Restoring an old plane - wire brush the metalwork?

[ED65]

...the lever caps which are a mess with all the plating falling off.

I hate that, it's the one condition issue I don't really know a good way to deal with, whether the plating is nickel or chrome.

 

[D_W]

There's not much to do with it other than sand it off and then buff the lever cap with some kind of metal polish to make it look shiny. Autosol is a good choice since it leaves behind a greasy layer of stuff. It doesn't look as good as the original plating, but it's better than old plating mixed with rust.

Such a problem is common over here with later stanley caps and all of the millers falls caps. I've usually taken the lazy way out with them and used a powered brass wire wheel followed by a buff with autosol on it.

 

[DoctorWibble]

Perhaps old wooden planes would lend more shop ambiance, if one is going for a certain look.

Ouch! :shock:
Audience gasps and sniggers....

 

[AndyT]

...the lever caps which are a mess with all the plating falling off.

I hate that, it's the one condition issue I don't really know a good way to deal with, whether the plating is nickel or chrome.

I happen to have just watched this recent video from TubalCain in which he demonstrates diy nickel plating using a kit from Caswell.

https://youtu.be/9oJxKkUosSk

You might want to skip to about 20 minutes in to see a real project plated. Comments on the video explain what chemicals are used.

 

[ED65]

TVM Andy. I won't be messing with plating any time soon but it is something I have pegged to try in the future.

 

[D_W]

Perhaps old wooden planes would lend more shop ambiance, if one is going for a certain look.

I can't remember ever seeing a plane mark my work, except for an old tarnished bronze plane.

I know you've seen my shop/garage on video. You can tell by the way that I don't clean until I have to that I'm all about ambiance.

Pretty dopey stance you have on this one Charlie - planes like the one in the picture marking hands or work? Come on. Much less likely than fresh bloom of pitting rust on the one on the right.

 

[essexalan]

If you want to plate the steel you will have to spend a lot of time polishing the steel to a mirror finish, anything else will look dreadful. I will make sure I get all the old plating off, kill the rust and go for a brushed steel job. All handwork but your fingers are your best friend plus lots of wax, the rust resistant stuff. Leave the patina on the sides and looking at my brace they are going to get a paint job on the inside at sometime, Winter work. Irons needed some work ones a Stanley Victory and t'other a Record laminated, all the important parts fit well and are flat where necessary so shavings were made. Love those older frogs nice and flat n' well machined.

 

[Trafalgar]

I don't like dirty tools. I work in heat, my hands get sweaty. Memphis usually has at least 60 days a year of actual temps over 90 (and 90+ days over 85) with heat indexes of 95+ to 108 to 110. If the tool is dirty the dirt transfers. It's simple. They don't stay that bright forever, the immediately post-cleaning kind of bright that is, so that aspect is a total nonissue. It gets so bad that I put the planes I've used in a day in a plastic tub and pour lamp oil over them and let them sit overnight, once I've done this the first time then the tub stays full until the end of summer and I just dunk them in at the end of the day. I used to think patina was cool until I realized it's nothing but rust (most of it that is) and it comes right off if your hands are sweaty enough. Anything with a brownish cast I've found to be rust -- dark gray sort of oxidized looking stuff is not.

I was using a wooden jack in this picture, but this is the heat I'm talking about. I wear sweatshirts and usually change at least once a day. I have to have something to absorb the sweat off my arms or it would just run in rivulets. Lamp is burning said oil to keep mosquitoes away. I had been wearing that sweatshirt for about an hour. It was 103* actual that day with a heat heat index over 110* -- if memory serves. My wife wanted a picture she could remember me by on the day I died. :wink: She didn't get her wish, but I've noticed she's been spending a lot of time looking at long-range forecasts for the summer on her smartphone!

 

[D_W]

I agree on what patina is (all old dark saws make brown slurry when you wetsand them), and I sweat - my shop is not as hot as yours, but it's as humid. I couldn't get on with the sweatshirt, though. (Perhaps I'm forgetting about one type of patina, which is metal that still looks clean but is dark gray or black, I don't think that's rust).

I've still not had anything come off of the sides of planes on my hands. Maybe I don't buy them dirty enough - or leave some dirty enough (If there are rust flakes on a plane, I lap it, anyway). I don't think I've been able to keep a bright metal plane for long without one rusting, though. Before moving to mostly wooden planes, I had trouble with freshly finished stanley planes rusting, so I put shellac on the sides. That was the end of that. Sharpening with oilstones pretty much eliminates rusting irons, and selling planes that aren't in use eliminates anything rusting on a rack.

