June 2010

The first order of business for cleanup is the body of the plane.  If it’s not in decent shape, all I have is a paperweight with some spare parts.  During the cleanup process, I’ll primarily be looking for cracks.

I use paint thinner or kerosene to clean the metal parts.  I pour it in a pan and use a toothbrush to clean most surfaces.  Because there are lots of corners which the toothbrush won’t reach, I also use an acid brush with the bristles cut to about 3/8″.  It does a much better job of getting into the corners.

I use a Q-Tip to get into the screw holes.  I also thread the appropriate screws in and out of the threaded holes a few times, which along with the solvent, cleans things up nicely.

The japanning is typically chipped off in many places, and the cast iron below is often rusted.  I use a small wire brush with light pressure to clean up the rust.  Too much pressure will scratch the japanning.

This plane had some white paint splattered on it, which did not come off with the wire brush.  I used a somewhat dull scratch awl to pick away at the paint.  The scratch awl was also helpful in cleaning the corner areas near the frog interface.  Here’s a detail photo of the cleaned up body.  Lots of pitting, but I’ll deal with that later.

Next, I want to determine if the sole is flat.  The area of most concern is around the mouth.  In order for the plane to work well, the mouth area needs to be in close contact with the wood.  I use a straightedge to check.

Not good.  At the most important location, the front edge of the mouth, the sole of the plane is about .010 hollow.  If I wanted to use the plane for relatively rough work, this wouldn’t be a problem.  But I use my #5 for all kinds of things, including smoothing, and I want the sole flat.    How to get there?

It’s quite possible to do this yourself with some sandpaper and a flat surface.  With the price of sandpaper at least a buck a sheet, and my time valued at something greater than $10/hr, it’s a no-brainer for me.  I’m going to have it machined.  There are  two grinding shops in the Los Angeles area who have done this for me before, Ro-La Grinding in Culver City and Winger Tool in Stanton.  Ro-La was “trained” in the art of plane grinding by Allan Boardman back in the 1980′s.  Steve Winger’s shop used to be adjacent to Cerritos College, where I teach.  We got him up to speed a few years ago and he has since ground many planes for our handtool class students.

So, it’s off to the grind shop for the next step.  When I get the body back, I’ll do a bit more cleanup and deal with the chipped japanning.

UPDATE:  Winger Tool is no longer accepting planes for machining.  He was having trouble getting consistent results and decided it wasn’t worth his time to do this work.  I suggest you go to Ro-La Grinding in Culver City, 310-397-9718.

I finally received the plane I won on eBay.  The seller mailed it quickly after the auction ended, but due to the Memorial Day weekend I didn’t get it until over a week later.  The “unboxing” went well, although the box itself was a bit ruffled.  The corner was broken out and I could see the end of the plane.  The only padding was a paper bag.  Fortunately, the plane was okay.

I was able to quickly determine that it’s a Type 11, my first choice in Stanley plane types.  The three patent dates mean Type 11 or 12; the low knob and small adjuster nut indicate a Type 11.  A quick look showed no serious defects, no cracks, no missing parts.

Given the amount of crud on the plane, it was obvious it hadn’t been cleaned in quite a while.  It had been used, however, as the handle, knob, and blade adjustment nut were clean.  Whoever owned it before didn’t care much about appearances!  The blade was still pretty long, so it hadn’t been sharpened a bunch.  Good news.

Taking the lever cap off was easy.  If the lever cap is difficult to get off, it means either something is frozen up or it was put on too tight.  Too tight often means someone tightened the lever cap with the screw instead of the lever (not a good thing).  The frog attach screws also came out easily.  Things were still looking good.

Wow!  Lots of crud around and under the frog; apparently, it hadn’t been removed in quite a while.  Not a problem; actually a good sign.  Why good?   Many people tend to overtighten screws and/or use the wrong size screwdriver, which can mess up screw heads.  These are in great shape.

Next, the blade.  If it’s too rusted on the non-beveled side, it won’t be useable without lots of work.

Both blade and chipbreaker look pretty good.  I see no major pitting on the blade near the edge, although it’s a little hard to see until it’s cleaned up some more.  The other end of the blade is bent, but I should be able to fix that.  The chipbreaker looks great.  From what I understand, the black on the underside is from the heat-treating process.  Usually, it’s not this clean and consistent.  Another good sign.

Here’s a photo of all the parts.  Everything looks great and I think this plane will clean up very nicely to make a great user.

I was amazed at how much crud came out of the plane, so I included it in the photo.  As for the rest of the parts, I’ll discuss how I clean them up in future posts.  When the plane is complete, I’ll be selling it on eBay.  My current #5 has been with me for a long time and I don’t need another one.