Category Archives: Rehabilitation of old tools

Handtools, Rehabilitation of old tools, Shop made tools, Shop tour

Tour de Shop and project inventory 2014

09/01/2015 Gerhard Marx 5 Comments

13/11/2014

My last proper weekend in the shop for 2014 has now come and gone. It is therefore now time to start reviewing what I have managed to accomplish during this year and to take a quick look around the shop.

It all started with the rehabilitation of the two planes I happened to buy at an antiques sale in RSA over the December holidays. The Bedrock no. 606 has become one of my go-to tools.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/resurrection-of-two-cast-iron-fore-planes/

I also bought this no.78 Rabbet plane from Stanley at the same auction, but it’s rehab took quite some time as it had several parts missing.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-78-rehabilitation/

This was the last of my holiday shopping, a no. 45 Plough Plane from Stanley. It was covered with a thick black paint, and had no iron/s. I decided to tidy it up for shop decoration purposes.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-45-rehabilitation/

I managed to finish turning all those file handles that I started with at the end of 2013.

My major project for 2014 started on the 1st of February and is not finished by quite some way. I spent at least 80% of my shop time this year working on my 18th century workbench and am pleased to say that it is at least assembled by the end of 2014. You can read all about it in a series of posts entitled “My 18th Century Workbench in progress”

My 17 m³ wood finally completed it’s journey when it took occupation of it’s purpose built shed.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/the-lumbering-odyssey/

These exquisite chisels from Lie-Nielsen arrived after a wait of several months. I made this very basic storage to keep them out of harm’s way.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/chisel-storage/

Didi (my son) started his woodworking journey by turning this mallet for himself.

I used an antique brace bit from my father’s collection that had key parts of it’s business end missing to fashion this birdcage awl. It is a real winner.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/brace-bit-birdcage-awl-also-known-as-bbba/

Didi’s next project was this bird feeder.

I revamped and sharpened this old scissor.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/scissor-rehab/

This shop high stool saw a bit too much action during the 14 years since I first made it. I re-upholstered it with leather and strengthened the base, while (clearly) not worrying too much about je ne sais quoi.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-high-stool-facelift/

Didi learnt a few more skills by producing this beautiful Assegaai handle for an old axe we had lying around.

This Miller’s Falls no. 88 joiner gauge was successfully rehabilitated.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/millers-falls-88-perfection-jointer-gauge-rehab/

The wife and I managed to make a team effort of the re-upholstering of “die rooi bank”.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/die-rooi-bank/

In order to hand plane the two edges of my benches top parallel, I had to first build this large panel gauge.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/makeshift-panel-gauge/

In order to create the space for my 18th century bench, I had to rearrange some of the power tools. This planer and radial arm saw were placed on the same steel table and lined up to become each other’s out-feed table.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/level-playing-field/

A set of winding sticks.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-winding-sticks/

My favourite shop made wooden plane received some cosmetic surgery. I added a thin strip of Tamboti to it’s chipbreaker/lever cap and covered the lever cap screw with Kaapse Swarthout. This is a true workhorse as it makes short work of all scrub plane and very aggressive fore plane tasks.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/scrub-plane/

My own version of a Melencolia Square.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-melencolia-square-with-the-marxian-improvement/

Custom made leather apron.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/custom-made-leather-apron/

Restored a Stanley no. 10 Rabbet plane (ca 1900) and a Bedrock no. 607 Jointer.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-10-rabbet-plane-rehab/

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-bedrock-no-607-jointer-rehab/

Replaced my ½” Lie-Nielsen mortice chisel handle with a shop made Ysterhout version. So far it is standing up to heavy abuse without breaking a sweat.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/replacing-lie-nielsen-mortise-chisel-handle/

A custom made pairing handle for my bevel edge chisels.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-pairing-handle-for-my-lie-nielsen-bevel-edge-chisels/

Finally got round to making an Ysterhout straight edge.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/shop-made-ysterhout-straight-edge/

Restored this Stanley no. 203 bench clamp.

