Bailey plane

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187
Location
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Hi All,

Last weekend I saw an old plane that was marked Bailey on the front nose of the plane. Now I know absolutely nothing about planes, and have no idea what model this one might be. It looked about 9 inches long.

Also, I wasn't sure of the condition and if it could be brought up to good working shape. The bottom had some deep pitting along the back end. I tried sighting down the length and across the bottom and by eye it looked fairly flat.

I don't have a shop yet but am still looking to add to my small collect from time to time hoping to round out my small hand tool collection by the time I can work out getting a shop so this is not a must have for a project but wanted to know if something like this would be worth investing $12.00 on.
 
bill, go ahead and drop 12 bucks........spend some time cleaning-n-sharpening......as long as the castings are not cracked and all the parts are there you should have a workable plane..........even if you mess up totally 12 bucks is a cheap lesson;) ........it`s hard to mess up a plane though...tod
 
I agree with Tod, spend the $12, and I'm sure you will learn some stuff about fixing up these old tools to good daily users.

Check out the whole Electrolysis thing for knocking off any rust etc. and have some fun fixing up you plane.

I't better to make a few mistakes and do some learning on a $12 plane than on one that costs ten times that much.

Remember.......... pictures! :thumb:
 
It's a Stanley plane. Many were marked as Bailey on them. I forget the history but Bailey created a lot of the designs and was part of Stanley. Seems like maybe they were partners at one time? Again, I forget all that stuff.

At 9" I would guess it was a #4 or #5. I would have measure one of mine but thats a useful size.
 
Hey Bill,
Here's a pic of a Bailey #5. The #5 is 13 inches long, a #4 is 9 inches long and looks very similar. $12 is a good price if the parts are there and no breakage.

Hardest thing to do is to get the bottom good and flat. Some scratches at the tail end aren't too bad. Scratches or cups near the mouth (where the blade comes out) can be a real problem.

To flatten the bottom, fix some 120g sandpaper on a sheet of glass or a marble tile and rub the plane back and forth until the dings are gone and the whole surface is uniformly dull. Then move up to 220, and 320. This takes a lonnnggg time, but you only have to do it once. If you are anal-retentive like some of us, get some wet/dry paper and go on up to 2000 or so. Do all this with the blade in the plane, but moved up so it won't touch the sandpaper.

BTW, you are on the edge of the abyss. Restoring old planes can be addictive.:rolleyes:
 

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Hi Bill

There are several places on the web that can lead you through the process of restoring your plane. This link will take you to the site of a very experienced restorer who posts on another forum.

Rex Mill

Not every plane needs the full treatment. If you can get nice thin shavings just by working on the blade, then you're in luck. Clean it up a bit and you're off to the races :)

Read through the Handplanes 101 on the site above, including the reprint of David Charlesworth' article to see the other steps that may be necessary.

Either way, let's see some before and after pics, okay? We all love to see old neglected tools brought back to working order :D

Best of luck
 
Hey thanks for all the good advice so far.

I found on that REXMILL site info about the electrolysis process. I can probably do that. Thanks Ian.

BTW, I think I have fallen into the abyss a while ago, it's just a slow slide until I can get all the stuff I have out of the Public Storage locker and be able to start using it.

I bought a coffin plane and sharpened the blade on it and it takes real nice long ribbons of shavings like I see you guys showing in your pics all of the time. It has a pretty tight mouth (why I thought it was worth getting).

Thanks again for all the info.
 
Bailey planes

I just thought I would add a little detail about Mr Bailey... He designed the first of this long line of essentially unchanged style of planes just before the turn of the century. I believe he got his patent in 1897. After the patent ran out Record, Sargent, Fulton, and too many others to name began making and selling the same style of planes perhaps with only very subtle changes. Any of these name brand planes made pre WWII were well made and machined as well as (or almost ) the top shelf planes available today.
I paid $7.50 for a #4 Fulton about a week ago and wow was it dirty. Took it completely apart cleaned it up, including very light filing on the machined surfaces where the frog rests on the body and the blade rests on the frog. Just a drop of 3in1 oil on the brass depth adjustment screw and about a 1/2 hour lapping the back of the blade + about another 1/2 hour to forty -five minutes bringing the then present convex bevel back to a nice 25 deg bevel and another fifteen minutes honing the chipbreaker. I could not have been more impressed with it's performance.
Less than a month ago purchased a low angle block plane (brand new for about $150) + another $30 or so for attachable rear tote and front knob + a 3/16" blade with a 45 degree bevel so that the plane can double as small #3 smoother. Yes it did out reform the Fulton $7.50 plane but only by a nose.
 
Sounds like a great purchase. I think there are great benefits to jumping into hand planing this way - rejuvenating a mangy dog of a plane. As you do it, the intimidation factor goes away - you know how the tool comes apart and adjusts before you ever take a clean shaving.
Rust pitting on a plane is only detrimental from a value point of view, and since you only have $12 into it, i think we're not talking about a museum piece, but a potential work-a-day tool. The pitting, even if it's siginificant, doesn't harm a thing, and can actually make the tool easier to use because the surface friction is reduced. The contact surface is reduced, so the resistance is less as you push the tool along the wood surface. This is the logic behind corrugated or groove bottom planes. What's important is that the plane registers flat along its length at three key points - the front or "toe", the slot where the blade pokes through (the "throat"), and the back, or "heel". If you set the plane on a flat surface and all three of these points are in contact with the flat surface, you're in business. Some people will lap the soles of their planes flat across their entire surface - the practical benefits of this are very debateable, and it's a lot of work. I would suggest that it's not worth the effort, necessary, or beneficial.
The www.rexmill.com site has great information on cleaning up and tuning old planes. You won't go wrong with their suggestions.
If you really get into it, you might consider a thicker blade or chip breaker as a way to reduce chatter, improving the plane's performance significantly.
Have fun with it and keep us up to date.
Paul Hubbman
 
BTW, you are on the edge of the abyss. Restoring old planes can be addictive.:rolleyes:

Hi Jesse.

Glad to see you back!:thumb: and you're dead right about that, IT IS ADDICTIVE!
I thought I had overcome it but only two days ago I fell into the abyss again and got an infill plane at ebay that I'm waiting to arrive.
I got it at a reasonable price because it is from an unknown maker and has some piting but that's part of the fun in restoring them isn't it?
 
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