My $7.50 Stanley No. 5

While waiting for another store to open, I browsed through an antique store today and stumbled across this plane. The front knob is missing and the tote is missing part of the top and has a poorly done repair on a previous break. It was very rusty and most of the adjustments were pretty much frozen up. But the tag said '$7.50' so i bought it. I don't really know that much about planes but wanted to try to bring it back to life. I took it to the shop and saturated it with penetrating oil. Started with steel wool and quickly switched to 320 grit paper. Added lots of elbow grease and after a while, a pretty good looking plane emerged. Spent an hour or so rubbing the blade on the stones and ended up with a decent edge. Put it back together and made some nice shavings.

Couple of questions... I found a template for the tote on Lee Valley's site but can't find any info on specs for the knob. Does anyone have a template for it? I would like to make it look like the original as much as possible. Suggestions for wood for replacing the tote and the knob? The original tote is a very dark and dense wood. I have no idea what it is.

Thanks for reading.

Sorry, I didn't think to take a 'before' pic. Here is what it looks like after the initial clean up.

The wood is Brazilian rose rose wood and it is an indangered species so it can not be inported here anymore. I made a batch of them out of Bolivian rosewood, but I had an alergic reaction to the wood so I never finishes sanding them. As far as front knobs go I just free hand turn them to match as closely as I could the actual front knob. Now I do them in Walnut,c herry and Babinga but no rosewood.

If you are planning on using LVs drawings, The aare not full scale so you will have to inlarge them before printing. Use a rule to check the size of the deawing. Plan on making 3 or 4 to start out with . The hardest part is getting the long 5 /16 hole through take your time.

I hope I have helped.

Tom

That was a pretty good price and It's a nice plane.

If you want to remain as "original as possible" the first order of business is to type it:

http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/planes101/typing/typing.htm

This will tell you a bit about the style of knob you want to replace. On initial look it will not be the early low or "balloon" knob. Replacement rosewood knobs and totes are available on ebay. If you wish only to replace the knob I would be willing to part with a block of Indian Rosewood for you to turn it for a couple $. I don't have any 4/4" stock for the tote nor the desire to resaw the billets I have for custom tool building but I can put you on to a guy with a good supply who would be happy to sell you only what you need for the tote and knob.

My typical first step for a clean up is Evaporust - sometimes Electrolysis only if the jappaning is mostly gone. Then buff out with a medium then fine grit high speed abrasive wool flap wheel.

Good luck as you continue the clean-up. It can get to be rather addictive... I know, I've done couple herds of em

Thanks for the replys, Tom and Tom. I have done a fair amount of research since my original post. I found the web site mentioned above and have determined that it is most likely a Type 11. It has the triangle logo and the three patent dates.

I don't really want to spend a lot to get it back to original condition. It has no real collector value and I plan to use it. (Didn't have a jack plane and need to learn to use one.) I will just turn a knob and use the template from Lee Valley to make a tote. I believe I will use some cherry to come a little closer to matching the color. I'm glad you said that about the electrolysis. Most of the japanning is in good shape and I don't want to hurt it. Will try the Evaporust.

As far as drilling the hole in the tote, I have been thinking about that. I plan to use an oversized blank and drill the hole first. Then match the template to the hole and cut it out.

And you are right. I think I am already addicted...

Oh boy you now got the bug standby for more action. Good save Dave. I made some replacement totes and knobs for my user planes out of walnut. Get a rasp and consider hauling out the dremel tool with small sanding drums.
for the screw hole through the tote use a forstner on the top to get started for the head of the long brass screw. Then drill the rest out. It will give you a good square landing area in the hole for the screw to get enough grip when you tighten it to the sole after completion. I used wipe on poly on mine as a finish. If i recall from an some advice given to me at the time by Randy Privett (since passed) he said the dimension you need is 7/16 for that hole.

I also made my knobs to suite my hand. Never thought much of the one fits all Stanley versions or any other plane makers. (just a rebel thats all

Here is my old post to my attempts at the time you can see how i drilled through the side of the tote and patched it. I call it added character. Did not have photoshop to fix it like Vaughn did for me in the post.

David, it looks to me like you are past the rust so no real need for evaporust. An abrasive flap wheel would make quick work of the sides and lever cap. The bottom will be cleaned when it is lapped.

If you think you might use it for shooting you should consider checking how square the sides and sole are too. If you won't be shooting then don't bother.

Again, good luck.

hey Tom B you got a link to one of those wool flap wheels you mentioned earlier?

larry merlau said:

hey Tom B you got a link to one of those wool flap wheels you mentioned earlier?

Click to expand...

Sure, I'll have to go dig but I buy the medium to finer ones from Grainger and the courser paper flap wheels from fastenall. They are both a stone's skip and jump from my shop

I'll look in a bit if ya don't see em there.