 

[AndyT]

I wonder if you colonials have ever considered moving your workshops to the UK?
Our climate conditions are much more moderate, kinder to tools and their users. :wink:

 

[ED65]

Maybe I don't buy them dirty enough

Yeah, you don't :mrgreen:

You have said previously you don't like to buy basket cases like this and let's face it, why would you when you have access to an abundance of planes in better condition for lowish prices?

Except for those who really like the restoration process, or who have little to pick from as in my case (this is only the third no. 5 I've seen in the wild, in four or five years), it is hard to justify getting a plane in condition this rough.

 

[Trafalgar]

I wonder if you colonials have ever considered moving your workshops to the UK?
Our climate conditions are much more moderate, kinder to tools and their users. :wink:

This area and the Mississippi Delta south of Memphis are only good for growing cotton and for Blues singers (Both my parents were from the Mississippi Delta - Clarksdale and Marks and my paternal grandfather was a cotton farmer and my maternal grandfather, a carpenter). The summers are horrible. Memphis was almost completely decimated by Yellow Fever in the 1800s and it hasn't improved a whole lot. We had a straight-line wind storm this past Saturday with wind gusts in spots measured over 100 mph. It's been in the news. I lost a huge poplar (100+ feet tall) -- trying to post a picture but hitting the size limit. We have cold and humid winters too. The worst power outage we've ever had was a big ice storm in 1994. My power was out for fourteen days almost to the hour.

Downed poplar tree root ball (and there are several large roots still in the ground that just broke off), tree hit my neighbor's house and crushed part of it:

 

[whiskywill]

I picked up a WS No. 4 for £3 at this morning's boot sale. Now where did I put the Brasso?

 

[D_W]

Maybe I don't buy them dirty enough

Yeah, you don't :mrgreen:

You have said previously you don't like to buy basket cases like this and let's face it, why would you when you have access to an abundance of planes in better condition for lowish prices?

Except for those who really like the restoration process, or who have little to pick from as in my case (this is only the third no. 5 I've seen in the wild, in four or five years), it is hard to justify getting a plane in condition this rough.

I agree with that. There's no value proposition to it, because the plane is going to require replacement of parts to be worth as much as a plane in decent shape - which is still not enough value to justify replacing parts.

You guys have even lower prices than we do over here. Good shape 4 or 5 is a $40-$50 plane, and a good shape 4 1/2 nears $100. Records bring less on ebay in the UK unless they are stayset, and 4 1/2s are common there. A record 4 1/2 might bring $100 here, despite only bringing the equivalent of about $35 over there.

I don't go for planes that have a uniform brown layer like the one in the original picture, either. It doesn't look like real patina to me, but maybe because I don't buy planes with much of it. If it looks like more than 20 minutes of restoration, I'm out. In buying about ten infills over the last couple of months, I didn't spend more than 20 minutes on any, including some fairly pitted irons. All of them needed some attention, though.

 

[ED65]

You guys have even lower prices than we do over here.

The venue is everything. Prices on ebay are often getting up there.

They tend to be more modest on Gumtree and I guess that's somewhat similar to those on Craigslist. The very very low prices are mainly from car boots of course but yard sales can often yield similar bargains.

If it looks like more than 20 minutes of restoration, I'm out.

Yeah this took ever so slightly more than 20 minutes of work

I didn't buy it as a keeper but I couldn't let it pass through my hands in this condition so did what I consider a fairly quick-and-dirty restoration, which still took a few days (not as bad as it sounds, most of that was waiting).

 

[memzey]

Is there an after picture to show how it ended up?

 

[n0legs]

Just my five cents.
I like to get them stripped down to bare metal. Solvent soak then a wire brushing or media blasting.
Mask up then on with the etch primer and a suitable top coat. Woodwork gets sanded back to bare, repaired if necessary then some finish, usually clear lacquer over some stain.
All fixings cleaned and I usually give them a hot oil bluing. Lever cap depending on condition gets sanded then polished.

Here's a little Acorn 4.5, a gift from the sister and brother in law.
I'm yet to lap the sides and so!e, but the hard bit is done.



Made a new front knob bolt from some brass and a bolt. Also made a new lateral adjustment lever, the pressed steel original was ruined.
It was a bit of a mess when it arrived, now she's a good little user

 

[Trafalgar]

Love it, NoLegs... fantastic work.

 

[ED65]

Is there an after picture to show how it ended up?

 

[memzey]

Wow. Now that's a restoration!