What to do with my 5 1/2

[Sheffield Tony]

I just bought a Record 5 1/2. I really didn't need one - I have a #5 and a #6 already, but for £15 it seemed like a good deal. And I'd drunk a glass or two of vino.

It is a stay-set version, and looks to be early, it has real rosewood handles, the lateral adjuster with the little rotating disc, and the angular top to cap/cutting irons, which look original. The casting has a sort of smooth, brown tarnish to it, with bits of what looks strangely like remains of a thin plating of some sort ? The blue paint is probably 25% flaked off, and the handles have a nasty plasticky varnish feel to them. The Record transfer has all but worn away.

What to do ? I'm sure it will work well enough with just a sharpen. I really feel tempted to strip and oil the handles. And that flaking paint looks a bit grim. Where to stop ?

 

[Racers]

Hi, Tony

Sounds like you got a bargain, a SS record for £15 that's a dam good price.

Give it a clean a fettling and it will become your most used plane.

Strip the varnish and wax the handles would be my advice.

My Record 5 1/2 was £8 but I had to get the side welded!

Pete

 

[bugbear]

I just bought a Record 5 1/2. I really didn't need one - I have a #5 and a #6 already, but for £15 it seemed like a good deal. And I'd drunk a glass or two of vino.

It is a stay-set version, and looks to be early, it has real rosewood handles, the lateral adjuster with the little rotating disc, and the angular top to cap/cutting irons, which look original. The casting has a sort of smooth, brown tarnish to it, with bits of what looks strangely like remains of a thin plating of some sort ? The blue paint is probably 25% flaked off, and the handles have a nasty plasticky varnish feel to them. The Record transfer has all but worn away.

What to do ? I'm sure it will work well enough with just a sharpen. I really feel tempted to strip and oil the handles. And that flaking paint looks a bit grim. Where to stop ?

The "smooth, brown tarnish" sounds like oil of some kind, applied long ago when the tool was put away. It should remove easily enough.

I'd certainly take it to pieces, give everything a brush and a wipe, and check for problems. Give the blade a quick sharpen, reassemble, and (again) check for problems - warps, bends and wobbles, parts not seating together. I expect it to be OK though - SS was top of the line.

For handling and cosmetics, I'd probably strip and finish the handles - since they're rosewood, your labour will be well repaid.

I'm not a repainter myself, but it's a personal choice.

Oh - at 15 quid you're a lucky so-and-so!

BugBear

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Give it tlc and get rid of the other two?

 

[AndyT]

That sounds like my sort of winebar!

I suggest a bottle of Tru-oil to re-finish the handles once you've scraped the old varnish off.

And (it barely needs saying) you NEED a 5½ for the times when a 5 is too small and a 6 is too big!
Goldilocks was right ;-)

 

[MIGNAL]

I wouldn't specially go to the bother of buying Tru Oil but if you happen to have danish oil that will be fine, as will wipe on shellac.

 

[Mike Wingate]

Strip it down, clean it up and use it. I use mine as my shooting board plane.

I have made a laminated ply handle that saves hitting my thumb and gives me a good safe grip. I have 3 shooting boards. A small 90 degree one

,
a large 90 degree model and a 45 degree one. I find them really useful.

 

[bugbear]

I wouldn't specially go to the bother of buying Tru Oil but if you happen to have danish oil that will be fine, as will wipe on shellac.

Ditto tung oil and linseed.

BugBear

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I got it home last night, and had a couple of quiet hours to play with it, so I took it all apart for a clean as suggested.
It seems it is one of the earliest models - it has a 2 1/4" iron, which I think makes it 1938 or before. This is good - sitting between the #5 and #6 it does very much look "half way", and so justifies the purchase :wink: Happily despite the years it is free from any significant dings. The irons and the frog area were well greasy, so the irons only have a light haze of corrosion at the top. I gave it a wipe over with a rag and WD40, and polished up the casting and the lever cap (which had only a faint memory of the nickel plating remaining, but no real rust) with some P1200 wet or dry and light oil. Ground and honed the cutting iron, re-assembled it, then played making shavings. It works very nicely.

I was interested to see a stay-set plane; my #6 came with a poor Stanley cutter that I replaced with a Clifton one and stay-set type cap iron, which made a great improvement. The Record stay-set cap (Which, if I dare say it very quietly, looks to my eye better machined than the Clifton one) seems to work well, and I had not spotted before that the stay-set lever cap is shorter than the regular one, so leaves the throat more open for the shavings to exit.

I'm thinking I might just use it as is. Rather than old and dirty it now looks old and clean - the cast parts have a sort of dull grey sheen that reminds me of old engineering tools. I think I prefer it to the raw, freshly exposed metal of the heavily restored planes one sees on e-bay sometimes. Still think the handles could use some TLC though.

