Planes to restore

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Hi gals and guys.
Being confined does give time to tidy the shope mong other things, like doing one of those projects on the "to do" list. Well, today as I haven't got enough wood to make any project that I'd like to, I searched for a plane I got some years ago on ebay. And I would like your opinion about how you think I should proceed with its restoration.


This plane seems to be Ward one ( at least the blade and the chipbreaker are from that brand). but the rest of the body seems to have been somehow "tuned" by the previous owner.
As you can see the handle or tote top has been chopped away, or even fully remade, I doubt it was like that originally ( I'll do some research though). And it seems that the owner changed the blade angle as well, if we look at the glue line of the shim that is on the wood body.


The lever cap is absolutely assymetrical and the holes for its pin or axe are also off so it doesn't stay parallel to the blade because it has'nt got a 90º angle on its tip at all.


The blade has been worn almost completely so I doubt that any of of the good steel of the edge remains there.


The body seems to have been filed or sanded with rough sandpaper if we look at the scratches it has. I wonder wether it was Mr. Hirst who did it...


So here are the questions:
Should I remake a full handle as it was originally? I'm quite for it TBH as it is rather ugly by now.
Would you braze and fill in the holes of the lever cap and remake them properly squaring the front tip of the lever as well?
Continues on next post.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Continued:
I have other blades that I got on ebay, that would be a replacement, although they would need to be narrowed as they are wider than the original one and do not fit in the plane, although they seem to be pretty good. One is Sorby, another I can't read the brand it says something like Tertius Keenage
and the third one reads F. Wood?? Sheffield. They are long and missing a plane body to be of use.

So here is another question, would you search for a Ward blade or use one of these?

Any comments, hints and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

That could be quite a nice plane when it's restored. It has the appearance of an English Norris.
Is Ward a known European brand? The only Ward in the U.S. was Montgomery Ward & Co., and their planes were Stanley/Sargent/Millers Falls clones of not very good quality.
The original wood looks fairly good in your photos. Perhaps a good cleaning with something like Murphy's Oil Soap would clean it up, but leave the patina.
You'll need to weld/braze the holes in the lever cap. I'd also replace that slotted bolt with a knurled brass one. I'm pretty sure the original lever cap was a wedge that was driven in behind the cross pin in the plane's body, and not cross drilled to pivot on the pin.
If that Sheffield blade isn't pitted it's the one I'd file and use. Either of the others should work well, though.
As for the angle, to me it looks original. Are you sure that glue joint isn't a repair of a split in the original stuffing?
The metal shell is what's going to need the most work. The sole, especially, will take a lot of lapping to get it back to smooth. I'd start with 80 grit and work through to about 220, maybe 320, preferably with the paper adhered to plate glass or a granite surface plate. Any way you look at it, it's going to take a lot of work to clean it up. Once it's clean and smooth, considering using gun bluing on the metal.

As you can probably tell, I've done a few plane restorations. The one you have will make a fine project.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Thanks a lot Jim. To answer your question, I honestly can't tell wether the handle is the original one, or a posterior adition. It seems to be made from a different wood of the front tote, and that joint plus the enlarged heel of the handle make my mind twirl.
I have an Spiers plane (bottom pic top) that I will also just clean someday or leave as it is, that is very similar and the angle and handle are quite different; please have a look at the pics and tell me what you think.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Prior to take any decision that cannot be undone, I decided to concentrate my efforts on the body, and leave the rest until I make my mind about what do I do.
I have removed the wood parts and I found that they have some sort of varnish, which was applyed only on the exposed areas. This has allowed me to confirm that the handle and the front tote are made of the same kind of wood. It is a very lighweight wood, and it reminds me Embero, but I'm not sure.
Jim, you mention that you are pretty sure that originally the blade was held by a wedge, so in your opinion the brass lever cap is posterior addition? Do you have any documentation, or can you tell me of a source to search for?
Looking at the body it seems that someone worked on it to remove rust, in a quite crude way, and then applied some blacking polish to make it look antique or not reworked.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

So I'm of the, perhaps somewhat contrary, opinion that the metal doesn't need to be perfectly smooth and - especially on the sole - trying to get it so is counter productive. As long as there aren't noticeable raised bits a few scratches don't really hurt the functionality. So for the sole, I don't think I'd do a lot more than make sure it's smooth enough to not scratch things and put it in use. Removing more metal than strictly needed is generally not useful imho.

For the handle I think I'd look at splicing a bit to the top and reshaping it to how you want. A bit of a horn does seem to help register the plane to the hand a bit. My best guess is that it was dropped and broke and they just smoothed it off.

