Old Stanley No 4 - Restored

strat84

normula1

I must dig out my grandad's plane from the garage where it's laid for many years luckily it's box, but no doubt in poor shape.

Corvus

Nice one with the blasting/ shining up @strat84 ;;

Bought a no.3, went to look it up. Not that it matters but just nice to know. Couldn't quite place it to a period. On more reading up it seems dating Made in England Stanleys is pretty impossible ... the sites & charts cover USA planes, but ours aren't the same at all.

The only solid things seems to be that Stanley England started in the mid 30s. Anything with a wooden handle/tote is pre-67.  Which is still shakey as they could've been swapped for later plastic. Nothing else really identifies them to a year or even a period.

Anyway, as you were, it's looking very tidy there

axisus

Wow, that sand blast did a fab job! Nice work so far!

strat84

Cheers chaps 

@Corvus It's funny you couldn't place your no.3, mine was pretty clear but I dont know how accurate the chart is. Here's the one I used below. Mine has 2 patent numbers and has the enlarged and arched frog rib which puts it as a type 10. It also has '10' stamped into the sole where the back handle sits - 

Stanley Bailey https://imgur.com/a/rGK1VBP

Kalimna

Regarding the not-putting-a-plane-sole-down-on-a-bench-or-not  question, I too have a strip of wood that I'll lay the toe on. So sole down, but no blade contact. It's also unusual for me not to have some tatty anti-slip matting (that stuff you can use underneath kitchen chopping boards to prevent slippage, and in drawers etc.) which is a perfect plane-resting-device.

Top notch work on the plane restoration by the way, makes me a little ashamed of the state of some of my Stanleys!

Not a great photo, but the only one to hand!  
https://i.imgur.com/lBc9NHE.jpg

strat84

Thanks @Kalimna - They look fine to me! Nice collection 

Zoolooter

Kalimna said:

Regarding the not-putting-a-plane-sole-down-on-a-bench-or-not  question, I too have a strip of wood that I'll lay the toe on. So sole down, but no blade contact. It's also unusual for me not to have some tatty anti-slip matting (that stuff you can use underneath kitchen chopping boards to prevent slippage, and in drawers etc.) which is a perfect plane-resting-device.

Top notch work on the plane restoration by the way, makes me a little ashamed of the state of some of my Stanleys!

Not a great photo, but the only one to hand!  
https://i.imgur.com/lBc9NHE.jpg

Love the Aristocrat chisels in the pic. They won the 1959 Industrial Design Award. I’ve just cleaned up a set that belonged to my dad.
https://smallworkshop.co.uk/2018/05/09/ward-payne-aristocrat-chisels/

Kalimna

Zoolooter said:

Kalimna said:

Regarding the not-putting-a-plane-sole-down-on-a-bench-or-not  question, I too have a strip of wood that I'll lay the toe on. So sole down, but no blade contact. It's also unusual for me not to have some tatty anti-slip matting (that stuff you can use underneath kitchen chopping boards to prevent slippage, and in drawers etc.) which is a perfect plane-resting-device.

Top notch work on the plane restoration by the way, makes me a little ashamed of the state of some of my Stanleys!

Not a great photo, but the only one to hand!  
https://i.imgur.com/lBc9NHE.jpg

Love the Aristocrat chisels in the pic. They won the 1959 Industrial Design Award. I’ve just cleaned up a set that belonged to my dad.
https://smallworkshop.co.uk/2018/05/09/ward-payne-aristocrat-chisels/

I didnt know about the design award, I bought those chisels as Stanley 5001's. Same design?

Thanks @strat84 they work well (some upgraded Hock irons), though look used and a bit battered. Not that that's a bad thing!

strat84

Got this pretty much finished other than flattening the sole which I needed it assembled for anyway. Blade is sharpened to 3000 grit then polished with a leather strop. Not sure if I should go any further with it but it produced some nice fine shavings with pine and also left a lovely smooth finish!

Couple here of how it did look 

normula1

Excellent result

Zoolooter

Excellent work. Perfect end result, you should be chuffed.

Kalimna

Stunning restoration. Truly stunning.
However, where is the tissue-thin shaving of maple or mahogany that came from the mouth of this plane?

strat84

Cheers guys! 

@Kalimna I need to set it up properly before I show what it can do 

KirkyYorkshire

Really great job, well worth doing.

strat84

Thanks @KirkyYorkshire, I agree 

@Kalimna - Set this up earlier and here's what I got with pine and oak.

I'm really made up with how this performs. I followed a few steps I read online regarding the blade sharpness, chip breaker distance from the blade's edge and frog adjustment and they really made a difference. It's a joy to use and quite addictive 

Kalimna

Excellent work! Nice shavings too - very good as firelighters for bbq/firepits....
The other thing that really helps to make a good cut is to apply a little wax on the sole - a quick squiggle with a candle should do the trick.
Thanks for the thread, very interesting indeed

DiscoStu

strat84 said:

OMG I can smell that photo!!

Great work, sir.

Jonathangus

Coincidentally, I've just unearthed my Dad's, which is in similarly poor shape.  I doubt I'll get it looking as good as yours, but at least it shows that it's not beyond repair.

strat84

@Kalimna Thanks, that's a great idea re the bbq, will keep them from now on! Thanks for the tip as well, will give that a try 

Cheers @DiscoStu Oak does smell lovely when cut! 

@Jonathangus - Definitely looks a good candidate to repair! Is it a No 4?

Is it typical to get the smaller shavings from Oak and the longer 'onion skins' from pine? I know pine is a soft wood but it seemed really easy to get full length shavings with the pine and the finish was like glass