Some of my family and friends know that I collect Stanley or Bailey planes. The better planes made by Stanley were made after 1890 and before WW2 which makes those planes in the neighborhood of 70 to 120 years old. Due to high price of the best planes being made today, many wood workers choose to use those older planes in their shops. Obviously, 100 year old planes come with defects.
Curt Regehr's No. 7
Some damage results from normal usage, and some from abuse. Often the wood parts sustained a break or abuse, but the worst enemy of all is rust which causes deep pitting. An older plane needs a tune up however, no matter what the condition of the plane when it becomes yours. I have several that I like to use repeatedly, including one that belonged to Judy’s father, Curt Regehr. Each of them needed a sharpened blade and some cleaning. Any reading on the subject convinces you that a plane cannot perform well without flattening the sole.
Shaving from Bedrock
My favorite plane is a #5 Stanley Bedrock. These are considered to be better than the typical Stanley because of a better support for the blade, which is known as the frog. I don’t think anyone really knows where the moniker came from, so join the speculation about that term. Another plane I use a lot is a small block plane with an adjustable mouth. Recently, I spent some time working the soles of these two planes, Judy’s Dad’s plane, and two others sitting on my shelf. The test of a well tuned plane appears to be the ability to cut a whisper thin shaving of wood. After working with the Bedrock, I succeeded in getting a nice shaving. You can see from the photo that the shaving is very thin, and the red of the vise jaw shows through the wood.
Tuned Bottom of the No. 7
The plane that formerly belonged to Judy’s Dad is a very large plane. I used it several weeks back to work the top of a desk that I glued up, but I could see that it needed tuning so I stopped. Flattening a metal plane involves a lot of elbow grease. Curt’s old plane was already fairly flat, but a lot a rough, low spot existed right in front of the throat. To get a nice shaving, it must be flat and clean right in that area. I worked the plane over a couple of days, taking breaks to rest between the efforts of sanding it down. To get it perfect would require more effort yet, but a plane this size is not intended for final finish work, so I only needed to get close to smooth.
Shaving from the No. 7
The final result shows that I got a pretty good shaving with Curt’s plane. I replaced the blade a few weeks ago, since the original had been sharpened about as far as you could go. The combination of a nice sharp blade, and a flattened sole produced a shaving that was about as good as my smaller favorite plane. I look forward to getting back to that desk top and finishing it with these tuned up planes.