The added on wedge does appear to have been done with the intention of raising the blade angle. Nominally that makes it a bit slower cutting but perhaps a smidge happier with thin cuts on wood with complex grain. That plus the rather hokey setup for the level cap which is clearly not original supports Jim's idea of the original setup being a wedge under a bar. Raising the angle would have removed (some of) the space needed for the wedge so I'm thinking that's when they added the lever cap. With a bit of fixing the current setup does seem workable though so, unless you want to change the angle back down, it seems like your current idea is a reasonable way to go. There were certainly a number made both ways though so I'm not entirely sure.

If you google image search for "Ward infill plane" you'll find a good number of images, I'm thinking the original setup might have been something like this one (it's a smidge different but close):


The F. Wood?? Sheffield blade would likely also be my first choice, depending on condition.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Thanks a lot Ryan. Today I’ve been working on the body , I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Well here are the promised pics. I have been trueing the sole as you can see it was not perfectly flat, so I guess it is just wear as it looks as being more concave in the center than in the sides, or that those times they were not so picky as we are nowadays, after all a plane is not a swiss watch.
I used the diamond sharpening/lapping plate extra coarse grit that has left it smooth enough and leveled the sole, there is some pitting at the mouth and at the heel and front but I will not continue removing metal to leave it perfect, it will not affect the plane performance.




The sides were cleaned and smoothed on my bench grinder using the sand paper thing that you see on the pic, that I would appreciate someone telling me it english name. They have some pitting that would need too much material removal.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

While working on it, it is more and more evident that craftmanship had different levels those times like it happens today. Not only the lever cap is completely assymetrical, but also the rear opening of the casting, and the handle is absolutely off center, and the mouth angle has not been completely shaped, either the casting was badly made and instead of tossing it they decided to use it, or making it right would have taken too much effort.

I would appreciate some suggestions regarding the mouth, should I file it or fill the left side with metal epoxy and file it smooth afterwards?

 

[Jim DeLaney]

"regarding the mouth, should I file it or fill the left side with metal epoxy and file it smooth afterwards? "

I doubt epoxy would hold. It'd likely break off with the first use of the plane. I'd leave the mouth alone for now. Maybe decide whether - or not - to file it after you've used the plane a bit.
Nice work on the metal cleanup. BTW, your sanding attachment is often called a 'flap wheel.'

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Thanks a lot Jim, now I’ve learnt a new tool name.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Well back to this plane. For the moment I have decided to change the wood parts making them anew, and following the original shape, I am still researching about it. If I do not find it, I'll make a Norris type handle.
What drives me nuts is the lever cap. the two holes are not aligned at all, and that's the reason why the original pin was thinner than the body holes and thinner than the lever cap holes, to compensate for the deviation (or so I think). The result was that the pin was bent due to the rivetting process.


I turned a right diameter pin but obviously it won't fit. The holes of the lever are misaligned and the holes of the body as well although a bit less, I could force the pin from the right side, from the left is too far away from the hole.
So the question is: what do I do. Put a thinner pin as before? Braze the lever cap holes and make new ones ? braze only one and make it new but aligned?

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[Jim DeLaney]

...So the question is: what do I do. Put a thinner pin as before? Braze the lever cap holes and make new ones ? braze only one and make it new but aligned?...

I think brazing and drilling new ones would be the best way, but any brazing might be problematic, depending on how the sole is attached to the sides. Is that joint dovetailed, soldered, or brazed? Excess heat may cause them to separate, causing a whole new set of problems.

 

[Bill Satko]

TIG brazing?

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

I think brazing and drilling new ones would be the best way, but any brazing might be problematic, depending on how the sole is attached to the sides. Is that joint dovetailed, soldered, or brazed? Excess heat may cause them to separate, causing a whole new set of problems.

Thanks Jim, but I am referring to brazing the lever cap, and redoing its holes, not the body. Meanwhile I also thought about a different (maybe easier) possibility; what about threading the lever cap holes and put a bolt from each side? That would spare the need of brazing and redrilling. The other plane I have is made that way.
Bill, unfortunately I do not have TIG equipment so brazing is the maximum I can aim for.

 

[larry merlau]

i would braze and re drill toni on a lever cap.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Thanks Larry, maybe I can try both things, first thread the holes of the lever cap and if that doesn’t work, then braze and re-drill them. After all they will have to be re drilled anyway... dunno

 

[Jim DeLaney]

Thanks Jim, but I am referring to brazing the lever cap, and redoing its holes, not the body. Meanwhile I also thought about a different (maybe easier) possibility; what about threading the lever cap holes and put a bolt from each side? That would spare the need of brazing and redrilling. The other plane I have is made that way...

Thanks for the clarification. I'd misunderstood, thinking it was the body holes that were misaligned. As for the lever cap - if one hole is already aligned properly, you'll only need to plug and redrill one side, won't you? If you decide to thread and put a bolt in the hole(s), won't you still have to redrill?