Restored this Stanley no. 9½ block plane.

http://www.jenesaisquoiwoodworking.com/stanley-no-9½-block-plane-rehab/

I started restoring this Stanley no. 8 Jointer (ca 1896), but there is a lot more work to do next year. I will replace both tote and knob.

Tour de Shop at the end of 2014

This is simply a series of photos documenting the state of the shop at the end of 2014. The major change from last year has been the addition of the assembled (though not finished yet) 18th century style workbench. I also managed to collect quite a few new hand tools with the help of Patrick Leach and Jim Bode. As I am writing this my first shipment from Jim has not arrived yet despite leaving the States on the 12th of October. My guess is I will never see those tools or money again. Just one of the joys of living in Africa.

(9/1/2015 – I am very happy to report that the shipment arrived in Namibia on the 6th of Jan 2015 without as much as a scratch. I will write a post on this saga in the near future)

Handtools, Rehabilitation of old tools, Shop made tools

Mallet facelift

17/11/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

17/11/2014

A week ago I damaged the non-leathered end of my shop made heavy dead-blow mallet, while getting carried away with hitting some Assegaai dowels (draw pins) home. It needed quite a bit of persuasion and I did not realise how hard those dowels are. Anyway, so I drilled out the damaged area and filled it with slow setting epoxy. I will report back on this post how it worked out after some abuse in the shop.

Handtools, Rehabilitation of old tools, Tool acquisitions

Stanley no. 9½ Block plane rehab

03/11/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

27/10/2014

These little beauties were made between 1873 and 1981. This one is an example of the final design (in the tool’s evolution) as far as I can gather from the literature, but could still be anything between 40 to 100 years old. I bought it from Patrick Leach.

As per usual I sent the various part off to get bead blasted. Then I applied the usual sequence of coats to the main casting and lever cap.

Kenney also plated the lateral adjustment lever, the lever that adjusts the throat and the depth adjustment lever with Cadmium. Now I only need to sharpen the blade. The last picture shows the leather pouch I made for it.

Handtools, Rehabilitation of old tools

Stanley Bedrock no. 607 Jointer rehab

05/08/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

24/7/2014 This #607 Bedrock arrived today after an arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean and the Equator. It left Ashby (Massachusetts) in the US of A on 7/2/2014 as carefully packaged by Patrick Leach. I cannot say enough good things about my dealings with Patrick so far. You can find his details on the library page of this site.

I first thought that the plane only needs it’s blade to be sharpened, but eventually succumbed to my obsession to redo it completely. I have to warn you once again that it might not be a good idea if you want to sell the plane in future, but I am not a collector and do not plan to part from this plane. The only tools that I have been forced to part with are those that got stolen over the years. TIA as they say, this is Africa.

Here are some photos of the plane as I took it apart.

The frog screws and frog adjusting screw were a bit difficult to unscrew due to gunk and rust, but after a soaking in Q20 it could be persuaded to vacate it’s cosy abode.

29/7/2014

Today I received the frog and blades back from Kenney at the Prop Shop who bead-blasted all the gunk and japanning to Kingdom come. You will notice the blade and chip breaker of a #10 in the picture, but I am writing a separate post on that process.

2/8/2014

This what the main casting looks like when cleaned by a professional.

Masking tape before makeup.

The rust converter coat.

The anti-rust undercoat.

The frog with it’s enamel paint finish.

Main casting after painting.

Japanning finished … now for the bits of metal work … flattening surfaces, sharpening blade and prep chip breaker.

10/8/2014

On Friday I managed to sharpen the blades of both the #607 and #10 that I am currently working on. Then on Saturday morning it was time to reassemble the #607. Interestingly I had to shorten the frog adjusting screw in order to set a fine mouth opening. I am not sure whether this is a common issue, as it was not the case with the #606 I restored previously. The blade had a bevel angle of roughly 30º, which I hollow ground back to 25º with a very slight camber. I used a honing angle (1000 grid Ohishi waterstone) of 33º and a polishing angle (10 000 grid Ohishi waterstone) of 35º as I work mostly with exceptionally hard wood.

