Woden no 5 Jack Plane

[Redline]

My first post here. Just after thoughts and advice.
I recently discovered some of my dad’s old work tools. He was an electrician down the pit. Amongst them was this Woden Jack plane that has seen some serious work and damage. I believe it was made between 1955 and 1962. There’s a chunk missing from the side but no break across the sole. The blade (a Stanley blade) was bolted in by a bracket of some kind. Not sure if that was to prevent any metal on metal potential for cause sparks (rather undesirable in a highly explosive atmosphere).
I’ve dismantled it and cleaned up the sole using abrasive paper on a glass sheet followed by an medium and fine oil stone. Much improved but more to do yet I suspect.
It clearly won’t have any commercial value but I’d like to get it cleaned up useable again despite the damage. More work needed and the missing parts replaced. Any advice on what and how would be greatly appreciated. eg How to remove the paint and clean without damaging the Woden blue paint/enamel?. The tote should be repairable. TIA.

 

[Osvaldd]

that bracket is a replacement for a lever cap, also the cap iron(chipbreaker) is missing. you can find either on ebay although spares for woden planes are less common but stanley and record parts fit too. regarding cleaning the plane, I would use steel wool or scourer and some mineral spirits and a brass wire brush.
I glue my broken handles with superglue and then add a hardwood splice to strengthen it.

 

[Redline]

Thanks for the information. I’ll take another look at the lever cap replacement. I thought it was something that dad had jury-rigged simply to hold the blade. Will search again for the cap iron. Much appreciated.

 

[Mr_Pea]

I'd attack the paintwork with a squirt of wd40 and an old toothbrush.

You are also missing the lateral adjuster from the frog.

Good Luck

Edit: I'd be patient and watch ebay for a broken no.5 woden.

Number 4 parts will also fit a no.5 except the rear handle which has an extra screw on the five for the extra weight.

 

[Bod]

Just a thought.
The handles are the part most handled by your father.
Bearing in mind the condition of the plane, an idea might be to find another W5, and swap the handles.

Bod

 

[Redline]

I know it's not in good condition. Decrepit springs to mind. The handles are probably easiest to restore. It is never going to be perfect - I'm not looking for that. Will keep a lookout for another W5. A few restored ones around though.

 

[Redline]

I'd attack the paintwork with a squirt of wd40 and an old toothbrush.

You are also missing the lateral adjuster from the frog.

Good Luck

Edit: I'd be patient and watch ebay for a broken no.5 woden.

Number 4 parts will also fit a no.5 except the rear handle which has an extra screw on the five for the extra weight.

I think this qualifies as well broken. :lol: Will keep a lookout for parts.
Had cleaned it with WD40 and a toothbrush but have carefully scraped most of the paint off and worked most off with an old scourer and brass wire brush.
Brass parts cleaned with a vinegar/flour/salt paste. Now looking like new.
Getting there.

 

[Mcdemon]

Picture after restoring would be nice.

 

[ED65]

Wow that's had a hard life! Sure you don't want to just clean this up and have it as a shelf sitter, and get yourself another 5 in nice shape as a user?

The lack of the lateral adjuster will make this bothersome to use, and while you can theoretically harvest one from another frog if you have a complete frog right there's an easy argument to be made for just using the whole thing and not doing a tricky repair (one that many experienced tool restorers have never done BTW). I'd wager many don't even realise it's possible, and it is hard to justify taking the lateral off an otherwise sound frog.

The tote should be repairable.

Yes these sorts of breaks usually are. The mating surfaces are probably dirty so clean them carefully and then wipe over with an alcohol or acetone prior to applying glue. If you glue with PVA you need to rig up some way to apply strong clamping pressure, if you use epoxy you don't.

One other top tip IMO is to glue first and then clean off the old finish, do any filing, sanding or scraping you're going to do. If you do that stuff ahead of the repair you run the risk of rounding the edges of the break, lifting a splinter or two, making the break site much more obvious post-fix.

 

[ED65]

I glue my broken handles with superglue and then add a hardwood splice to strengthen it.

Why superglue??

 

[Redline]

Wow that's had a hard life! Sure you don't want to just clean this up and have it as a shelf sitter, and get yourself another 5 in nice shape as a user?

