I am a firm believer in using tools rather than stuffing them in a museum or other collection just to admire and if the ones I get are going to be kept and are not useable as they are...I am the first to try to restore them (sympathetically)...but my raised eyebrows were more to do with the way this thread went.
First we had:
Hi, I recently managed to buy a Norris number 5 infill type smoother. Its in not bad condition, but I would like it look better. The wood has been painted over with a gloss black finish and the metal sole and frame is in pretty good nick. It still works very nicely however.
Will I be reducing its value by restoring it ? If I go ahead, is there any pointers anyone can give me
....which leads me to believe it is not only in good condition but useable and that you intended to sell it....(at some time or other) otherwise you wouldn't have asked about reducing its value....
Which was followed by excellent replies indicating that you should do enough to it to restore it to useable condition...with guidance of retaining its value.
After a number of these replies your next post was....
Thanks for all the advice, I have started polishing up the sides and sole and the cap iron etc and its starting to look pretty nice.
There were some scratches and rougher patches on the paint, if I decide to strip it and refinish it, what would you recommend ? I t looks like it has several coats of laquer over the black finish. Is the black usually just paint or something else. i think the infill wood is lighter grain than rosewood, it looks more like beech or something like that.
...which (correct me if I am wrong...) means that you read the replies... then chose to do the opposite. :mrgreen:
At the end of the day...even if it was the only one left on the planet...it is YOUR only one left on the planet and so you can do what you like with it....I just thought it rather strange that you would ask advice in the first place though!
ALL of mine were really bashed about and horrendously disfigured, abused and missing parts...so for me there is no choice if I want to use them. From your original post...yours sounded like it was virtually untouched barring a bit of surface rust...
Without pictures it is hard to imagine...and please don't think that I am being aggressive because that is far from being the case...I just found it rather strange the way this thread went (is going).
Whatever you decide to do with it...I wish you luck and I know you will have a fine user plane which will outlive you and probably your sons!
In any case...none of us believe you have it until you show us pictures! That's the rule! :mrgreen:
Cheers mate
Jim
) so I say do as much work as is required to bring it back to useable condition that you are satisfied with, sounds as if it was in pretty bad nick and could have been a lot worse, how many old planes were simply left to rust away, too far gone to be of any use, at least you got it at a stage where it can be put back to good use. Its not going in a museum display case, nor wont be propped on a shelf for the rest of its life, sounds if if you want a servicable plane from it so in that case I'm all for cleaning, restoring etc. They're not particularly 'rare', nor will you be selling it, as you mentioned, so, I dont see what the problem is 