As you can see it was well worth the effort and works like a dream straight off.

Day to day, Handtools, Rehabilitation of old tools

Stanley no.10 Rabbet plane rehab

01/08/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

24/7/2014

This ca. 1910 Stanley no.10 Rabbet plane arrived today after crossing the Equator and the Atlantic Ocean en route to the Land of The Brave. It is another of my acquisitions from Patrick Leach.

Here you can see what the blade, chip breaker and lever cap looked like as I took the plane apart.

I found ample evidence that the plane was used at some point between 1910 and 2014, as you can see.

Initially I decided to only send these three parts (from my latest acquisition) for bead blasting, but then changed my mind and sent (second picture) all the blades, chip breakers, the #10’s frog and the #607’s main casting off too. (see posts entitled “Third acquisition from Patrick Leach” and “Stanley Bedrock no. 607 rehab”)

As you can see here, the main casting lost some japanning during it’s 104 year tenure.

During a very brief (less than 4 days) visit to Kenney at the Prop Shop it lost all of the rest of it’s japanning, rust and gunk.

The lever cap were bead blasted and then plated with cadmium.

The blade and chip breaker (left two) received the same treatment as above.

I hope to get close to finishing this rehab over the next weekend. So hopefully will be able to post the rest of the drama next week.

3/8/2014

I first applied a coat of rust converter followed by an anti-rust undercoat (first picture). That was followed by three coats of black high gloss truck enamel.

After removing the masking tape, it looked like this.

Initially I I thought that the frog did not need the full treatment, but after try to clean it realised that it really should get the benefit of a bead-blast exfoliation. It is pictured with the #607 Bedrock (you will find a seperate post on this rehab) shortly after returning from the spa and after the rust converter, followed by anti-rust under coat and enamel paint.

Starting to look like the business.

Posing with the #607.

10/8/2014

Rehabilitation of old tools

Stanley no. 45 rehabilitation

22/07/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

I bough this Stanley no 45 at an antiques auction in Groot Brak River RSA in December 2013. As you can see there are several parts missing and was painted with a thick black paint. I decided to get rid of the paint and sent it to my main man Kenney at the Prop Shop who bead blasted it to bare metal. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of this.

21/7/2014 Then I took it to a gunsmith who “blued” it. This is a process I know nothing about apart from it being a rust resistant treatment usually applied to a rifle’s metal parts. Now it looks a bit better and will hopefully stay looking this way for another century. I am using it as decoration on my shop’s wall due to all the missing bits. If you listen to Patrick Leach, it is not a plane you want to use anyway.

Day to day, Rehabilitation of old tools, Shop tour

Level playing field

24/06/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

23/6/2014

On Sunday I finally made the effort to set up my radial arm saw and my planer (both DeWalt but from different eras) on the red steel table (first photo). About eight weeks ago I took the radial arm saw off it’s custom steel table and bought a new cross cut blade for it. I decided to move it to the red steel table to create more space for my new 18th century workbench that I am in the process of building. It used to reside next to the red steel rack that house all my offcuts (second photo).

In order for these two power tools to be functioning next to each other I had to get them on the same plane. That meant that I had to lift the planer.

Here you can see how the radial arm saw now acts as an out-feed table for the planer and vice versa. It took ages, fiddling around with different strips of wood to line the two surfaces up perfectly.

I also flipped the old chip board over that did duty as the radial arm saw table and made a new fence. Once I managed to set the saw up perfectly square in the two important dimensions, I cut a new zero clearance groove through the fence.

… and finally I cleaned the track in which the saw runs, which had heaps of antediluvian grease- sawdust-crap obstructing the saw’s path. A fresh serving of grease got it back to it’s former self.

Rehabilitation of old tools

Miller’s Falls #88 Perfection Jointer Gauge rehab

19/05/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

19/5/2014

I bought this jointer gauge from Patrick Leach recently. His contact details is on the library page of this sight. Miller’s Falls eventually inherited this tool from Langdon who introduced it in 1904. They continue to produce it until 1944. You can find a wealth of information on the history of Miller’s Falls and Langdon at the following site. http://oldtoolheaven.com/index.html

This was how mine looked like when it was still with Patrick in the US of A.

