Hello All: Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a company out there you could send a plane to to have it rebuilt? Flatten the sole, remachine the frog, clean up the chipbreaker so it fits correctly; what ever it needs to function properly(or tell me its not worth the effort). I don’t know about the rest of you but I don’t have time to do all that stuff. I get a few hours in the shop I want to build projects, not spend the time doing metal shop machine work by hand. But then I’m old and have limited physical ability: flattening the sole on my old Record jointing plane make me ache just thinking about it!
KDM
Kenneth Duke Masters
Edited 9/3/2006 5:55 am by dukeone
Replies
It would be nice.
My guess is that the amount of work involved in hours, times a living wage would approch the price of a new LV or LN in a hurry. Which are ready to go, right out of the box.
Seems to me Planesaw, from this forum, used to refinish and clean planes for a reasonable price. (I think he recently stopped, if I'm wrong, I'm Sorry). But he drew the line at flattening the soles.
What you need to do is to cultivate a friendship with a machinist with a surface grinder!!
David C.
Kenneth, I clean Stanley bench planes and put the on Ebay to sell. I don't flatten the soles or sharpen the blades because of the time involved. Plus the fact I'm not too sure it would increase their value since a lot of these guys buying tools on Ebay are tool collectors who would never use them anyway. I always thought about putting in a special request section on my auctions and offer the winner $10.00 fee if they wanted the blade sharpened. I'm not too sure how many guys would want that done. I don't know about flattening the sole though, I think it would take too long and I'd have to charge $50.00 for the service.
Dukeone,
Thanks for the compliments, and although I have restored quite a few Stanley planes, you are probably thinking of Mike_in_Katy, who about 5 months ago closed his plane restoration business. I don't know that he did any machining, but he made fantastic totes and knobs for a very reasonable price. He also did complete cleaning and re-japanning. That set him apart from anyone else who did plane restoration. His work was first class. As I recall he was retired, maybe from IBM.
He made two high-tech, expensive, electrolysis devices to clean the planes. He couldn't make pitting go away, but the plane would have no rust and be shiney.
His work will be missed, as well as his wisdom and knowledge here on Knots. Maybe he still lurks around here, although I have seen a post by him in months.
Alan - planesaw
Edited 9/3/2006 9:41 pm ET by Planesaw
If you posted this on the WoodNet handtools forum you would meet a few enthusiasts who offer this service. Some provide a full strip (the mind boggles!) and re-jappaning as well.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Thanks to all for the suggestions: I mostly was looking for the way around the repairs that can be done by hand but would be more appropriate in a machine shop such as the truing of the sole and sides. A true rebuild covering all the aspects of a planes function and appearance would only be worth it for a collectable piece, as far as I can tell. As someone said earlier in this thread if the repair cost gets up to the price of a new L.N. or L.V. why bother?
KDM
"As someone said earlier in this thread if the repair cost gets up to the price of a new L.N. or L.V. why bother?"
Personal opinion only, but if a restored old tool works as well as a new one I'll take the old one any day. The look, feel, and history of old, quality tools make them a joy to handle and work with.
I have never seen an old Stanley that was the equal to the L-N's I have, and I have had a lot of old Stanley's through the years.
"Personal opinion only, but if a restored old tool works as well as a new one I'll take the old one any day. The look, feel, and history of old, quality tools make them a joy to handle and work with"
Generally I agree, if you find a well cared for, old plane in the wild. But if you strip off and reapply the Japanning, remachine the frog, lapp the sides and sole flat, refinish or replace the knob and tote and switch to a Hock or LN iron and cap iron, I'm not certain there's much "look, feel and history" left.
Kinda like, Here's George Washington's hatchet, the head's been replaced and it's a different handle, but it does occupy the same space!"
David C.
duke,
Regarding rebuilding a collectible plane. A collector would turn his nose up at an old tool that had been ground, stripped and repainted, with a replaced cutter. As with most other antiques (cars maybe excepted) rarity and original condition is what is highly sought after by the collector.
Regards,
Ray
Ray: True of course, I meant an older plane put back in good shape or tuned up better then new for regular use. Duke
I did do this as a service for about two years but I have started making infill plane parts and have way to many of my own projects to do..
You can visit my website and read most of my methods I use..
http://www.rexmill.com
I changed $25 to $30 for a complete refinish depending on size of plane...
If I recieved more than a few planes at one time I might still be doing it but to do 1-2 planes at a time is just not worth the time it takes..
Johnny K
Glad to learn about your and your work. My guess is you don't see your place covered with snow very often.
Thanks for the info on your website.
Alan - planesaw
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