Fettling an old Stanley plane

[tdacon]

What grit stone or abrasive would you use to flatten the sole and polish up the sides of a hand plane body?

I've got a small collection of Stanleys, circa 1930's and 1950's, that are in excellent condition, some of them even apparently unused or used only a time or two. They look pretty good, but most of them are blotched lightly with a few dark spots that might be left over from surface rust in the past. I'd like to do any sole flattening they need and pretty them up some. If I'm going to end up with something like a diamond plate to do this with, I'd like some good suggestions about what grit would be appropriate. I'm thinking something like 220 grit or coarser - I'm not looking for a high polish.

What would you guys do?

Thanks,
Tom

[Ken S]

Tom,

I would reach in the drawer for one or more of my "rust erasers".  Here is a link to them:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=10509&cat=2,42194,40727

I would highly recommend purchasing the set of three.  They do a very nice job of cleaning up planes and lots of other things, too.  I would put them on the "handiest tools in the shop" list. They last for years.

Regarding flatten plane bottoms, I would recommend you get a copy of Chris Schwarz' Handplane Book. In addition to being a valuable reference, Chris writes about flattening plane bottoms, including how picky to be with different planes.  (Very picky with smoothers; somewhat picky on long jointers; not at all on "fore (jack) planes used for preliminary work.  It's a must read for woodworkers.

Keep us posted.

Ken

[Rob]

What grit stone or abrasive would you use to flatten the sole and polish up the sides of a hand plane body?

I've got a small collection of Stanleys, circa 1930's and 1950's, that are in excellent condition, some of them even apparently unused or used only a time or two. They look pretty good, but most of them are blotched lightly with a few dark spots that might be left over from surface rust in the past. I'd like to do any sole flattening they need and pretty them up some. If I'm going to end up with something like a diamond plate to do this with, I'd like some good suggestions about what grit would be appropriate. I'm thinking something like 220 grit or coarser - I'm not looking for a high polish.

What would you guys do?

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom

I'm a member of a different woodworking forum and though I've not done this myself, I've seen it done many times on different threads.  It's electrolysis.  If you do a youtube search there are many good videos describing the procedure. Basically you immerse the entire iron/steel based thing you want to de-rust in a bath with a simple home made anode and cathode and leave it with a small current passing through it for a quantity of hours.  The electrolysis does all the heavy lifting leaving a scoured tool with none of the sound metal touched and all of the rust magically vanished into solution in the bath.  Advantage is it gets into all the tiny crevices like round the frog etc and you don't need to exert yourself too much.

Once that's done you can finish flattening and other fettling as normal.  As I said I've not tried it myself but next time I have the problem I will give it a go because the folks on my other forum can't praise it highly enough.  Hang on let me se if I can find a thread and post the link here.

Right, this one is a classic.  The chap literally brought back from the dead a really good quality drill press vice.  Check this out.

http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/another-successful-electrolytic-derusting-project-t80550.html

Hope that helps :-)

[Ken S]

Nice link, Rob.  It's nice to know there is some heavy artillery available in reserve.

However, for this job, I have found a BB gun will get the job done quite nicely. My last house had no basement and an unheated garage for a shop (not good).  Occasionally some of my planes (old Stanleys) would develop a bit of surface rust stainlng.  The rust erasers are essentially erasers with abrasive mixed in.  They work surprisingly well and surprisingly fast ("very quick" as Al Holtham might say).  They come in three different grits: fine, medium and coarse.  With grit selection and the amount of hand pressure, you have  quite a bit of control. my original three erasers are around twenty years old now, and still going strong.

The set of three costs about fifteen dollars.  If you aren't in a rush, Lee Valley runs free shipping for a week or so every quarter.

I took a handplane class with Ernie Conover twenty years ago.  As part of the class, I fettled my grandfather's 1891 Stanley jack plane. It was pleasant work, and now I have a real trooper plane. I hope to pass it along to my grandson someday. Ernie did a vhs video for Taunton on restoring flea market planes.  It's quite good.  I'm not sure if it has been reissued in DVD.

It's redundant, but I will again recommend Chris Schwarz' book. Try using your original Stanley blades before purchasing any of the outstanding new replacement blades.  I have been quite pleased with the performance of original blades when they are Tormek sharp and the whole plane is well tuned.

For flattening, I use some wet and dry "sandpaper" (lightly) held on plate glass with spray adhesive. You can get the glass locally.  A nice alternative is the glass plate Lee Valley sells (sharpening department). It is safety glass and has rounded corners.  It is a nice size.

I would start with a small plane first.  The smoother (Stanley number 3 or 4) should be the flattest.  The reason for this is the very thin shaving. With a shaving of .001" or so, a hollow needn't be very deep to interfere.  With a thick shaving from a jack plane, flatness is not critical.

The second reason to start flattening with the smoother is there is less metal to remove due to its size.  That translates to less work.  Once you have a nice flat smoother, you will know the drill for the other sizes.

