Shopsmith Forums

Made a visit to one of the local antique stores (they were having a 15% off sale) and I scored a pair of nice (although not very exciting for most) deals.

First item I found - lying in a corner of a booth - was a rather dirty Disston saw. Cost: only $1.80 (yes, less than $2)
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A 26", 9TPI rip saw by my eyeball. Got it home, took the handle off and scrapped the gunk off the blade,
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used a bit of wet-n-dry 400 grit and put a coat of furniture wax on it. Handle ok for now - I put it back together and I'll sharpen it later.
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Second item was a older wooden plane.
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No brand name but the iron is a nice, old, beefy cast one marked 'I&H Sorby'. Nice thick chip breaker too.
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The wood body has a piece missing on the top edge and the bottom is a bit chewed up. And of course everything is dirty. The iron needs sharpening also. Still figuring out what to do with it - I think I'll sand the bottom flat (and perpendicular to the sides) on the belt sander, clean up the iron and chip breaker, sharpen the iron and just use it. My guess on age is mid-1850's up to early 1900's. I have wanted one like this for quite sometime - was going to build one using a Hock iron ... and I may still do so. Cost for this one: $13

All in all, a good day.

Gotta love those old tools.I do. At those prices you can afford to put the time into getting thewm back in shape.That 9pt.crosscut will take some work.good luck.

Does the coffin plane have a maker's mark stamped on the toe? It can also have an owner's stamp, or several as it was passed on or purchased by other woodworkers.

The blade is English, and the whole plane could be too. Here is a link to Sorby history. They are still in business today. It will help you date the blade, but not necessarily the wooden plane, as blades moved around as wooden bodies wore out. http://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/companyinfo.htm

I have restored a number of wooden planes and if you flatten the bottom I would suggest you do so by jointing it. Sanding will do it, but you are scratching the surface flat versus cutting it clean. The old timers would use a Jack plane or larger to surface them over time. If you have the SS jointer, or another brand, take very light cuts until it is flat, especially in front of the mouth all the way across. Usually the edge bottom at the toe end will be more worn and you don't have to get it perfectly flat. You can see this in my picture below.

Now, here is the bad news on doing all that. You will open the mouth where the blade comes through by jointing it. The wider, the less effective the plane will be. In plane physics, the plane compresses the wood just before the blade slices through it. The wider the mouth, the more the wood decompresses and you get a plane that grabs and jumps. Not good.

What to do? You can close the mouth by inlaying a piece of wood. Here is a picture of a Stanley Transition plane (#23) I closed the throat on using a piece of Yellowheart, a very hard wood.

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You should mortice a recess, glue the wood in, then joint it flat. Make the mouth as tight as you can, usually 1/16" or less. This is very important, especially on smoothing planes.

After jointing the plane I clean them up with acetone and usually give them a coat of shellack, wax and buff.

The blades I clean with Evapo-rust and wire brush. You will see a line on this blade where the hard steel was welded to softer material. The reason they went to the trouble of marking the blade "Cast Steel" is the English had the secret of making cast steel before the Americans. Not until Carnegie in this country developed making cast steel was it American made. Before this, the Brits had better steel and the American woodworker knew it and sought out their blades. You want to flatten the back of the hard steel, and cut the blade angle at 20 degrees. If it is going to be used mostly in hard wood, perhaps 25 or 30 degrees.

Now, before you go to all this work, you have to decide whether this old guy has earned a retirement. I have gone both ways on wooden planes.

I know less about saws, although I have a number that belonged to my great-grand parent and use them in the shop. I've had to learn how to sharpen rip and crosscut blades, even find a saw blade bench holder, all good things to learn.

Good finds. I love the history of our ancestors and the tools that shaped their lives and ours.

Great advice ther eZiggy.you haven't built until you've built using only hand tools and solid wood construction.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and a particular nod to WmZiggy for the neat ideas. My plane does not have ANY maker's marks other than the size (2-1/8) stamped on one end. The chip breaker is marked "Blakemore". Both the iron and the chip breaker are in great shape - dirty but little rust. Lots of beef there!

I will use a jointer on the body - I have a Craftsman 6" jointer so that is no problem. I was aware of the problems of the mouth opening up and I will be addressing it - probably with a block of wood inserted and glued in place. I have a Stanley #26 combination plane that needs similar work. Both have bottoms that are not only flat but also they are not perpendicular with the sides (and the blades also are not perpendicular).

The comment on the use of acetone to clear the body up is appreciated - I had not settled on how to tackle that! If there are any more suggestions, keep them coming!

What a great find...congrats

If you need another handsaw,let me know.i have a couple extras.

paulsgreenbarn wrote:If you need another handsaw,let me know.i have a couple extras.

Thanks for your kind offer! I have a multitude of them myself - handsaws (and wood planes!) are like rabbits - they just multiply all by themselves. Up to a couple of years ago, I just had two - one I bought 40+ years ago and one that I inherited from my dad. Then I retired, got into wood working a bit more seriously, decided to clean up my saws, learn to sharpen them, bought a saw set (they multiple like rabbits too! - I now have 4 of them), bought an antique saw vise, bought a few files at the hardware store and sharpened a few saws. Hey, that is pretty easy! Also picked up a few more saws at garage sales, estate sales, one from eBay, did a little reading .... and, holy smokes, I have maybe ten or so of them.

I'm far from an expert but I do enjoy mucking around with them - it's fun and inexpensive (the most I've ever spent is $20 and the cheapest was the one I just got for $1.75 or thereabouts). I even have the grandkids using them.

Again thanks for the offer! I sent you a private message via the forum.