new project - Ebay sweetheart 5and a half

[markturner]

I just got the above plane on ebay, sadly it seems to have had a quick makeover to make it look ok for the ebay photos. On close inspection, the body needs striping and the sole grinding flat and polishing, same with most of the rest, its basically sound but needs doing properly. I would like to replace the handle which has the top removed or broken ( see photos) and many of the screws are in not great condition. Can anyone give me some links to sites where I can buy such parts? Will post up some photos tomorrow.

I have seen a few sites offering spares, but am not sure what the product number of the plane is, how do i find this?

Cheers, Mark

 

[adidat]

hi mark

cant see any photos here,

im pretty sure any stanley 5 1/2 handles will fit. rosewood ones always coming up on evilbay\

adidat

 

[Vann]

Can anyone give me some links to sites where I can buy such parts?

Hi Mark,

I've bought a few bits and pieces from http://www.stanleytools.com

If it's Sweethart then it's made in USA. There's no section for No.5 1/2 bench planes, but anything that fits a No.6 or No.7, also fits a No.5 1/2, except of course the sole (and they aren't listed). Don't take too much notice of the pictures, they're indicative only, and often have no resemblance to the actual part.

Oh, and make your own handles (says he who hasn't got a round tuit himself :roll: ).

Cheers, Vann.

 

[markturner]

OK,here she is as brought. Looks like some has just gone over it with a very rough grindwer wheel and sprayed the body black. There is quite a bit of rust on the frog body that will be difficult to remove. I am thinking of getting the sole and frog beadblasted, what do you think?

Cheers, Mark

 

[mtt.tr]

Its ab early one i im not mistaken

 

[Alf]

There's no section for No.5 1/2 bench planes, but anything that fits a No.6 or No.7, also fits a No.5 1/2

Caution! Pre-1939 Stanley #5½s (which this appears to be) have a 2¼" wide iron, not 2 ⅜" - best to check rather than assume. You can also have some trouble with rear totes and the bolt angle varying. I'd be tempted to graft on a fresh piece of rosewood and shape it up from there, but then I'd also not do much more to it anyway. It's not rusty (much), it works (I bet) and it's already suffered more than enough indignity at the hands of the wire brush maniac. (Looks like someone's used a frog screw to replace a missing toe screw on the rear tote too. Tsk.) Should make a nice user though.

 

[Vann]

Pre-1939 Stanley #5½s (which this appears to be) have a 2¼" wide iron, not 2 ⅜"

Dammit, I forgot about those early 2¼" wide No.5½s. So, what Alf said.

The plane doesn't look in bad condition. Replace the toe screw (optional), repair the tote (also optional), maybe grind/file the burrs of some of the screwheads.

But all that is cosmetic. Does it make shavings?

Cheers, Vann.

 

[markturner]

The iron is blunt as you like and rounded off, I think it needs a regrind. As its the original iron, I would like to keep it rather than replace with a Hock as I did on the last plane I restored.
I think a new screw kit would be good, as most\ are rusty and butchered. What kit would I need? And is there an english site that sells them? The other link was to an american site, and thats what I keep finding when I google.

I am not sure how easy it would be to make a new handle... again, is there any good info out there on doing this? The front knob is good.

Cheers, Mark

 

[MIGNAL]

What's the point in making a new rear tote? 95% of the original still appears fine. I agree with Alf, just graft on a small section of Rosewood and shape.

 

[markturner]

I am not sure about that, it may be outside my skill set.. I also cant find anywhere in the UK that sell old plane parts, there is some good ones in the USA, any dramas buying stuff from those sites?

 

[Henry Disston]

I couldn't tell exactly from your pictures but it appears your plane has two patent dates on the bed and no frog adjustment screw. If it is a US Stanley plane is would be a Type 9 made between 1902 and 1907. This is prior to the "Sweetheart" era.
The blade is a modern Stanley replacement and probably not worth keeping. The original blade for your plane would say STANLEY on the first line and PAT.APP'L19.92 on the second line. Those were excellent, laminated blades and held an edge well.
The blade for this plane should be 2 1/4" and there are fewer replacement options, Hock being one of them.

