Transitional Plane rebuild

[Steve Senseney]

I bought a beat up transitional plane to rebuild, and here are pictures.

This is a Stanley plane.
The metal parts were fine, but the wood was quite damaged.

I found a piece of Osage that would be suitable for the body.

[Steve Senseney]

More work on the body--

Drilling out the body for the hardware--

Body glued up--

[Steve Senseney]

Body and hardware--

Further refinement--

Some French Polishing, and put together--

[Steve Senseney]

At this time, I thought I was finished.

I had carefully measured the original materials, and copied them quite closely.

As I put it all together, I realized that I had not accounted for the wood wearing off of the bottom of the plane. The adjustment on the blade was not good. I was annoyed!

I realized that all I had to do was add another layer to the bottom of the plane, but I put it aside for a while.

I returned to this "unfinished project" (only one of many) recently, and decided to add a piece of brass to the bottom--

This made the mechanism work correctly, added some weight to the plane.

This model has the lateral adjustment, tight throat, and the blade adjustment works well. It cuts nicely!

[Darrel Friesen]

Wow, great job Steve. Sometimes when you put something aside for awhile, good things come of it.

[Jason Rodgers]

That's a great rebuild, Steve. Love what you do with Osage. These old transitionals have a lot of potential and flexibility for longevity (since you can simply replace the sole) and modification (since the sole can be rebuilt any way you please).

I posted a transitional rebuild back about 5 years ago (probably still stuck in that library limbo), and I don't want to hijack, but here are two quick shots...

I bought two transitionals off of ebay, a Stanley and a Sargent. The first pic is the Stanley as I received it (can't find a pic of the Sargent). They're basically the same plane, with nearly identical dimensions.

Then, I sent them off to my brother for sandblasting. The Sargent was attached to this custom sole made of Depot red oak. It's a dedicated jointing plane that rides on its side. Throw your top or back halves on a shooting board and - zip zip - clean joint. I was trying to lower the blade angle by a few degrees with the angled sole. Not sure if that actually did anything, but it works as intended.

I agree that the geometry on your new sole needs to be carefully considered. After getting everything trued up on this custom jointer, it's just about at the end of its adjustment reach. If I ever had to true the sole again, it might just need another layer on the bottom.

[Patrick Hanna]

I am generally NOT one of those who insist that an old tool should be left in its original state. I buy old tools to put them back into service. Frequently, this requires new handles, etc. In fact, at the moment I have two new sockets chisel handles in progress in my shop. The originals were lost long ago and both chisels had been beaten directly on the socket with steel hammers, causing the usual mushroom effect all along the edges of their sockets. But the blades were pretty good, so I fixed all that. With that in mind, I applaud you for finding a solution that brings this old plane back into your personal service. And, I might add: Those counter-sunk steel screws in your brass sole don't bother me in the least. I think it's an excellent save! Good work! I hope you can bring many more back into useful service.
Patrick

[Clay Schaeffer]

Nice looking rebuild Steve.
The osage body and brass sole I think is an improvement over the original materials. The brass should wear longer than the wood sole - a weak point of wood bodied planes.
Transitional planes are often under valued by collectors and can be found at bargain prices. Those with worn out soles can be renewed by running them across a jointer a few times and gluing on a new sole to close up the throat. I did that with one whose sole I ruined by planing a board with some small brads embedded in it. I glued on a piece of purple heart and recut the throat . The purpleheart made a nice contrast to the beech.

[Bob Hammond]

Steve, a nice job of it. This reminds me of something that's been on my shelf. My daughter gave me a similar plane that she found in an old house in Detroit. The metal parts were rusty-crusty, but cleaned up somewhat with naval jelly treatment. Have you ever tried electrolytic de-rustification?

[Steve Senseney]

I brushed with a steel brush, put on a little black paint, and sharpened the blade.

I was more anxious to French polish the osage, as it really looks nice with the FP.

[Mario Proulx]

Nice work!

Where did you get the brass plate for the bottom? Got an on-line source? Does the brass leave marks on light-colored woods?

[Steve Senseney]

The brass is about 1/8" thick.

I bought it online a couple of years ago. I probably sourced it on ebay. (search for brass flat)

It is much softer than I imagined. It bent quit easily when I was working it. After I placed it on the osage, it was plenty secure and hard enough for the needs of the plane.

The brass did not leave any marks on the woods which I work.

I don't know all about the various brass alloys. If there were a harder material, it might be better, but this was sufficient for my purposes.

[David King]

Your brass had probably been annealed so that it could be worked more easily. I think work-hardening it would be about the only way to stiffen it. As you say for your purpose it wouldn't make much difference since it has the wood behind it. Most of the brass out there is 360 alloy which has 0.5% lead added for machinability. Annealed brass is much easier to work with and it stays flat when you remove material from one side. When plate comes off the mill rollers it is extremely work-hardened and very prone to curling up if you try to machine it. It's also a nightmare to drill.

[Steve Senseney]

I want to add a late note--

Mario asked if this left any marks on the wood.

When used the brass on soft pine, it did not.

Used to harder woods (elm and maple), it did leave some marks!! Not a lot, but some.

[Douglas Ingram]

Nice job! I've only recently gotten interested in rejuvenating old planes and am now keeping my eyes open.

Any idea what is causing the marks in the wood? The metal itself? or are there some residual micro burrs?

[Steve Senseney]

Curiously enough, I used the plane quite a bit over the week end, and did not have any marks left on the wood.

I wonder if it is just slight oxidation of the surface of the brass. As I used it more, it "polished" the tarnish off, and did not leave any further marks.