Not a Philly plane...Record No4 refurb...WIP

[woodbloke]

I've had an old 'house' plane, a Record No4 smoother for a number of years and have decided to refurbish and give it a good fettle. I'm aiming to make it into something quite gloatworthy and this is a small series of WIP's to show how far I've got. The first pic shows the main casting, stripped bare of paint with all shiny surfaces polished to 800g. The four flat surfaces that the frog sits on were cleaned up very easily by putting a piece of dowel into the pillar drill, smearing the end with some carborundum valve grinding paste and simply moving the casting underneath the spinning dowel...not only cleans the paint off but trues up the surface at the same time. The original Record paint has been stripped off and then pressure washed. It will be finished with two coats of dark blue Smoothrite paint and then finally polished to 1000g and finished with some Autosol. The mouth has not been touched yet as I don't have the blade at present:

The second pic shows the frog, again polished to 800g and yet to be painted. It's an old one, not the original as the older ones gave a better seating for the blade (which will be a Clifton and double cap iron from Axminster)

This pic shows the 'lever' cap. This is in fact a new one, stripped of all the old yukky Record mid-blue paint and then ground and polished to 1000g. The knob is a Derek of Oz style bolt (cad plated steel) with a coin set in, again polished to 1000g. The depression in the casting where it says 'Record' will eventually be painted with some red Humbrol enamel.

The next pic shows the totes made in English Walnut with the first coat of finishing oil applied this morning. I made the front tote much lower so that it resembles the type found on earlier planes:

Still got a lot to do yet...have got to clean and polish all the small bits and pieces now which is gonna be fiddly :x - Rob

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Rob

This is really interesting, do you have any before pictures?

Cheers
Neil

 

[Paul Chapman]

That's looking very nice, Rob. Yes, those older frogs are much better than the later ones - they give a nice, large seating area for the blade. You did a good job on the bolt 8)

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Neil - unfortunatly not, but it's the sort of common or garden tattyish kind plane that you can find anywhere...nothing special, sort of thing you might use to take large lumps of the bottom of doors with (which is what I used it for) - Rob

 

[Alf]

Coo - that should end up being one helluva silk purse. :shock:

 

[Scott]

Hi Rob

Looks great so far! How far away from flat was the main casting? I started on my Grandad's old Record #4 the other day and there are more humps and bumps on the sole and sides than I'd expected. It's going to take a lot of lapping

 

[Chris Knight]

Rob,
That is an interesting project, I wonder just how good you can make it?

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Rob

Fantastic knob!

I'd be tempted to leave the cast iron shell unpainted, it looks so nice.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[dchenard]

I'd be tempted to leave the cast iron shell unpainted, it looks so nice.

Yeah, a De Lorean plane! :lol:

DC

 

[tiler99]

Hi Rob

Fantastic knob!


Derek

 

[ByronBlack]

So you can polish a cowpat! In the nicest possible sentiments.

Although looking at it, I would be very tempted to leave it as is and get it really shiny - you don't see many unpainted. It's looks cracking though! What blade are you going to fit?

 

[Paul Chapman]

The next pic shows the totes made in English Walnut with the first coat of finishing oil applied this morning. I made the front tote much lower so that it resembles the type found on earlier planes:

Rob, the totes look particularly nice. Did you make both of them?

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Philly]

Looking great Rob!
More pics please!
Philly

 

[woodbloke]

Scott wrote:

more humps and bumps on the sole and sides than I'd expected. It's going to take a lot of lapping

Scott - id done a bit on this already so it wasn't too bad. I did start again tho' with 80g and will finish with 1000g, a bit ott but what the ****, I'm after a sort of mirror finish if I can get it.

Chris wrote:

That is an interesting project, I wonder just how good you can make it?

Chris - it won't be a Holtey or anything remotely like, but it should be worthy of a proper gloat, not like the surreptitious, under-hand and downright devious offering seen from a certain Woodkateer of late :lol:

Derek of Oz wrote:

Fantastic knob!

I'd be tempted to leave the cast iron shell unpainted, it looks so nice.

Derek - quite difficult to get the bolt square in the knurled brass casing, this one is in fact slightly skewed but it's too late to do anything about it now. I will be painting the inside as it's already going rusty, which is going to be interesting to clean, have to keep it in the airing cupboard at the mo' to keep the rusticles at bay

BB wrote:

What blade are you going to fit?