The lack of the lateral adjuster will make this bothersome to use, and while you can theoretically harvest one from another frog if you have a complete frog right there's an easy argument to be made for just using the whole thing and not doing a tricky repair (one that many experienced tool restorers have never done BTW). I'd wager many don't even realise it's possible, and it is hard to justify taking the lateral off an otherwise sound frog.

The tote should be repairable.

Yes these sorts of breaks usually are. The mating surfaces are probably dirty so clean them carefully and then wipe over with an alcohol or acetone prior to applying glue. If you glue with PVA you need to rig up some way to apply strong clamping pressure, if you use epoxy you don't.

One other top tip IMO is to glue first and then clean off the old finish, do any filing, sanding or scraping you're going to do. If you do that stuff ahead of the repair you run the risk of rounding the edges of the break, lifting a splinter or two, making the break site much more obvious post-fix.

Most things can be done if you have the time and skills. It’s the 10,000 hours learning to become an expert that I don’t have.
The lateral adjuster seems to be the real issue. It was never used to produce anything pretty, so, I expect that it doesn’t have one was never a problem. 3 miles underground an adjuster was probably an unnecessary accessory. Nobody was ever going to pass judgment on the quality of finish.
Had intended to glue the handle before cleaning and refinishing. I have a couple of epoxy adhesives to go at. Tomorrow’s job.
Think it will be one of those things to do just to say I did it then put it on a shelf. Knowing it’s a year or so older than I am means something. Dad will love to see it restored whatever the state.

 

[Osvaldd]

I glue my broken handles with superglue and then add a hardwood splice to strengthen it.

Why superglue??

why not? its quick and plenty strong.

 

[ED65]

[superglue is] plenty strong.

But known to be brittle, and increasingly so on a chilly morning in a cold workshop. As for being quick, perhaps a little too fast, giving minimal time for correct alignment of parts.

Numerous other glues (most of the other adhesives used in woodworking in fact) are preferable for this type of repair, and, er, don't require the addition of a spline for reinforcement ;-)

 

[Osvaldd]

I didn’t know about it being brittle but I never had one fail on me yet, whereas wood glue has. I just like that its fast, have a few practice runs, apply glue, stick it together, 5 seconds and its done.
I also use superglue to fill small cracks in handles.

 

[profchris]

You can do lateral adjusting just by tapping one side of the blade with a small hammer/mallet/lump of wood. It takes a few tries to work out how hard to tap, but it's nearly as fast as using the lateral adjuster. And it's not as if you need to keep changing it every two minutes.

So it's quite usable (other defects aside) even with this part missing.

 

[Redline]

I suspect a Manchester spanner was the tool of choice for minor adjustments - well, a mallet to be safe.

 

[Redline]

Just cleaned.
Much of the paint removed.
Handles scraped and rubbed down - Never going to be perfect because of previous damage.
Rear handle secured with epoxy resin and a little filler at the edges
Blade sharpened and honed.

Now re-assembled as it arrived. And it works. Needs some adjustment.

Needs the missing parts sourcing - frog with lateral adjustment level, lever cap and cap iron. That and some more work - There's a good amount of corrosion around where the paint is.

Have just put acrylic lacquer on the handles. Not sure whether to vanish them so they look right. The filler at the broken part could do with taking out and a lighter colour used. But then, it was never intended to look pristine. Might just leave it and get on and use it. It is way better than it was

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I suspect a Manchester spanner was the tool of choice for minor adjustments - well, a mallet to be safe.

"Mancheter spanner" ? :shock:

I think you mean "Birmingham screwdriver", don't you? :lol:

(PS - I'm a bit surprised that a pit sparky would need a jack plane, but not quite so surprised at the state it's ended up in. Worth a clean-up, it being your dad's an' all, but if you want a plane as a user, maybe find one with no bits missing instead.)

 

[Redline]

I think a lots of stuff down there was fixed with wood of some sort. Quick and safe to work with underground. Much of the stuff around the coalface I understand was constantly being moved as the face progressed (or retreated). Any installation was likely to temporary. On the tracks and drifts proper engineered solutions would be used. Even then though, downtime was counted in £100k's per day even then. Fixes to problems would be quick until remedial work could be properly done. I'll be quizzing dad some more tomorrow.

One (or several) with no bits missing will be on the cards.