Shortly after arrival in Namibia, I sent it to Kenny at the Prop Shop who bead blasted all the old paint and rust away. You can see the spectacular job he did in the picture below. Just a warning though, I understand from what I read in on Patrick’s site that the tools actually lose value to collectors if they are rehabilitated like this. I however use my tool to work with so it is not much of a concern to me but, you might want to be aware of this, if you want to collect tools.

After a coat of rust converter. I followed this with a coat of antirust undercoat (no photo unfortunately).

In these pictures you can appreciate the cadmium plating Kenny did on the cams. I glued a strip of seal leather to it’s inside where it tightens against the rim/side of a handplane. This way it grips better and does not grind the japanning off the plane.

Here you can see it reassembled and in action on a #6 Record fore plane.

Handtools, Quick projects, Rehabilitation of old tools

Scissor rehab

23/04/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

22/4/2014

This is the pair of scissors that came with my father’s tools. Until recently it could not even cut toilet paper. It is however good German steel and made during the time when people still cared about quality. Therefore I decided to rehabilitate it by sharpening and repainting it.

The bits of old paint disappeared with the help of paint stripper.

I did some research on how to properly sharpen scissors in the electronic version of the book pictured below. I can really recommend it for all sharpening purposes.

A new coat of paint …

… and Bob’s your Uncle.

Handtools, Rehabilitation of old tools

Stanley no. 78 Rehabilitation

06/02/2014 Gerhard Marx Leave a comment

4/2/2014 – I bought this old Stanley #78 rabbet plane at an antiques auctions during the December holidays in Groot Brak Rivier. As you can see it was in a pretty bad state. The parallel guide and the lever cap were missing, but the depth stop and the nicker survived.

It had one bade that was held in place by a washer as you can see.

Here you can see the depth stop and nicker.

Since I struggled for a day with paint remover and wire brushes on a handheld drill to remove the japanning from the 2 cast iron fore planes I restored recently, a friend told me of a engineering shop that does bead blasting. The idea seems to be that these beads only removes paint and rust but no metal. So I rang Kenney at the Prop Shop who quickly explained what they do. Within 3 days I received a #78 looking like this ….

I could not believe my eyes and thought they decided to plate it with something or other, so I rang Kenney. He assured me that it was only bead blasted and on closer inspection I realised that he was correct. As soon as I arrived home I proceeded to stick masking tape on all the areas that needs to stay paint free.

Then I applied a coat of rust converter.

10/2/2014 – Next came a coat of a rust resistant undercoat …

… and three layers of high gloss truck enamel paint.

24/2/2014 – Seeing that the plane lost it’s lever cap, I fashioned one out of brass to give it that Lie-Nielsen look.

17/3/2014 – Speaking of the devil, at about this time the Lie-Nielsen replacement blade arrived with a set of bevel-egde chisels.

As you can see the news blade is almost an exact replica of the original except that it is quite a bit thicker. This has the added benefit that it closes up the throat.

New blade and lever cap in position.

31/3/2014

I started cleaning up the thread were the MIA fence guide should screw in.

I then fashioned a new guide out of brass.

The depth guide received the same treatment as the plane …

22/4/2014

… and fitted to the plane.

19/5/2014

During the past weekend I finally fashioned this Dolce&Gabbana-esque fence as I needed it to do some hand-cut mouldings. I might work on it’s appearance a bit more in future and possibly add a knob to the side that screws onto the end of the guide. Watch this space.

A few examples of the mouldings.

Je ne sais quoi Woodworking

Category Archives: Rehabilitation of old tools

Tour de Shop and project inventory 2014

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Mallet facelift

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Stanley no. 9½ Block plane rehab

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Stanley Bedrock no. 607 Jointer rehab

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Stanley no.10 Rabbet plane rehab

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Level playing field

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Miller’s Falls #88 Perfection Jointer Gauge rehab

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Stanley no. 78 Rehabilitation

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