Restoring a Stanley #5 plane

Re: Restoring a Stanley #5 plane *LINK*

Tony Sade (Charleston, WV)


>Right here:

http://www.woodcentral.com/old_articles/metalplanetune.shtml

Tony


Tuning up a plane-WC Article

obsessive/precise vs. quick/simple

Bill Houghton, September summer in Sebastopol, CA


>Tony has offered you the high-end, get everything absolutely right, option with his article reference. You might try, first, just cleaning up the plane (step 1 in the article, or I offer an alternative below), waxing all the operating surfaces, sharpening the cutting iron, and trying it out on some scrap pine, poplar, or similar wood.

Before I offer my thoughts, let me digress by referring you to your local library. Get out every book you can find on hand tools, and read through them. Pay particular attention to the sharpening discussions, which will contradict each other, but which will give you an idea of how to sharpen. If you're really lucky, the library will have Leonard Lee's "The Complete Guide to Sharpening." My emphasis on sharpening will make sense later.

Cleaning: I use SOS pads in warm water to clean up the disassembled plane. This sounds like a recipe for rust, and would be except that I dry the plane thoroughly afterward, spray WD-40 all over it and dry again, then wax practically everything (furniture paste wax is available in your friendly local hardware store or big box home center; use furniture wax rather than automotive, because automotive is rumored to have fine abrasives in it; one $5 or so can of paste wax will last you a LONG time). The ratio of SOS pad to plane is about 1:1. If you live with anyone, particularly anyone whose cleaning standards are higher than yours, DON'T do this in the kitchen sink. I have an old kitchen dishpan for this purpose.

You want particularly to wax the sole, the bottom, of the plane, and then to buff it thoroughly so that nothing's left but the smoothness.

Once you've cleaned it up, sharpening is the next thing. In my opinion, sharpening is 80% of tuning on any plane that's not really a wreck, and is a skill that takes time to develop, and constant practice to maintain competence. At the moment, I've lost my edge in sharpening (oh, how I struggled to avoid that pun! But nothing else quite says it) due to not enough shop time. You can get jigs to help, if you find the process difficult.

Got the iron sharp and the plane reassembled? In putting the iron back, make sure that you've engaged both the adjuster "tooth" and the little lever that moves side to side behind the iron. The lever on the lever cap (the part that holds the iron down) should snap down firmly, but not so firmly that it's hard to do. If it's too hard to snap down, most likely your iron's not seated properly; less likely is that the screw that the lever cap pivots on is too tight.

Planes are not axes. You want your initial planing efforts to succeed, so you want just a hairline of iron showing below the sole of the plane. Hold the plane by the tote, the rear handle, with the sole up and the front of the plane facing you, so you can sight along the sole. You can hold it either down by your side or up to a source of diffuse light; preferences vary. Now turn the knob that advances the iron until you just see a hint of light at the mouth of the plane. Try it on the edge of your test board. If you get any shavings at all, keep going; the edge of the board may be uneven, so you're skipping from high spot to high spot. If, after five or ten tries, you're not getting shavings, advance the iron a hair more.

After that, it's all practice.

Here is one I had in my bookmarks

Victor P


>This one is a pictorial step by step.

Good luck.

Victor in Hot and Humid Houston

http://www.yesterdaystools.com/tuninga1.htm

Interesting name for his website

Bill Houghton, September summer in Sebastopol, CA


>considering that he focuses mainly on power tools.

Re: Restoring a Stanley #5 plane

Mike Hamilton


>Keith,

Bring that plane with you to Ray's for Indyfest. (you are coming, right?) There will be a little handplane competition and I think Moses will be demonstrating sharpening and fettling. Nothing like first hand demo/practice to get the ball rolling.

Regards,

Mike Hamilton

Plainfield, IN

Restore or preserve ?

Steve Mackay


>Hows the jappaning ? 90% or better ? As for the plane as a whole . . . are you, just, going for broke ?

How about this

jimreed@tallahassee


>My buddy Johnnie has worked on a plane or two.

https://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/about/about.htm

Re: How about this

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native now in Jax Fl.


>Oh man, I'd sure love to preserve that mill, unfortunately I don't have the capital that it would require. Gonna have to MapQuest it's location. Clayton County Ga., might be within driving range for a weekend trip.

T.O.

I knew I had Smelser's link here :>)

V Parisian


>I think this is the most complete write up I have seen.

Regards from Houston

Victor

http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/Smalser_on_RehabbingPlanes.htm