First the Stanley 60 1/2 low angle block plane (manufactured between 1930 - 1946).
I haven't had much shop time lately but a couple hours here and there have allowed me to clean up this Stanely 9 1/2 that I gifted to a friend for finding the Sargent 722. Then I also did a quick rehab on a Stanley 60 1/2 block plane that also belonged to my friend whom I have the 9 1/2 to. First the Stanley 60 1/2 low angle block plane (manufactured between 1930 - 1946). And here are a few pics of the 722 and 9 1/2 after rehabbing.... Yes I still need a blade for the 722. See previous blog post for more before pics of these two.
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A couple weeks ago I came across a nice vintage mitre box on Craigslist and after several missed attempts I finally met up with the guy and picked it up, very good price on it too. This is a Stanley #358. 28" Disston Saw. The mitre box is almost complete, it's only missing one of the guide blocks, which I can live with until I find a new one. All of these pics are pre-cleanup, as soon as I have the chance, I'll take everything apart and give it a nice thorough douching. This here is a Sargent 722 auto-set jointer plane. A pretty rare find, which I can't take credit for because a friend of mine came across it ans asked if I wanted him to pick it up for me. The only problem is it's missing a blade, and the only blade that will fit is from another 722 or a 718, or a custom made one. I found a blade but it's not cheap, so I'll have to wait a couple weeks to order it. Anyway once I get this bad boy up and running it will be a sweet freaking plane. There is a small chip in the tote, which should be a fairly easy repair, the tote and knob are Indian Rosewood. There is also a couple pics mixed in here that are of a Stanley 9 1/2" block plane which I am going to restore and give to my friend for finding this Sargent 722.
Here is a link to the lowdown about the Sargent 722 Adding a little bit of mendota plane polish to the tote and knob really livened them back up. Probably the most impressive thing about the Sargent is the japanning, it's probably 95%, I can't believe how good of shape it's in, crossing my fingers but even the rust removal process, I have seen VERY little pitting, almost none. Updates on this one soon too! Thanks for reading. The title says it, the coveted infill plane. Browsing through craigslist one day and I came across an ad from a guy with about 12 planes for sale, he wanted to sell them as a group but I've been bringing so many planes home lately that I knew the wife wouldn't be too happy if I came home with 12 more. I actually didn't think the guy was even going to reply but after about 3 days he did.
With the infill plane I also got a Stanley #90 bullnose rabbet plane, again the deal was too good to pass up regardless of the condition of either of them. At first I was literally freaking out about the infill, because some of the old Spiers and Mathiesons go for several hundred to a few thousand dollars, but at first glance it's obvious this guy has been altered and is not one of those. Obviously this wasn't the original tote, and it's a pretty shotty replacement job at that, and it looks like this isn't the original brass bolt. There's also a possibility this is a shop-made infill. I've searched the interwebz high and dry and can't find anything, I think if there were any markings on the plane they were on the original tote. The iron is a W. Butcher #1, the numbers on the Butcher irons are another mystery, my guess is that the numbers may have been something similar to a lot number, but thats just a guess. By the looks of this plane and the iron in it, I'd estimate that this was made sometime in the mid to late 1800's. This plane is also a hoss, once I gave the Butcher iron a nice honing, it makes gossamer shavings, pretty unbelievable..... I think that is what fascinates me the most about planes, a technology that was crated literally over 200 years ago still applies and works well if you know how to use them, and I think that's part of the reason that I've fallen down this 'slippery slope' of hand planes. I had a come to jesus moment last year when I finally sharpened a plane iron that would shave my arm hair, and then got it tuned and started taking full width shavings, it's one of the most amazing accomplishments I've had in my hand tool journey. Anyway back to the infill, here are a couple pre-cleanup pics, followed by a couple post cleanup and post honing pics, the bevel had to be completely re-ground, it was really uneven but now it cuts like butter. These W. Butcher irons are also very interesting to me, they have some very cool history behind them, William and Samuel Butcher were bigtime in Sheffield England in the 1800's. William got a loan and started the edge tool company in 1819 and they were in the tool industry throughout the 1800's, in 1842 they opened an office in Philadelphia, headed by Robert Wade, also from Sheffield. From what I have of WKFinetools, Butcher steel was some of the best ever manufactured, some say Sorby was the only steel recognized to be of an even higher quality. Here is a link to the W & S Butcher History if you are interested. Now let's get to some more plane pics. I hate the tote on it, if this had the traditional style tote it would look so much more bad ass, and I plan on buying a piece of Indian Rosewood soon to make a new one, I will post an update as soon as I do. Stanley Bedrock planes are some of the highest quality and most well made planes ever manufactured. They keep their value as well as any plane, and many still go for as much as a new Lie Nielsen. This was not only my first Bedrock, but it's my first jointer plane, the largest plane I prior to this is my Stanley Bailey #6, and this one is a Stanley Bedrock #608 (type 3). I would've preferred to get one with the straight sides rather than the rounded sides, but I couldn't turn it down for the price. This plane has a corrugated sole and has some pitting, but not enough to alter or affect the performance, it works fantastic. It's a real beast, and lots of fun to use.
I think that someday I will restore it, the japanning is almost gone, and eventually it will need a new iron (pitting), but there is plenty iron left and I don't have time to take on another restoration at this point. All I did to this plane was clean it up, and sharpen the iron, I think the sole might need a little bit of lapping, but for now it's performing very well. The shavings below are ash, walnut, maple and marblewood. For about the past year I've turned into a little bit of a vintage tool hoarder. It all started when my Dad brought me this old toolbox that was his Father's. Inside it contained 2 hand planes, one a Ohio #4 1/4 and the other a Shelton #4. At the time I really knew nothing about hand planes, I mean I had held one before and I'm sure made a shaving or two at some point, but never had any clue about how cool planes really are. I started out by posting a couple pics of the planes on Lumberjocks, and got several responses, their responses seemed to be that I had 2 good quality planes, and the best thing to do was to restore them and start learning. They all warned me that going down the vintage tool road is a "slippery slope" at which I laughed.... Well they were right. I'm still new to this, but I went from these two planes my Dad gave me, and now I'm at about 20-25 planes, and I find myself browsing Craigslist almost every day looking for planes. I'm not going to delve into the specifics of the restoration process, if you are interested in restoring a hand plane, here is a link to the process I used: Bench Plane Restored the DW way. They call him Don Yoda on Lumberjocks because there are probably only a handful of people in the entire world that have the sort of hand plane knowledge that Don has, and he has one of the most extensive plane collections you'll ever see. He also has several tools for sale on his site. A lot of what I know about planes has came from him, and I'm grateful that he has been nice enough to help out a total stranger with so much valuable info. Let's start with the Ohio and the Shelton: The Ohio is on the left and the Shelton on the right, notice the lever cap on backwards on the Ohio. Turns out the Ohio #4 1/4 is a pretty rare plane, it's too back that it had been broken at some point, you can see the in the 2nd picture - the right side has a repair in it, turns out someone brazed the side back together, but they did a nice job on it. The before: I disassembled both planes completely, sandblasted them, repainted the sole, refinished the totes and knobs, and finally sharpened the iron. Then I did the same thing with the Shelton #4:
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AuthorI am a novice woodworker and tool hoarder, learning new techniques and skills every day. Hoping that someday I can make a living out of building things out of wood. ArchivesCategories
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