Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Whatzit Plane?
Dale Stansbery
>I picked up this little #3 size plane at an auction today. It has a metal tote, and the blade depth is controlled by a threaded lever that drives the frog up or down depending on which way you push the lever. What caught my attention was the adjustable mouth along the lines of a block plane. The mouth adjustment is controlled by a screw just behind the front knob. The frog doesn't look any too rigid, but over all it's a nice looking and cleverly designed plne.
Re: Whatzit Plane?
Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia
>If the frog angle is adjustable also it might be an Auburn Metallic. If it is Stephen Thomas of Loopy infill fame is quite fond of the design.JR
Re: Whatzit Plane?
wayne anderson
>You found a Orril R. Chaplin Patent iron smooth plane, c.1880's. Very collectable, and highly desirable plane, if it is in reasonably good condition. Roger Smith's P-TAMPIA, Vol.I has extensive info on these planes, beginning on pg. 156, which I won't bother to begin quoting. You Suck! (just kidding, of course) Nice find!!! Wayne Anderson
BTW...
wayne anderson
>...I would strongly discourage any, shall we say, "non-professional restoration" work on this one. It's NOT a candidate for any abrasives or acid baths which may destroy the value. I recently saw one of these (#4-size, I think), that had been repainted, and the owner also decided to have it re-nickeled. It looked like it had been triple-chromed!!! Yuck!!! Please pass the sunglasses ;^)
Wayne
WOW!
Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native in FL. Exile :~(
>Love that tote! Looks like it would be very comfortable.
Seems you've stumbled into a big $$$ plane, what cha' gonna do with it?
Great Score, YOU SUCK!!
Todd O.
Who didn't go to the fleamarket today and now wonder if I might of missed out on a #3 Auburn. Dang you Dale.
Restoring the plane
Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
>That looks like it could use a wire brush at the end of an angle grinder - should remove most of the crud. Caustic soda or any other strong acid might do the rest. Epoxy enamel car paint will have it looking like new! :)
Seriously, what does one do with a plane like this? Obviously it is too escoteric and valuable to use (and there is no need to since there are so many alternatives to choose from). So it is a collector's item. Then what? Leave it as is or "restore" it? And if the latter, what is recommended? Personally, I think that a plane like this should receive some restoration, if only to preserve it. Just leaving it will not prevent the rust developing, nor will it enable the finer points of the design to show through. So what does one do?
Regards from Perth
Derek
Re: Whatzit Plane?
Dale Stansbery
>Thanks for the input guys. The plane is in pretty decent condition really. No where near rusty enough to even consider electrolysis, no pitting. The photo makes it look worse than it is. It really won't take much cleaning. The nickle is pretty much gone, but the knob is near perfect.
So the fact that the auctioneer had gotten the word "sold" half spoken for my $1.00 bid, before he retracted it and took another bid which made me bid $3.00 to win it shouldn't have upste me as much as it did?
Re: Whatzit Plane? PS
Dale Stansbery
>Forgot to mention it doesn't have a blade.
Re: Whatzit Plane?
Todd Hughes
>I have one of the little later bench planes which has the hard rubber tote and adjustable mouth which is in excellent condition. A neat plane that is very attractive I think.Design feature of being able to adjust the blade on the fly so to speak by a finger lever is of rather dubious advantage and leaves an overly coplicated very small frog.You can see why they never really caught on. Bought it off a guy at the flea market for under $20 and he wrapped it up in part of a $300 coverlet he had toren up for rags.Talked him into giving me the rest of the "rags" he had
They also made block planes which in my experance are much more common,I probably got about 8 of them.They have the moving frog adjustment too and an unusual cap with hooks like on the bottom to grasp it.Is funny but about all of my block planes are a bit different with changes to how the throat was adjusted or even non adjustable.Found one the other week that has the "Tail" attachemnt on the back with the wooden ball handle like a stanley 17. Never knew they made them.....Todd
Re: Whatzit Plane? PS
wayne anderson
>The iron, properly marked, should be stamped Tower & Lyon. The fact that it missing isn't a real show stopper, if the rest of the plane is intact and undamaged. Sure, it isn't gonna be easy to replace the iron, but a suitable unmarked replacement could be substituted until one is found.
