# Stanley No. 34?



## Santa's Workshop (May 16, 2011)

My daughter found this in the basement of her house. It was left by the previous owner. What can you guys tell me about it?

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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

It's a wood bottom Stanley transitional jointer plane, one of the longest they made and a little rare in good condition. Your's has the lateral adjustment. Patrick's Blood and Gore is one of the best resources for info on old Stanley planes.

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan4.htm


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

It's a transitional jointer plane. Here is a link to Stanley planes that tells a little more about transitional planes in general and has a paragraph on the #34. It's evidently not as common as some of the other transitional planes that you see on auction sites. I don't have any idea to it's worth. 

If you are thinking of selling it, I'd leave it alone (other than removing loose dirt) and let the buyer clean/restore to their specification. 

You could do a complete restore on it yourself if you wanted to try using it, but flattening the sole could be a challenge as it is 30" long. 

If it were mine, I'd do a partial restore and remove rust from all the metal (Evapo Rust or electrolysis), clean (not refinish) the wood, put it all back together and put it on a shelf to admire.

Actually, that's not true - if it were mine, I wouldn't be able to resist doing a complete restore and trying to use it. Then I'd probably put it on a shelf to admire 
_
Edit: Hammer beat me to the punch on the link._


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

Here is mine. http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/my-new-34-stanley-bailey-transitional/

I don't use transitionals as a normal process, but they are a big part of plane history. Of my set, the #34 was the hardest to find. 

I'm with Tim though. I can never resist making these thing work as they once did.


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## Santa's Workshop (May 16, 2011)

How do I "clean" the wood body? The ones in the photos sure look lighter in color than mine. I'm resisting the urge to sand it to fresh wood on all sides except the front where the label is.

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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

I often use a card scraper. But you can sand it. On the sole you want the sand paper on something flat so the sole stays flat.


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## Snaglpuss (Nov 28, 2012)

Looked on the shelf and I 've got one too.
Mine must have had a fence screwed on it for a long time, because you can see the part of the sole where the fence sat on is not as worn as the rest of the sole. (see photo).

Maybe just try to clean the wood part on yours with a rag and some mineral spirits, NO SANDPAPER. 
If the rag doesn't get enough of the crud off, 
might try a fine Scotchbrite and some oil, but don't scrub too hard, you just want to loosen the crud but not sand off any of the patina.
When you get the crud off wipe all the oil off for a couple of days in a row you don't want to soak the thing in it.
I would try the mineral spirits and oil on the metal first and see what you can get off first before getting more aggressive with the other stuff.


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## Santa's Workshop (May 16, 2011)

I am going to give it a try. By oil, you mean mineral oil?

I am having trouble finding evaporust for the metal parts of this plane and another one I plan to work on--even at the old school hardware store in my area. Suggestions?


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## railaw (Nov 15, 2011)

Santa's Workshop said:


> I am going to give it a try. By oil, you mean mineral oil?
> 
> I am having trouble finding evaporust for the metal parts of this plane and another one I plan to work on--even at the old school hardware store in my area. Suggestions?


Harbor freight and amazon. Last time I checked amazon, two Half gallons were cheaper than the one gallon size. And the savings on amazon from the hf price are significant.


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

Try auto parts stores in your area. Many of them carry EvapoRust.


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## Snaglpuss (Nov 28, 2012)

You could try mineral oil on the wood or any light oil you've got in the shop.
You don't want to soak it. Try putting some on the rag or fine Scotchbrite and carefully try to clean a small spot and see what's going on before you slather the whole thing. The oil is not going to damage the Japaning on the metal parts, just start on a small part and get a feel for what your doing.


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

Many tractor supplys have evaporust.


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## Santa's Workshop (May 16, 2011)

Progress to date...

Cleaned up and looking much better. Now that I have learned a little, I'm sure the iron and chip breaker are "after market" and wrong. I am also suspicious that the tote is not right. The wood does not match the knob and doesn't really fit well.

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