Ch'Gans random bits and bobs

Reveal and conclusion.

This post is part of a series:

• Six crusty planes, Part I
• Six crusty planes, Part II
• Six crusty planes, Part III (this post)

In part I, I presented my “Wheelbarrow of Stanley Bailey planes” story and documented my TradeMe finding. In part II, I focused on the restoration process. Now is time for the reveal and final thoughts!

Let’s start with the three small planes (two #4 and one #4-1/2), I used some spare parts I had around to fit on the #4-1/2.

Some more details.

And now the #6 and the two #7. Again, I used spare parts to complete the planes. The #7 in the middle got a new lever cap as I will sell it on TradeMe.

Some more details.

Overall I’m quite happy with the results.

A few things didn’t go according to plan:

• As explained in part II, The sacrifical anode of my electrolysis rust removal was not big enough. I think that old saw plates are good for this job.
• I’m not sure what happenned exactly but the tote of the most modern #7 was not glued correctly, maybe my clamping moved the parts. As I started sanding it to remove the edge caused by the misalignement, the tote broke apart! Maybe the wood was still wet, or contaminated with oil, or I didn’t mix the epoxy correctly… I will have to redo it.
• There was an issue with all the old rosewood. I layer of “black stuff” appeared after the first coat of danish oil. It wasn’t just the rosewood darkening, it look more like a thin layer of goo. I had to re-clean and re-finish them. Now it’s all good.
• Althought not visible on the photos, the blades, cap irons and lever caps are badly danaged by the rust. I might replace them if I can find some spares. Maybe I’ll ask people from the NZ Vintage Tools Collector Club.

The big good surprise was the damaged beyond repair knob, that ended up being a repaired beyond damaged knob. I was so please to successfully repair it.

And that’s the end of my “wheelbarrow of Stanley Bailey planes” story. Thanks for reading and don’t hesiutate to comment and like the posts!

I would like to take this opportunity to let the reader knows that i made some cool “old tools” designs on RedBubble. You can buy gallot stickers, t-shirts, … My margin is currently ZERO so the price is as low as I can control. So far I’ve “sold” 12 items, all Stanley related, weird! If you buy something, please leave a feedback.