Restoring old hand plane

I have an older Bailey #3 along with a few others that I inherited from a friend of mines grandfather. I am attempting to restore it and I have a question about cleaning it up. I disassembled it and cleaned all of the grease and grime off of it (he was a mechanic all of his life) and them lapped the sole and sides. The problem is that there was alot of surface rust on the body and the frog. lapping it with 80

100 > 150 > 220 > 400 > 600 grit paper removed the surface rust and

smoothed it out, but there is still alot of staining and pitting on the sides and on the machined surfaces of the frog. I was wondering if it would hurt anything to use a air powered die grinder with 3M scotchbrite pads to clean the machined surfaces> I use it to clean the machined surfaces on engine blocks without any problem, and I think it should work with the plane as well. I figure clean it with the griner and then lap the sole, sides, and frog using the same process as before. I really want to get this plane in good usable condition both to be able to use and also in honor of "Pop", but I do not want to ruin it either. Any feedback or alternate suggestions would be appreciated.

-Rob

Reply to
Rob Ritch
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Google. Electrolysis.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Staining and pitting on the sides of the plane will not effect the performance. In fact, what you call staining, most collectors/users of old tools call patina, and gives the tool some character. Pitting on the sole might be a problem, if there is a lot of it. A little is not going to hurt performance. As long as the sole is reasonably flat (especially that the toe, heel and around the mouth are in the same plane) that is good enough, imho. Remember, too much lapping may also open the mouth, which for a smoothing plane is not a good thing. Also, you might want to protect the newly lapped parts of the plane with some paste wax.

As for the frog, as long as it provides support for the entire blade, it is good. You can use a file to flatten the high spots on the frog. If it were me, I would concentrate on sharpening the blade, making sure the chip breaker and cap are nice and tight, and start planing.

dave

Reply to
wowbagger9

I've restored a few planes and I try to make them look like they came out of the tool box of a mechanic who used and cared for his tools. Shiney, showroom new isn't really approriate. On rusted surfaces, I use a solid rubber block with grit embedded, Sandflex is the name from Woodcraft (and others)

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. I can control just how much "patina" I want to see. It doesn't leave black mess like sandpaper. You can look up electrolysis, but it is messy process, and leaves you with a gray steel. It does cut the red rust, not the black pitting.

To work properly, the mating surfaces on the frog and body need to be resonably smooth. The top of the frog needs to be reasonably smooth so that the cutter blade will slide smoothly when adjusted. Once you've done that, any further smoothing is for aesthetics.

So, to answer your question, the scotchbrite won't hurt anything, but be sure that you will be happy with the appearance of the surface it leaves. After cutting down to fresh steel, I would definately protect the metal with paste wax. I use Johnson's.

And, if the black paint "japanning" on the inside of the body is a bit rough, you can make it look a bit better by waxing the first coat with liquid black shoe polish.

Do clean up the wood handles too, when that rosewood is finished and shining--looks great. Wax helps them too.

To use the plane, the blade must be razor sharp at the proper angle. Again you can find help on this courtesy of Google.

Reply to
WaltC

Thanks for all of the information. I really want this to be nice when it is finished. I have posted some pictures of before and after the initial cleaning. This was a quick first pass at it. A friend of mine is coming into town this weekend and he is going to show me how to tune it up and get it in good shape. Here is a link to the pictures

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Reply to
Rob Ritch

Hi Rob:

I use the 3M wheels on car bodies all of the time. It won't hurt the plane a bit. It might not take all of the rust off - especially if it's pitted badly, but if the pits aren't real deep it probably will. If you use it with a die grinder, turn your air pressure down to around 90psi or so. You can really eat up those 3M wheels fast with a die grinder and most of that is wear that is not benefiting you, if the air pressure is too high. At $7.00 a pop, that gets expensive. Good luck - let us know how it turns out.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

"Rob Ritch" wrote in news:1105629273.975317.308280 @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

I don't think you need to polish it any further. Work on sharpening the blade, and having your expert teach you how to adjust the mouth.

Patriarch

Reply to
Patriarch

I tried the Die grinder last night. It did not do much for the body of the plane, but it really made a big difference in the lever cap and chip breaker. They were completely covered with surface rust that I had not been able to clean off. The die grinder removed all of that and it now looks great.

Reply to
Rob Ritch

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