Craftsman Club

Wood soled plane reconstruction March 16th, 2005 02:00 AM One of my first new old tool restorations was an old wooden soled "transitional" #24 Bailey plane.

My "THE STANLEY PLANE - A History And Descriptive Inventory" book describes this plane as being sold between 1870 to 1943.

When the metal plane, that most everybody refers to as a Stanley plane, first came out many woodworkers were skeptical and wanted to cling to their all wooden bodied traditional planes.

In order to sell the new features of quick adjustments and disassembly for sharpening, while consoling traditional users, a traditional type of wooden soled metal topped plane was created.

The problem is, especially on the West coast, most of the surviving specimens are hopelessly damaged. Wood just doesn't age as well as metal.

So, rather than trying to restore something that basically isn't substantial enough to fix, I broke a cardinal rule of old tool preservation or no new parts.

My plane features a brand new 8 inch long Maple wooden sole (no Beach wood out here)and the top metal has been PAINTED to match the sole's brandnew condition. I even added a rosewood patch to "close the mouth" of the plane, even though this is normally only done on restored existing wooden soles.

I'm still tuning the plane. I think the mouth is too narrow to allow proper chip removal on anything but very light cuts.

The point of this post is even old tools that LOOK destroyed can often be resurrected.

What I love is not many sellers price these poor condition tools anywhere near as high as fair to good quality ones.

The tool collector's don't have problems because I'm buying what they consider garbage.

So, one person's garbage is another's treasure.

Origin of the species March 16th, 2005 08:15 AM Where did you get it? The story of how we all get some of this is as good, if not better than what they are!

Guy is sharp March 21st, 2005 07:57 AM Ever think about doing that for a side business? You're very talented, Adam.

Doing it for a business March 21st, 2005 10:31 PM My problem with old tool restoration is that each tool has a different feel and owner history.

By the time I'm done restoring a tool, it's my baby.

This new PMT job is helping me to let go of "my" old tools. [Especially since I don't own them.]

But, even the mass-produced ratchets have a lot of individual character.

The same model number ratchet could have a lever to pawl mechanism with a verticle or a horizontal connecting pin or a D-shaped hole in the lever. It all depends on the foundry/design (V, VA, VF, VV).

When the ratchets are rebuilt one style of connecting mechanism is used. But, I know there are three possible.

The forged blanks differ also. The first in the series (V) almost always has the Patent pending info on the handle. After that all the rest have the identical (except for the V. designations) markings.

If you look at the 1/4 inch drive ratchets, some have slim graceful heads and others have the standard shaped meaty heavy heads.

I know this minutia is probably not healthy.

But, here I am.

This job is helping me alot. I've already built and let go of over 240 ratchets.

The Sears mall store I work at is currently number one in rebuilt ratchet exchanges. I tell the tool sales people to "Just let the customers try out one of the rebuilt's movements.".

They sell themselves every time.

I seldom get lonely for them. With each lost old friend there is a new challenge and opportunity to salvage a genuine Craftsman new - old ratchet.

Reuse, Restore, Recycle March 22nd, 2005 08:52 AM Very nice way to put it! Yes, you are giving a piece of history a new life!

Much in the same way I take something from the curb and make it new again! It's a great feeling.

What a way to recycle!

Transitional Jack Plane April 1st, 2005 11:32 PM I just came back from a "working" vacation.

During one of the breaks I had a chance to visit some of the local antique stores.

I was walking down an isle when I noticed a rectangular shaped piece of wood peaking out from a crowded shelf.

Transitional plane profiles are very unique and sure enough I found one! This one was around 14 inches long. A Jack Plane in very good condition. This size was used most often by woodworking craftsmen and normally should have had a wooden sole that was very well worn.

But, it looked brand new. I saw a $24 price tag with a "Block plane" description and almost jumped for joy. The seller didn't know what they had.

Until I pulled the plane off of the shelf and found a competing $125 price tag that described the plane down to its Stanley Transitional #26 Plane designation and referenced its excellent "collector's" quality condition. They new exactly what they had and followed the antique tool guide to value to within a dollar.

Oh well... Too rich for my budget. And, a collector will eventually find it and give it an excellent home. It is in no danger of dissapearing. And, once on that shelf, there can be no abuse or wear.

Oh, well...

I'll find a more worn example that needs some TLC in the future (that I can afford).

Recycling April 4th, 2005 01:19 AM I think it's fantastic you're able to find curbside finds Joe.

Here in San Jose the city takes an incredibly dim view of curb side "collections" of stuff.

They prefer you renting a container or visiting the city dump.

Unlike the curbside where as you know there is room for bargaining, once the stuff hits the ground in the dump it's gone.

I was unloading some organic waste material once when I spotted one of the original model DeWalt Radial Arm Saws. It was taken apart and lay embedded in the mud much like the dinosaur bones you might see in a museum.

I couldn't touch it. The dump employees were there. My wife was riding shot gun and would be very quick to point out that I already have a Craftsman Radial Arm Saw.

After twenty-four years of me, she's picked up a lot of terminology and seems to have a running inventory of what tools I own.

Mind you, with my short term memory, I DON'T FULLY know what I have.

Cleaning house can be a special treat for someone with a poor memory.

I'll open a box and find six drawknives.

I'll think; "Cool! I've got extra drawknives." - still needing those replacement handles.

Recycling sometimes starts at home.

Curbside Store April 4th, 2005 12:22 PM I can't tell you how much I've saved from the curb over the years. A lot of Sears Craftsman!

I remember being out for a walk one night and spotting a 6 drawer '68 Sears top toolchest. It was 9:00 at night and dark. But I'd recognize those handles anywhere. I sprinted back to my house (about a half a mile away) and grabbed the keys to my '84 Olds Delta 88.

I drove up slow, turned off the headlights and popped the electric trunk. Into the cavernous trunk the box went.

A couple of days later it appeared on my website all painted up and in use in my garage---where it stands today.

I recently MISSED what I thought was a late 70's Craftsman snowblower. I said, "Lemme grab it on the way back". Dang, the garbage truck got it!!!

Mind you, I already have three blowers :).

Recycling, Collectibles and Buy New April 6th, 2005 02:32 AM One thing I'll never understand is the same society that says throw away and buy new has a large percentage of people saying "The old stuff was better".

Then why not treat your stuff better?

Today's new stuff is going to be tommorrow's old stuff, which was better.

The ratchets coming back to me are either filthy to the point of the mechanisms jamming or have been HAMMERED on hard enough to sheer socket square drives or cause pawls to literally disintegrate from the repeated impact blows.

I can't begin to describe what I think of people who have used their ratchets as hammers [TOS]. THOSE are the people who don't know what a ball pein hammer is.

When asked about the purchase of a product Protection Agreement (with yearly preventative maintenance checks on the shop tools) the negative response is often "I'll just buy a new one".

But, by saying the old ones are better than todays, the new one you buy later will not be as good!

This is a puzzling paradox of values.

I'm glad there are still people like Joe that keep our valuable old stuff going.

I think the old stuff was designed to be more maintainable than our new stuff, simply because of owner apathy.

Why include a fifteen year rated component when statistics show today's owner routinely tosses stuff before seven years is up?

Very few purchasers are going to value the difference.

But, all of the purchasers will notice a price difference with the competitors' products if the longer longevity components are used.

Perhaps the Craftsman Professional brandname will help us all out of this dilema.