BB - going to fit the Clifton blade an chipbreaker from Axminster. The 'Y' lever may not be long enough so Paul Chapman is going to let me have a new spare Clifton one next time he's in town. Newt also machined me a new cap-iron bolt in hard brass, so a big ccasion5: to each.

Paul - I've got a few lumps of walnut that were 'just the right size' so I decided to use it, quite pleased with the way the've turned out - Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

I've got a few lumps of walnut that were 'just the right size' so I decided to use it, quite pleased with the way the've turned out

They look lovely - particularly the finish. Much better than that gloopy stain and varnish that Record normally use. And low front knobs look and feel so much better than the taller ones they fit these days.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Benchwayze]

Yes, those older frogs are much better than the later ones - they give a nice, large seating area for the blade.
Paul

Hi Paul,
I tend to agree with you, but just like a Japanese chisel, it's much easier to true up the modern frogs, due to the smaller amount of surface area to grind. Also, with a new thicker blade, (a Hock perhaps?) maybe the support problem isn't so big an issue after all?

I would be interested in what you think about that idea.

I am just about to start one myself. A 1910 model, No. 4 I found on eBay.
But trhen I am a masochist when it comes to fettling steel planes!

John

 

[Benchwayze]

Although looking at it, I would be very tempted to leave it as is and get it really shiny - you don't see many unpainted. It's looks cracking though! What blade are you going to fit?

A few years back I was handed a Record No. 4 that had been completely chromium plated. It was starting to flake in places and the owner asked me if I could fettle it again. (It had been his father's plane.) As it was I thought it looked 'weird' and the sole wasn't flat enough. The chap agreed to have it bought back to spec.

I had one heck of a job hand-removing the plate, but out of cussedness I refused to send it to a plater to have it pickled (or whatever they do). Besides, I didn't know how the casting would respond.

That plane body had been well plated. As I exposed the layers gradually, as far as I could tell, it had been plated, chrome on nickel on copper. So, I got some satisfaction, to go with the tennis-elbow, even though I never managed to remove all of the plating. :wink:
John

 

[Paul Chapman]

Yes, those older frogs are much better than the later ones - they give a nice, large seating area for the blade.
Paul

Hi Paul,
I tend to agree with you, but just like a Japanese chisel, it's much easier to true up the modern frogs, due to the smaller amount of surface area to grind. Also, with a new thicker blade, (a Hock perhaps?) maybe the support problem isn't so big an issue after all?

I would be interested in what you think about that idea.

I am just about to start one myself. A 1910 model, No. 4 I found on eBay.
But trhen I am a masochist when it comes to fettling steel planes!

Hi John,

I've used planes extensively since 1970 (mainly Records) and been through all the better blade/cap iron stuff and then ended up with a set of Cliftons with their bedrock frogs and greater weight. The Cliftons have been a revelation - so much better. I've concluded that a really good frog and a heavy plane are two factors that are particularly important (for me at any rate).

I'm watching Rob's thread with great interest. I've seen his Calvert Stevens plane which he has worked on extensively and that works really well. I'm sure his #04 Record will also be excellent when he's finished it (I'm already tempted to have a go at my #04 when I see how his turns out :-k ). I'm sure you can get older Records and Stanleys to work very well if you are prepared to put the work in and use better blades and cap irons (I have Clifton irons fitted to mine but the planes have not been fettled to the extent that Rob is doing his). The one thing they will never have (compared to Cliftons and LNs) is the weight, which is so useful when planing really hard woods or end grain on the shooting board, but for a lot of work a well-fettled Record or Stanley will work very well.

It would be nice to see pics of you 1910 #4 when you've done it.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Benchwayze]

Indeed Paul.
It will be some work, but I get through it.
Eventually.

I usually find it's worth it to have a better plane than I can afford to buy today. (I can't afford the exotic stuff; Holteys, Nielsens and so on.)

I do tend to agree with David Charlesworth. Even a new Stanley or Record can be fettled to take the thinnest of curls; the kind we can read through. If that's any kind of test! But the sharper the iron and the finer the cut, then the better results we get; especially on figured hardwoods, as we all know.

John

 

[woodbloke]

Paul Chapman wrote:

The one thing they will never have (compared to Cliftons and LNs) is the weight

Paul - agree here, quite allot of metal has come off, I suspect, along the fettling way. However, as I've replaced the original frog with a much older and heavier pattern the plane when finished ought to weigh more than it did when I started (if you get my drift) tho' it won't be as heavy as your Clifton No4. I am going way beyond the 'call of duty' with this one, mainly just to see what it will turn out like...still got to do the fiddly bits which is going to be real pain :x - Rob