Shopsmith Forums

September 22nd, the wife and I left Fargo for Springfielf, MO to attend the national meeting of the Mid-West Tool Collector's Association. On our way to Joplin, MO to visit some friends, we stopped in Fort Scott, KS and pulled into a parking spot on main street in front of an antique/flea market. It was an old building, built in the 1860's with a 'V' shaped front window display. Sitting in the display was a Stanley #50, light combination plane, with all of it's parts and blades. The plane was in a user made box, the blades in their original factory made box. It is a 1914 vintage. Women that ran the place said it was on consignment from a young man who said it was his grandfather's. You don't find many old planes of this quality sitting in flea markets any longer. I spent Saturday cleaning it up, polishing the nickel plate which is complete, and sharpening the blades. I used the Evapo-rust on the blades and it worked beautifully. Here is a picture with some of my other "finds" at the MWTCA meet.
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The brace on the right (the brown one) I picked-up at the show thinking I would get a "user" since my Marples Ultimatum (the ebony one) shouldn't be used (My wife gave it to me for my 50th birthday, lets say a few years ago). Turns out the one I picked-up is a Henry Brown, one of the first makers of brass plated braces, older than the Ultimatum. Brown worked in Sheffield, England 1828-1848, and Marples made the Ultimatum's from 1890 to 1901, the year Queen Victoria died. After her death they stopped. Now I'm not sure I want to use the Brown brace.

In the top pictures left you can see the German made ECE Primus Smoothing plane I got. On the first day of the meet they do tailgating in the parking lot and this gentleman had this ECE for sale. The finished was scratched, but it was in excellent shape with a price tag of $35. These planes are still made and fetch new for about $240. So I picked it up, hid my excitement, and checked it over closely for serious damage. When I saw none, I started thinking, 'sold,sold, sold', but since I hesitated the seller jumped in and said I could have it for $30. Then I said "SOLD" loudly. I removed the scratches in the shellac and sharpened the blade. The ECE Primus series have a blade mounting system which is second to none. They will plane smooth the most difficult woods. Plus, they are wood on wood which reduces friction when planing making them a joy to use.

We had a wonderful time at the tool meet. It was fun hanging with people who appreciate, collect, use, and study old tools. Anyone can join, just go to the M-WTCA web page. Next meet will be in Columbus, Ohio.

Nice score on all accounts!

I've got a combination plane, a 45 I think it is, but it's collecting a lot of dust.

Any more photos of those braces?

WmZiggy wrote:In the top pictures left you can see the German made ECE Primus Smoothing plane I got. On the first day of the meet they do tailgating in the parking lot and this gentleman had this ECE for sale. The finished was scratched, but it was in excellent shape with a price tag of $35. These planes are still made and fetch new for about $240. So I picked it up, hid my excitement, and checked it over closely for serious damage. When I saw none, I started thinking, 'sold,sold, sold', but since I hesitated the seller jumped in and said I could have it for $30. Then I said "SOLD" loudly. I removed the scratches in the shellac and sharpened the blade. The ECE Primus series have a blade mounting system which is second to none. They will plane smooth the most difficult woods. Plus, they are wood on wood which reduces friction when planing making them a joy to use.

Wonderful to hear. I lately got on a "kick" for such German planes and I must say they've got a lot going for them. If the sole isn't dead flat, the disk-sander on the Shopsmith will remove high spots pretty conveniently.

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Here is another shot of the ECE and the Brown brace, along with a tenon cutter I picked-up as well as a little coffin smoother. I finished cleaning-up the coffin plane this morning and sharpening the iron. It too took a nice shaving, although it's more for show. I picked it up for $15. The tenon cutter is in the Evapo-rust bath now and I will brush, sharpen and oil it tomorrow.

The ECE base was flat and a little while ago I tried it out and it took shavings you can see through; a very solid plane. I don't like to sand the base too much because it opens the throat, but a few strokes on sandpaper mounted on glass does the trick.

This is a better shot of the Brown brace. I like using a brace with spoon bits for cutting holes for the Windsor chair. It's not that I don't have many different metal braces, there is just somthing about these old wooden ones that gives a good feeling. All of that is sentamental, but who ever said tools have to be ugly. The top on it is ebony with a brass embossed marker's cap. The brass bearing beneath the cap was something Brown was noted for.

Those aren't tools. There works of art. Nice score!

Bill, has anyone called Springfield PD, and reported your theft? You got away with grand theft!

CONGRATS!!

steve

nuhobby wrote:Wonderful to hear. I lately got on a "kick" for such German planes and I must say they've got a lot going for them. If the sole isn't dead flat, the disk-sander on the Shopsmith will remove high spots pretty conveniently.

I am curious about using the disc sander, as I have a plane sole that needs attention. Do you lay the plane on its side on the main table and then position the table high relative to the disc so that the direction of the sanding contact is parallel with (rather than perpendicular to) the long axis of the plane? I hope I said that correctly. Thanks, Hank

Agree with everyone on the tools, but I could not help noticing your workbench ... nice ! Did you make this yourself ?

hjlssfor1 wrote:I am curious about using the disc sander, as I have a plane sole that needs attention. Do you lay the plane on its side on the main table and then position the table high relative to the disc so that the direction of the sanding contact is parallel with (rather than perpendicular to) the long axis of the plane? I hope I said that correctly. Thanks, Hank

Hi Hank,
As WmZiggy cautioned, removal of sole material can open the size of the mouth. As such, I've only done this removal on planes where
(a.) the design has a mouth-adjustment feature, or
(b.) I add defined mouth repairs, such as in the recent thread:
https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=13364

To answer your question, I lay the plane on its side and run it carefully against the disk-sander. It's possible I can remove more wood from the toe than the heel, but with this strategy I don't care as long as the sole is ultimately perpendicular to the sides of the plane.

hjlssfor1 wrote:I am curious about using the disc sander, as I have a plane sole that needs attention. Do you lay the plane on its side on the main table and then position the table high relative to the disc so that the direction of the sanding contact is parallel with (rather than perpendicular to) the long axis of the plane? I hope I said that correctly. Thanks, Hank

I would use a conical disk!;)


If not available, do as you described, but there will still be some 'swirling'.

Perhaps hand sanding would be preferable(sheet on flat surface*, and move the plane over it).


* a sanding disk!;)