 

[markturner]

so, the plot thickens!! The body actually has 3 patent dates, march 25-02, Aug 19-02 and Apr 19-10. The frog is stamped 5 and a half. Does that help further narrow it down? i would really like to correctly identify this and also, if what you say about the iron is correct, then i will have no hesitation in swapping in a hock replacement. The iron does have the sweetheart logo on it however....and it is 2 and 3 eighths wide

any further information gratefully received.

cheers, mark

Ps, the cleaning up of the frog is coming along nicely, but I am a bit daunted by the potential amount of polishing to smooth out the sole, which is quite heavily marked and scored in places. any ideas? would it be sacrilidge to take it to an engineering shop to get it machine polished do you think, at least get the worst out so I can finish by hand?

 

[Henry Disston]

Even better! The 3 patent dates + low knob mean it is a Type 11 which is generally considered the most desirable of the Stanleys. The logo on the original blade should look like this:

I enlarged the photo and was able to see the SW. The blade you have dates from 1921-1935 and is a laminated blade which should perform very well. I'm glad you didn't dump it. Even though it is a newer blade than the plane, it is close to a period replacement.

Clean up the original screws. Stanley screws were weird sizes and you won't find new ones.

Don't do anything to the sole yet. If there are nicks that would scratch your workpiece, you can gently sand them down. Then sharpen the iron and try it out on some straight grained wood to see if it works. My favorite use for a #5 1/2 is as a medium set jack plane. That means it would have a lightly cambered blade set to take shavings in the .003"-.005" range. Unless you can tune a plane like David Charlesworth, don't expect it to be a final finishing plane especially on highly figured woods. If you cant get those kinds of shavings, then start tuning but leave the sole for last.

There are plenty of articles on plane tuning so we won't get into that.

 

[markturner]

I just found the blood and gore site, which makes really interesting reading. Mine has the original keyhole shaped lever cap, which is nice. So far, all I have done is strip off the nasty paint applied over the body by the sellers, but the original paint is not good either and there are patches of slight rusting. Here is a link to my photobucket page where there are some more photos of the plane stripped down and cleaning underway
http://s499.photobucket.com/albums/rr353/CoBMrTube/

cheers, mark

 

[markturner]

Well, she is finished. not 100%, as I have discovered that the iron has been sharpened too many times to protrude through the throat with the cap iron correctly seated and with approx 1mm of blade showing. So I have a Hock iron and chipbreaker arriving Monday for her. But the body has been repainted with Rustoleum black and polished up , the handles sanded down and oiled with bolied linseed and the whole shebang polished off with renwax. I am very pleased how it has come out, it still looks like an old plane, but its clean, functional and feels great in the hand. Some of the screws are a liitle corroded still and I have swapped the handle from another old plane I am restoring for the time being. Here are some piccies:

Cheers, Mark

 

[Vann]

It's coming up nice Mark.

...I have discovered that the iron has been sharpened too many times to protrude through the throat with the cap iron correctly seated and with approx 1mm of blade showing.

I believe the length of the iron has nothing to do with the protrusion though the mouth (unless the end of the slot is hitting the cap-iron screw). It's the length of the cap-iron that dictates where the cutting edge ends up. As the iron is not the original, probably the cap-iron is also off another plane. Hopefully your Hock cap-iron will be the correct length for this plane. Failing that: L-N make custom cap-irons; you could make your own; or you could modify one that you have.

HTH.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[markturner]

Well, I have hit a couple of snags, both to do with the iron. Firstly, there seems to be a fair bit of slack in the adjuster. The two prongs of the adjuster fork do not fit completely tightly between the steps of the adjuster knob, meaning that you can wiggle the blade up and down a few millimetres. When you put the cap iron on it helps, but I was wondering what can be done about this? It seems solid enough in use...

The other thing that I will have to order the new blade from America, so I have sharpened up the one it came with, here is the "Money shot"!!!

Cheers, Mark

 

[Richard T]

I don't think that a Bailey adjuster can ever have zero or little backlash. If there is no gap to start with between prongs and wheel, one would soon be worn and there probably has to be a gap between the back and forward movement of the other end of the lever in the slot in the cap iron.
As you say, in use, it is solid - you just have to feel through the slack when winding forward and back.

 

[Benchwayze]

I am not sure about that, it may be outside my skill set.. I also cant find anywhere in the UK that sell old plane parts, there is some good ones in the USA, any dramas buying stuff from those sites?

Hi Mark,

I can recommend a visit to ALF's site/blog. A useful and easy to follow method for making a plane handle there.

HTH
John