 

[Vann]

I just bought a Record 5 1/2. .... it has real rosewood handles, the lateral adjuster with the little rotating disc...

This suggests it's a type 1 (1931-39) or type 2 (1939-45). If it's a type 2 it should have "warfinish" stamped on the lateral lever (sometimes hidden by rust or grime). If it's a type one it could be the earlier 2¼" model, as Record made the change from 2¼" to 2⅜" irons around 1938. The lever-cap on the type 1 is nickel plated (not chrome plated like later models) and on the type 2 is unplated cast iron (sometimes painted).

I really feel tempted to strip and oil the handles.

I've avoided oiling any rosewood handles I have, as I've read that oil darkens the rosewood so much that the beautiful grain is lost. I'm intending to shellac my rosewood handles one day (where's that tuit...?).

Where to stop ?

If it is the 2¼" variety, and an SS to boot, it may have collector value (I don't know) so it might be worth leaving the finish alone until you find out.

Cheers, Vann.

edit: I see from your latest post, it is the earlier 2¼" variety =D>

 

[Vann]

The Record stay-set cap (Which, if I dare say it very quietly, looks to my eye better machined than the Clifton one)... .

That's my impression too.

...the stay-set lever cap is shorter than the regular one...

I think that's to apply the clamping force towards the middle of the "deflector" (removable piece of the 2-piece cap-iron), so that the clamping force is then equally distributed along the leading edge of the cap-iron, and along the hinge area of the cap-iron, thereby keeping the cutting iron firmly clamped to the frog along most of it's length. A standard cap-iron usually causes a slight bowing of the cutting iron - making chatter more likely.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[bugbear]

It seems it is one of the earliest models - it has a 2 1/4" iron, which I think makes it 1938 or before.

You spawny git!

BugBear

 

[jimi43]

Any chance of a picture or three Tony?

Tru-Oil is streets ahead of any of the other "oils" for handle IMHO....and a little bottle goes a long way. Once you have used it...you won't use anything else for handles.

Jim

 

[Mike Wingate]

Collectors piece. Do not change anything. My mate had one and sawed the rear end off to improve the balance. I will send him this link to cheer him up.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I think that I will leave well alone for now as Mike suggests. Pat of the reason for asking on here was that I had this nagging doubt that it might be old enough to be worth leaving alone. I am going to use it though - it is what it was made for. I may well use it with a shooting board.

I may get around to taking a picture sometime...

 

[Vann]

I bid for this Record 05½ss last November. The seller said the blade was 57mm (=2¼“). It cost me $22 NZD (~£11). It has a crack down one side, and a hang hole drilled in front of the knob, but it’s the “stay-set” version. I bought it not as a user, but out of curiosity (I figured that crack down the side would grow if I use it).

What difference does ⅛” make? Not much, surely? Then again woodies often came in 2”, 2⅛” and 2¼“ widths.

So surely they’ve made it with a standard 2⅜” frog with a bit pared off each side? Nope – the distance between frog screws is ⅛” less than on a 2⅜” Record plane. So these things are real orphans !

I thought that maybe, if I grow to like it, I could send the body to Jim Davey in Aussie to have the crack repaired, the hole welded up, and the whole thing surface ground. That would probably set me back more than the cost of a new Cliffie #-o .

Then in December, while visiting my son-in-law’s workplace, there was this Record 05½, sitting forlorn in the workshop. No cap-iron, 2¼“ frog, and a Stanley (UK) 2⅜” iron jammed in the mouth. I could take it away (no damn good as it was) if I sent them a working No.4 or No.5 to replace it (I must get onto that).

One day I’ll make one good one out of the two.

So I guess my dilemma is similar to Tonys – should I strip the faded blue paint (right hand plane in the picture) or is it still better left as is? As the current condition is poor (worse than Tony's description of his), with the paint (on both) the worse for 75 years of use and storage, I'm inclined to go with: strip and repaint the one with the good sole, equip it with the best frog, handles, etc from both, and the stay-set parts - and ditch the rest. But, finance permitting, I could still go with plan 'A' and get the first sole repaired....

What does the panel think?

Cheers, Vann.

 

[GazPal]

Hi Vann,

In an ideal world - finance permitting - I'd go with plan A, and re-finish both planes.

Record didn't designate body castings as Stay Set, while offering the cap irons and lever caps as an after sales option. Any plane could therefore be "converted" to Stay Set, with parts that are intentionally interchangeable and IMHO there's no harm in constructing one very sound plane using parts of another dating from the same time period.

Although it would be nice to have an example showing each option.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Well, I said I'd try to get around to taking some photos. Here is my 5 1/2. I've done little more than lightly clean and grind/sharpen it.

 

[Racers]

Hi, Tony

Looking good.

Have you test driven it?

Pete

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Ahh, I carelessly swept up the shavings before taking the photos ! See those bits of wood on the back of the bench ?
It works nicely.