My Grandfather's Stanley #3 *PICS*
John Weber - GO BUCKS!
>Hey guys, as some of you may have noticed I�ve sold off a lot of my older and other planes, never fear, I�ve replaced them with plenty of new iron. I did keep one. Several years ago my Dad gave me my Grandfathers Stanley number 3 � it got me started on number 3�s, but that is another story. Anyway, I believe it is a war time type 17. I�ve left it as is for many years, but recently decided it deserved to be a user. So I cleaned it up a bit, nothing like a complete overhaul Terry does, but a general spit shine and polish. I stripped the knob and tote, hoping for rosewood, but the grain differed in both pieces and the tote was very nondescript. At first I thought I would get a set of replacement pieces, but then thought I should stick with the originals. I thought of paint, but didn�t think that would give me the feel I like, so I experimented with an ink dye and then finished with a satin clear spray topcoat � they feel wonderful. The rest of the plane cleaned up fairly easy. The sides and bottom polished fairly nice, although I should do a little more work to really bring up the shine. The bed had a light over spray mist and that easily came off with a little mineral spirits and steel wool and left a shiny original finish. Cap lever, frog and other hardware all cleaned up nicely. So here it is, my Grandfathers #3, I hope he wouldn�t mind a few changes (like a new Lie-Nielsen A-2 iron). It should be a good user and be ready for my Grandchildren. I do have one problem with it though, one of the frog screws is striped, any thoughts on repair? I assume there are several options, but not sure what people have had success with in the past. Thanks for looking.
John
The before pics:
The after pics:
