Plane restores, expect the unexpected.

I’ve gone through a few plane restores in the past. As time has passed I’ve learned a respect for the history and patina of some old and rare planes, but bringing planes back from the brink is still a lot of fun for me.

I don’t really have a good before picture of this plane, simply because it was never intended to be restored. My goal for this plane was to see if I could salvage enough beech out of the middle of the deteriorated mess to use for repairs on future plane restores.

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It came from an antique store. I got this whole pile for close to nothing.

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So the first thing I did was pop the handle off. It came off fairly easy and what was left came out in one piece. My next move was to run it through the planer. Starting very thin, I wanted to save as much of the beech as I could.

After the very first pass, my intentions started to change. I wish I’d taken a few more pictures along the way, but you can see the results.

I cut about a half inch off the front. I’ll save it because the name is on it. I wish it could have been saved in place, but I was very surprised I didn’t have to take a lot more off.

Its hard to make out, but I believe its Randall and Cook, Albany NY. There is not much online about them other then a few other vintage planes for sale. Everything I found was wood bodies, so I’m assuming they were early.

The cutter took a little work, but its a Maulson Bros. iron and is pretty hard. It was wedged in so hard I had to drive it out with a punch, which made sharpening even that much harder.

The plane could be put back into service, but I doubt I will ever use it. I think it deserves a rest and it will look nice with the rest of the wooden rescues I have collected.

The Beast. A 36" wood bodied Jointer Plane

With a little motivation from Mos I decided to build the wooden jointer I’ve always wanted to build. I’m not sure why, I guess just because its there, but I’ve restore a lot of wood bodied jointers and always wanted to build one.

I had some reclaimed oak that fit the bill fine. This is the same stock I built my deadman out of.

Since it was already semi clean it was just a matter of running it through the planer and cutting it to size. Its just about 1/2” wider than the iron/chipbreaker.

I had found a perfect 2 5/8” Moulson Bros vintage iron and chip breaker.

Next up was the layout. Its marked for a 50 degree bed. I was kind of copying another jointer which had a 50 degree front face as well, so that’s what I used.

Cutting was fairly simple with the layout done. Just remember where to not cut to deep.

A little chiseling and rasping and it was ready for a trial fit.

With close to a perfect fit, I glued it up and left it for the night.

While the glue was drying I did a rough out of the wedge.

Not wanting to go much farther on the wedge, I turned my attention to the tote. I marked out a piece of oak a little over an inch thick, cut it out on the band saw. Drilled the center in a couple places and finished hogging it out with the jig saw.

I then hit the appropriate areas on both sides with a 1/2” round over bit. From there it was multiple rasps to get it into shape.

That was it for the day. The following day I turned my attention back to the body. A little hand plane work, and some belt sanding, it was really starting to take shape.

It was then time to clean up the mouth area.

And of course cut the groove for the chip breaker screw.

Final fitting and shaping on the wedge

And back to see where the tote looks good

I then drilled it out with a forstner bit and chiseled as needed.

A little more fitting on the handle and fit it to the plane.

I just couldn’t go any further with testing it.

I’ll call it a success I think.

And I tested it out on oak as well. I was really just playing at this point.

Just a bit more sanding and a coat of BLO.

Final length is just a little under 36”. 36” is quit long and a little hard to handle. I just couldn’t bring myself to cut it. It will be great for flattening big bench tops. And I like to just stand back and admire it.

I had to reshot some of the pictured when I realized the plane swap plane was in the picture. Almost gave it away!

Thanks for stopping buy.

A Stanley #45 resurrected.

“What in the world was I thinkin”? My $7 #45 came, but man was it rusty. This will be the first restore I’ve done that required a massive amount of fire. Even after soaking some of the parts for 2 days in evapo-rust, it still took a hefty flame to convince them to come apart.

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And me, trying to get it apart. Is it hot in here?

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Only broke one bolt, and still managed to get the remnants of that out.
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But after soaking, wire wheeling, making a new cherry knob and tote, its back together. I haven’t tested yet, but I should be able to throw a blade in it and see how she rolls soon.

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I need to find a few extra bolts. I’ve got 2 complete sets of cutters, so I should be ready to rumble. I may also move the rosewood fence to my other #45 and add a cherry fence to this one.

– See more at: http://lumberjocks.com/donwilwol/blog/33401#sthash.LgvrnN8i.dpuf

Just some new knobs and totes

 

A new set of bloodwood knob and tote for a #2. Shown on one of my my #2s

 

 

A set of Walnut.

How about a Stanley type 5 #4 restore with some Character?

So seemingly a typical restore, but through the rust and grime I never noticed the break/fix on the rear of the heel. The fix was pretty old and its solid. And the hole, well that’s a mystery. Maybe the owner thought it would help hold the broken tote. Either way, this seems like a nice type 5 #4 with a bunch of character.

 

I Replaced the transitional cap with a one from a reasonably close vintage. I’ll still need to finds the right iron (cap screw hole in the top) but that’s a minor detail.

Added some cherry wood to dress it up a little.

Taber Plane Company–New Bedford Ma.

Once in a while, it takes some time to stumble onto the information to tie it together. What is it you say? Well sometimes it depend.

A few month ago I bought this plane because it was cheap, and it just looked cool.

After a little TLC, it was brought back to life

It took some time to stumble onto information that led what I had. It seems this was manufactured by the Taber Plane Co. in New Bedford Ma. in the late 1800’s. Information on the company is still being sought and seems a little scarce.

Can have found a few that sold in the past, prices ranging from $57 – $390.