I suppose if it were mine, and I was worried about stabilizing the condition, I would probably do the casual cleaning with hot soapy water, and maybe even *gently* go over the surfaces with some paste wax on a wad of 0000 steel wool. Not too much damage would result with that, unless there is a fair amount of loose and flaky original finishes. Generally speaking, the less done, the better. Remember, were not talking about a Stanley or Miller Falls plane.
Too bad it isn't a #1-sized plane. There is only one other extant, and a finding another good one could probably buy one a new Harley! ;^)
Wayne
Re: Restoring the plane
Jack Guzman from Maine
>Derek,if it were up to me I think I would take it apart,remove the rust with electrolosis as good as possible,then oil and/or wax all metal so rust can't continue.Clean the wood gently just to get the grime off and then reassemble it.--Would any of this detract from the value of the plane?---Jack
Re: Restoring the plane
Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia
>Wouldn't do the electrosis if the plane is to be "collectable". I have heard that the metal becomes grayish and this is a detectable reconditioning step. Best to just rub it down with mineral spirits and wax it for the moment. Until I found out its value as is I would do nothing but clean it. JR
Re: a 2nd against electrolysis
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>I would not use electroysis on a collectable plane like this. If you plan on reselling it, I would suggest simply taking it apart, spraying it with Simple Green and scrubbing with a plastic bristle brush to remove any grime, then thoroughly drying it, wax it, and reassemble. If you plan on adding it to your own collection, I would remove most of the rust by carefully rubbing with a light abrasive like a fine steel wool or green scrub pad after spraying it down with Simple Green. I would then oil it with Gibbs oil if I had it, or simply a rag soaked with 30 weight motor oil, which will prevent it from rusting further. Any wood parts should not be oiled with a petroleum product, but just waxed with a paste wax like Johnson's.
So, I have to ask
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>I've got a Chapin plane, too, a jack size, non-adjustable mouth, plastic tote - please, someone tell me it's a valuable tool too!
Re: Whatzit Plane? *LINK*
wayne anderson
>Dale,
I have just discovered that Peter McBride from Australia has a rather nice collection of these planes, and may offer some info on your recent find. Follow the link on his site to his antique tools.
Re: So, I have to ask
Todd Hughes
>Looking on ebays completed auctions they had a rather nice ,[90% jappaning] 18 in. long , non adjustable mouth example , with an un marked blade that didn't get the $99 opening bid.If started lower might have done better.I think the adjustable mouth ones are more desirable, befor buying mine at the flea market I watched them on ebay and they seemed to go around $200 for most.This is for the later ones, early examples like the one above I think would go for more....Todd
Re: a 2nd against electrolysis
Todd Hughes
>I wouldn't use electrolysis on it thats for sure. I wouldn't be afraid of cleaning it though and personaly I would take it apart, remove the wood, and scrub it in hot soapy water with a tooth brush then clean the sides with some fine sand paper on a sanding block being careful not to go to far and to go from front to back.The wood if very dirty I would spray some WD 40 on and then wipe off with fine steel wool being careful not to go to far and finish with some wax.Have cleaned many planes like this and it leaves a plane that is clean but doesn't look like it has been cleaned. People that say a plane should not be cleaned,[I'm talking properly cleaned , not buffed and wire wheeled now!] I don't think have to much experance with selling tools. If you go to any big tool show you will see many rare and vaualbe planes being sold by "Big Time" tool guys. Ever see any rusted, dirty ones? Me neither. From which which we can draw two conclusions 1] They got cleaned or 2] rare and expensive planes are rust and dirt proof....Something tells me it's #1 ....Todd
Re: Whatzit Plane?
Dale Stansbery
>Thanks for the link. Unfortunately the pics there verified that I had a chaplin block plane in my posession for a few weeks last year. It went both ways (bought and sold)for a couple bucks. Guess I forgot to post a picture here on that one. As to restoration, I'll probably mildly clean this one and set it beside last years Spiers find that I posted here back then. I swear that I'm not a collector but they seem to pile up over time.