Some much needed TLC for the bench planes

As I mentioned yesterday, the simple task of grinding a camber on my jack plane blade gradually became a more involved process.  Miraculously, the grinding went so well, I began looking at the blades on my other bench planes.  My smoother (Stanley #4) was roughly as sharp as a bowling ball, perfect time to begin again by grinding it to a new bevel.  The jointer (Stanley #8) was still relatively sharp, but i had realized a couple of weeks ago that blade was far from straight, not very helpful in flattening surfaces at all.  Again, what better time than now to tune it up.  After all, the afternoon would see all of the planes in use to thickness, flatten and smooth a board for the bedside table that I am building for my wife.

#4 and #5 blades ground to new bevels.  A nice new camber on the #5.

I took the photo above, looked at it, then looked at the planes.  Not really any rust, but definitely a lot of staining.  Nearly 100 years of use, a decade in my seaside basement, and years of sparse use had taken a toll.  I figured I had the whole day, so why not do a little cleaning too.

An older photo of the #8 showing rust and a lot of discoloration on the non-japanned surfaces.

Pre-cleaning, with a lot of caked on saw dust and the marks of years of use.

I started off with machine oil and the coarsest steel wool that I had on hand.  I ended up switching to 600 grit wet/dry sand paper adhered to a marble tile, carefully keeping the plane bodies aligned to keep the faces 90 degrees.  Successive work with finer grades of steel wool followed.  On the japanned surfaces, I used steel wool to remove rust spotting, and then lightly oiled all of the surfaces.  I like the historic (vintage) nature of these planes, and I'd rather not harm the japanning that remains until I absolutely must.  That being said, I will probably look for a less nuclear option than removing all of it and repainting for now.  Maybe paint just the spots that are bare metal and prone to rusting.  That would be an easy project for a weeknight when I have limited shop time.

Cleaned and tuned.

I am very pleased with the outcome.  I did leave some of the marks for a couple of reasons.  First, I was nervous about removing the amount of metal required to get to a pristine surface.  Secondly, and more importantly to me as an historian, based on placement and shape, some of the marks appeared to be finger and hand prints left from those who used the planes well before me.  I really love that feeling of lineage, knowing that hopefully, as my skills improve, I will be adding to the history of craftsmanship with these planes.

I am breaking these posts up a little bit, mainly to keep them from growing too long.  But also, I am in the middle of a very long week at work with very limited shop time.  I hope you will join me tomorrow as I share some woodworking on the bedside table. 

Thank you for visiting.