Stanley Bailey No 7 Restoration

Looks amazing! Can I send you some of my planes to do next??

very nice job.

looking good

Dennis

What a beautiful restoration.

Wow what a great transformation. Well worth the time and attention to detail I am sure you put into the restoration.

Nice restoration.
What finish did you use on plane after you sand blasted it. ?

Very nice, Looks great.

I'm right in the middle of restoring a Stanley No. 6 and I'm not too happy with the results. I used electrolysis to remove the rust (which worked great) but even though I oiled it up right away, I'm getting a thin film of rust on all the exposed parts already…What is parkerizing? Does that treat the steel in some way to prevent rust or what?

Also, how did you surface grind? Do you actually have a surface grinder or did you rig up something in your shop, like a belt sander or something?

Thats a beaut, I also have one thats in pieces, guess one of these days i should get back at it.

I have a Stanley No 6 Bailey that i used evaporust on. It is a pretty good plane but someday I hope to get a Hock iron and cap.

Awesome! I would love it to accompany my no. 6 that I restored. Take a look at it if you get the time

How did you parkerize the plane? I have only seen that process used for handguns, and did not think that the process was something a regular joe could do. Is it a complicated or costly process?

very nice restoration

Nice restore!

Is there a 'fix' for the knurled knob and blade actuator? Mine is kind of sloppy. I have to turn it 3 or 4 turns before it engages to retract or engage the blade, or is that the way planes work?

Seems like it should adjust better than that….

Ron, there are 2 differing schools of thought here concerning whether or not to attempt to tighten up the slack of your plane's "yoke" (the y shaped actuator). Some folks say they are too fragile and break too easily to try to tighten, and others do it all the time without incident.

Rick Peters wrote an article awhile back called Restoring a Handplane. In that article he mentions how to tighten up the slack of a sloppy yoke. He says to put it in a clamp or bench vise and carefully apply steady pressure. But be very careful because they are cast and will only bend so far before they break.

I've never tried to tighten any of mine just because I use them too much to risk being without one while I search the internet for a replacement yoke if one breaks…

Very nice plane, the parkerizing looks great on that.

I was wondering how you set the plane up to surface grind the sole? I took one of mine to work to try and figure it out but didnt get very far. Ended up using the sandpaper on flat surface method. Took forever and i quite before it was really done

Hello, and thank you all for the great replies. Just a little about myself so you know why I was able to accomplish this restoration (I will keep it short). I was a tool and die maker (thru apprenticeship) for four years. I then went to work for a weapon simulation company where I prototyped weapon simulators for 7 years. I took an engineering position with the same company about 4 years ago where I now design the weapon simulators and also live fire target systems for infantry fire and artillery fire. I love the design side of the position but hate the paperwork. Long story short, the place that I did my apprenticeship at is now closed but I have all of the equipment at my disposal.

I have thought about restoring old Bailey and Bedrock planes as a service but have no idea what to charge. Any recommendations will be appreciated!

I have however started making a some items available in the swap/trade section. I am in the process of making a back saw (dovetail and tenon) with a Damascus back strap and a stabilized/balanced handle. The saws should be available in June/July.

I will write up a how too for surface grinding a bailey/bedrock plane on my website/blog. I will post pictures when I come upon another plane to restore.

Parkerizing is a gun finish similar to gun blue but far less toxic. It is a method of protecting a steel surface from corrosion and increasing its resistance to wear through the application of an electrochemical phosphate conversion coating. There are many places on the web to acquire information on how to parkerize and there are a few places to purchase the necessary chemicals. I parkerize just about every thing I make out of steel. A lot of times I leave the bare parkerized finished (like the plane); other times I use it as a primer as I did in the case of my PM50 Jointer restoration (written about in my blog on LJ).

Again, thank you for all of the complements

Thomas Mitchell
www.tinkerordie.com

Nice website, i look forward to hearing how you did this. Will make my planes look a lot better.

I will be done with my machinist apprenticeship this summer, good to hear from another machinist/ engineer. I'm sure your a fantastic engineer, machine shop experience should be a requirement for engineering (would be a lot to ask though). All of ours don't have a clue, they come to me and say just make this work ok?