You will want several grits, just like using coarse and fine with the Tormek wheel.  I would start with something around 320.  If the plane is already flat, there is no point in creating deep scratches. The initial rubbing will show how flat the plane is.  If there are hollows, switch to a coarser grit. say 220 or 180. If you are lucky enough to have a flat plane, proceed to polishing with finer grits. The trick is to use a grit size bit enough to get the job done in reasonable time without creating deeper scratches than needed.

Once you have you first smoother nice and flat, you will have the skill to carry on.  Reviving a nice old plane is satisfying.  Enjoy the process.

Keep us posted on your progress along this enjoyable journey.

Ken

[Rob]

they do sound dam handy Ken, I'll have a gander on the Lee Valley site. For that level of fine rust I've been using kitchen pan scourers with WD40 and they work but they're not that great.  Your erasers sound just the job.

[grepper]

Rob,

Re: electrolysis

Well..., isn't that just the coolest thing!  I'm going to try that.

Thanks Rob. 

[Herman Trivilino]

That's a splendid process, electrolysis.  I've never tried it, but I understand it will also remove any paint.  I recently refinished my Tormek:

http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1886.0

If this finish doesn't hold up maybe I'll give electrolysis a try.

[Rob]

yes its funny isn't it?  Electrolysis of rusted or otherwise paint ridden beasts that one would ordinarily just heave down the tip can be literally resurrected and lovingly restored.  It's a process I've been dying to try for ages now but just don't have a project for it.

I'm sure it's appeal comes from the notion you don't have to spend a long time with wire brushes and the like.  It's sort of alchemy isn't it, altogether a little magical :-)

Shall we make Gold next :-)

[Herman Trivilino]

I watched one of the many videos available on the web.  They made a solution of sodium carbonate (readily available as a laundry additive) and a rectangular plastic storage box.  Used pieces of re-rod, one on each corner, as one of the electrodes and were done in two hours. 

Electrochemistry is a close cousin of alchemy.  It's a science steeped in ancient mysticism, and to be honest I find the whole process somewhat mysterious.  Making a battery cell out of a lemon using a galvanized nail and a piece of copper wire seems like witchcraft.

You've stumped me with "heave down the tip".  The meaning seems clear from the context.  Is the tip a trash chute? 

[tdacon]

Thanks, gents - much to think on.

But first stop is Lee Valley...

Tom

[Rob]

I watched one of the many videos available on the web.  They made a solution of sodium carbonate (readily available as a laundry additive) and a rectangular plastic storage box.  Used pieces of re-rod, one on each corner, as one of the electrodes and were done in two hours. 

Electrochemistry is a close cousin of alchemy.  It's a science steeped in ancient mysticism, and to be honest I find the whole process somewhat mysterious.  Making a battery cell out of a lemon using a galvanized nail and a piece of copper wire seems like witchcraft.

You've stumped me with "heave down the tip".  The meaning seems clear from the context.  Is the tip a trash chute?

Probably is the answer Herman except I don't know what a trash chute is :-)  Obviously I understand trash and I know what a chute is. But is a trash chute a designated place you drive your car to with the trunk/boot/back filled with rubbish (trash) and deposit said junk into a managed space....batteries here...household appliances there.....garden waste over there....brown glass here......cardboard in that bin etc etc. 

That is what we call a "tip" because you tip your waste into something.  In the old days you literally reversed your car up to a concrete wall and heaved the lot over the side, it went down a concrete chute into a huge barn like space where gigantic diggers would shovel it into large metal containers where it was further processed (usually into landfill sites).  Nowadays, with all the recycling, there are different stations for all the different categories of waste.  But it's still called the "tip" and it's basically a municipal space funded by local government and every town has one somewhere nearby but out of town a bit.

Is that a trash chute?

[Ken S]

Tom, at the risk of sounding like a promoter, I have been a satisfied customer of Lee Valley for twenty years.  They also happen to be a Tormek dealer.

Rob, Isaac Newton was an alchemist.  Sadly, he failed to give us the answer for converting base metal to gold.  All we ended up with was gravity.

Ken

[Rob]

yes...looking at my waistline I'm familiar with gravity :-)

[Herman Trivilino]

Probably is the answer Herman except I don't know what a trash chute is :-)

We're close! You'd open a door, deposit your trash, and a chute would carry it to a central location where the less fortunate would haul it away.  This would be indoors.

That is what we call a "tip" because you tip your waste into something.

That's what we would call a dump.  It's outdoors.

[grepper]

That's funny!  Thanks for the chuckle guys. ROFL 

Anyway, what that guy did with the vise was inspiring.  I would have passed it up considering it to be a lost cause.  But no!  It turned out beautifully.  It would be really hard to achieve that result with a wire brush and rust remover.  I suspect electrolysis gets into all of the little spaces too.

Got to go fish around at the dump at the bottom of the trash chute and see if anyone has tipped some rusty junk down there to try it on!