The Beginning

The Plane

This is a story about a project and a person.  I'm not really interested in heavy duty geneology research like my parents and older sister, but I am fascinated by the stories of other people.  This story will be told by means of a tool.  This summer we visited our family in Utah.  While we were staying at the Thompson's, I noticed a box of old tools in the garage.  I was a bit surprised to see an old hand plane in the box, knowing that my father-in-law is not into woodworking.  After asking him about it, he told me that the tools belonged to his grandfather, Grandpa Coles. 

 I asked if I could take the plane and Dale was very generous in allowing me to take it.  My first thought is that I wanted to know more about the man that owned the plane.  My next thought is that it needed some work.  I enjoy working with my hands.  I'm not a great woodworker or craftsman, but I love the satisfaction that comes with completing a project.  I've built many things around the house and none have fallen apart yet, so I guess there's that.

Last Christmas I was given two of the best gifts I've ever been given.  One was an extremely nice pen from my brother Jon, and the other was an equally nice Stanley Sweetheart No. 8 smoothing plane.  It's an absolute work of art.  Laura was incredibly thoughtful, I never would have asked for something like that, but she had the insight to know that would be a gift I would enjoy.  One of the many reasons why I love that woman, she pays attention to every detail and knows me all too well.  I've really loved using that tool.  So when I saw the plane in Dale's garage I got real excited.

So I plan to restore it, and tell the story of Grandpa Coles while I'm at it.  It will take me quite some time to get this job done, but it will be fun.  Lets have a look at the plane:

 

It's seen better days, but all in all, not in terrible shape.  There's some rust on the sole and chipping in the Japaning (the black coating of 'paint').  The sole isn't cracked, the handles are intact, and it looks like the iron has room for sharpening.  

Lots of deep gouges in the sole, but nothing that can't be worked out.

The original finish on the handles, there's a bit of cracking in the varnish, but the wood is solid, so that's a good thing.

 No. 10 1/2 marking.  After a bit of digging, it turns out that this is a Carriage Makers plane.  It's a bit different from a standard smoothing plane in that the iron (the blade) extends past the wings of the sole and is flush to the width of the sole.  This means that the sole arch is a bit weaker.  These planes tend to be cracked and broken at the arches as soon as they are dropped.  No cracks at all.  This isn't a super rare plane, but it isn't very common either.

From http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan2.htm
"#10 1/2 Carriage maker's rabbet plane, 9"L, 2 1/8"W, 3lbs, 1885-1964.

This is sometimes called the 'smooth rabbet' since it is the same size as a #4, however in some of Stanley's earlier propaganda this plane and the #10 are both simply called a "Carriage Maker's Rabbet". The usual problems with the #10, and the other bench planes, are also found on this guy. The most common form of damage are cracks and/or repairs to the cheeks of the tool, located just above the cutouts for the cutter.

The earliest models have an adjustable mouth, very much like those found on the common block planes, but the entire section of the sole ahead of the iron moves. Adjustable mouth versions are much scarcer than the non-adjustable mouth versions, and were only offered for about the first ten years of the plane's production.

The mouth is adjusted by turning the front knob, sliding the knob forward or backward, and then tightening the knob; this action moves the entire sole ahead of the iron. The casting that receives the front knob's screw is sometimes broken so take the plane apart to inspect this. The repetitive adjustment to the mouth also puts wear and tear on the rosewood knob; many of them are split or are chipped at their bases. I've seen some of these early models with a metallic disk under the knob in an attempt to overcome the chipping that the knobs suffer; this disk appears original and is similar to the one used on the #62.

This plane always came with the lateral adjustment lever - if you see one that doesn't have one, it's likely from an earlier #3 or #10."

 It was manufactured by Stanley from 1885-1964.  Purely guessing by the look of it, I'd guess that it came from the 40's-50's.  My reasoning is that the varnish of something newer would not have that style of cracking.  But who knows, just guessing.

 Well, there she is.  Lets get started.

Completely disassembled.  It was slightly disturbing to find old spider egg sacks inside.  I very much dislike spiders, unless they are on fire, then I'm completely fine with them.  First step, get the rust to go away.

After soaking in Krud Kutter for a couple hours, most all the rust went away.  Looking much better.

Some slight surface rust here and there, but not too shabby.  Now lets start with the sole.  The bottom of the sole needs to be flat.  Very flat.  If it wasn't, it would be useless as a plane.   The sides of the sole need to be square and flat as well.  Rust has pitted the surface and years of use and abuse has left many gouges and scratches.  To clean it up, I spray Super 77 onto the back of a sheet of sandpaper and bond it to a granite tile.  That gives me a flat surface to use to hone the surface of the sole.  Takes lots of patients and elbow grease.  I started with 80 grit but realized that wasn't going to cut it.  So went back to 60.

 After destroying a sheet of 80 grit, it was still a long ways from flat.  You can see that there is a concave bit in the sole.  Fortunately that's not as critical, but the area right before the iron slot is looking pretty bad.  So back to the paper with 60 grit.

 This time I've used a sharpie to act as a guide.  As I sand the surface, the low spots will still have sharpie visible so I know how much work to do.

 As you can see the top of the sole isn't very flat.  That is where there was the most rust.  It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but the concave bit in the middle is still there, but getting smaller.

There, now you can see the area that needs more work.  Back to the sanding.

Mostly done.  It needs a bit more work to flatten out the concave spot, but it's almost there.  When I'm done with this, I'll do the same to the sides.  Then repeat with 80, 120, 220, and maybe 300 grits.  We'll see what it looks like.  That's all for now, much more to come!