing).
Do you have pictures or a more detailed description of what's wrong with the casting?
GazPal
Established Member
Without disrespect to "Jelly" I'd certainly avoid using belt sanders for crud removal and surface dressing, unless experienced and skilled in such methods.
I'd highly recommend Jim's clean-up approach, but leave flattening until you've test driven the plane and/or found it needs adjustments to the sole.
I'd highly recommend Jim's clean-up approach, but leave flattening until you've test driven the plane and/or found it needs adjustments to the sole.
Gaz, you're quite right there really. I was working on the basis that if he had a belt sander/access to one, he'd (or the respective owner would) know how to use it... But flattening the sole of a plane would not be a good project to learn on.
As someone here pointed out once before, if a whole load of corrugations on the base of a plane are a good idea, a few pits here and there are not likely to do any harm. As long as there is no rust or dirt to cause friction, they don't matter.
Jacob
New Luddism. Awake and resist!
I'd just clean it up with wire wool and linseed oil, sharpen and set, and then use it. If there are any problems you might have another look at improving it. It might need nothing doing at all.
