Miller Falls #17 and a Stanley/Bailey #5C ....... New Pics

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
As mentioned in >> THIS << thread, I bid on these two planes, and I won the auction, total cost just right around $60 for both planes with shipping. :dunno:

I'm sure that in the US or Canada, these could have be had for less, but I'm NOT in the US or Canada :D I'd say I'm happy :D

stanley5c_miller_falls17_1.jpg stanley5c_miller_falls17_2.jpg stanley5c_miller_falls17_3.jpg

Those are the pics that were up at first, and I noticed that the seller put up three new pics.....
stanely_plane_5c1.jpg stanle_plane_5c_2.jpg stanley_plane_5c_3.jpg

From looking at the second pic, does that say "Made in Can" as in Canada?

I did not know there were made in Canada, cool!

Cheers!
 
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Yeah, Stu,

There were a number of Stanley planes made (or at least partly made) in Canada. I just did some quick googling, and found this page which lists a few examples, but not yours.
The definitive guide to stanley planes, I think, is Patrick Leach's "Blood and Gore" (which is a weird name for what is actually a pretty good scholarly study of Stanley planes through the years. But it apparently doesn't say much about made in Canada Stanleys.
 
Nice get Stu. Before you know it, you'll be trading off the saw stop in order to sustain a crazed addiction to vintage hand tools.
If you go to www.rexmill.com you'll find very good information on cleaning up, tuning, and using old iron planes.

That Stanley Jack is a real work horse. After a good clean up, the only thing i might recommend would be a thicker aftermarket A2 steel blade from Hock, Lie Nielsen, or Veritas. If it has one of the laminated blades, you'll find none better and i'd recommend a thicker chip breaker. Either of these improvements will cut down on blade chatter and give you a very durable edge.

In my experience, Millers Falls typically had better fit and finish than their Stanley counterparts - that block plane should work out quite well. I'm not a huge fan of that blade depth adjustment mechanism - very fine adjustments can be difficult. It should be very serviceable though. And, if you're used to making adjustments with a hammer, that technique should work well on this plane as well as any other.

I don't know how many hand planes you have or use, but the more i use mine, the more i want to use them. They're so efficient.

Have fun with them. I'm sure the thread on getting, cleaning, tuning, and using them will generate a few hundred responses (in fine Stu fashion).

Looking forward to hearing more.

paulh
 
What a coincidence. Well done on the haul Stu. The coincidence i refer to is me taking some rust off some other old Canadiana that i will post shortly.

A tip for you that i tried in getting rid of rust without the hazards was to use a product called Evapo Rust. Lee Valley sells it but i bought it at Canadian Tire on points so it cost me nothing.:D.

This stuff works magically and is non toxic and safe. I just found an old tote and put all my parts in there to soak. In some cases overnight. Next morning presto no rust just black liquid. The great thing is the stuff only goes after the rust so there is no errosion of non rusted parts in this process. Not sure you will be able to find the stuff in Japan. Here is a link to the site. Maybe an impoting opportunity for you its Canadian made (i did not know this till I looked up the site for you. http://www.evapo-rust.ca/

Cleaned up my Dads old Stanley No.4 beautifully. Of course i stripped it first. But this stuff even softened the old paint build up on my trophy gift. ( to be posted later).

By the way I amin your club with the Miller Falls plane. Only thing is mine is a very old small block plane. More of hand me down souvernier than a user. I will post a pict of that too when the clean up is over.


Thanks Paul for the link that is just what i needed right now. Oh and i bought a new blade from LV for my No. 4 Bailey.
 
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As mentioned in >> THIS << thread, I bid on these two planes, and I won the auction, total cost just right around $60 for both planes with shipping. :dunno:

I'm sure that in the US or Canada, these could have be had for less, but I'm NOT in the US or Canada :D I'd say I'm happy :D

Honestly I don't think so, 60 bucks for two planes including shipping is a real bargain to me. Bedrocks and others sell at Ebay around 75 or 100-150 $ without shipping. It depends a lot on the ending time of the auction and the interest that they arise.

I expecto to see pics of the restoring process and see some fluffy shavings made with them;)
 
Stu, when you get them cleaned and tuned up, don't forget to do the Frankfurter test to be sure the finger saving devise is still working.:rofl::rofl:
 
I tore the two planes down, and shot everything with WD40, just to stop the rust that is ongoing.

They both look good, they will clean up nicely and become good users!

now the adjustable mouth is frozen in the Miller Falls #17 block plane, but that is no big deal, I think.

Under the blade in the #5C, there were a bunch of wood shavings, and the blade is marked with a "heart" so I guess that makes this a Stanley "Sweetheart"..... :dunno:
stanley_sh_#5C_1.jpg stanley_sh_#5C_2.jpg

The paint on both planes is in bad shape, and I'll most likely just remove all of the paint and start from new, these are users planes after all.

The #5C has both the tote and knob in good shape, just some sanding and they will be back in fine form, and I noticed the blade on the #5C is slightly radiused, which would make it a really good jack plane for that first bit of hard work flattening a panel, a "Scrub Plane" I guess...? :dunno:

The #5C does have one pit on the bottom, but it will hardly affect the way the plane preforms......
stanely_#5C_pit.jpg

Here it is in a close up......
stanley_#5C_pit_close.jpg
...... like I said, not going to effect how the plane works.

On cleaning the planes, I was going to use my electrolysis bath, but so many guys are having great success with this "Evapo-Rust" stuff, I looked into it and there is a Japanese distributor, I've sent them an e-mail, but have yet to hear back from them.

I'm rather busy now, so there is now rush to get these done.

Looking better and better for the $60 I paid!

Cheers!
 
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