# Stanley No. 7 rescue/restoration



## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

Who wouldn't fall for this beauty? OK, she needs just a little help to get back to looking as good as she can. A little dusting off, a little wax and buff job.........:no:..........OK, she needs a ground up resto :yes:.




























The tote and knob are in great shape and everything is there parts wise. So why not?


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## wood_chucker (Oct 18, 2012)

I'd like to have a go with it been looking for a 7 or 8 for a while to fix up for a user.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

*The easy part.......and a bonus!*

OK got started on the easy stuff first and thought I'd put up a couple of pictures.










And the smalls:










And now for the bonus:










The iron turned out to be a Stanley "V" type iron, in use from 1912 through 1918. :smile: Progress will be made with the base but at a slower pace. One thing to remember with these old tools is that we might not be the first one to think about making it look good again. Somewhere in this planes life it was repainted and was done without stripping so it will have to be taken down to the bare metal and then painted. I am going with high gloss black epoxy. More progress pictures as it's made. Dave


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Very nice progress so far. :thumbsup:

Not in bad shape. I have restored planes with a lot more rust.

I have run across a previous bad paint job in my restorations. If I am going to re-paint I like to get to bare metal.

It does take time to clean off the old paint. I use stripper then scrape off what the stripper did not remove. Some areas can be very stubborn.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

Dave Paine said:


> Very nice progress so far. :thumbsup:
> 
> Not in bad shape. I have restored planes with a lot more rust.
> 
> ...


Hi Dave, They can be in amazingly bad shape and still be brought back to life and look good if you're willing to put in the time on them can't they. Some of these old Stanley planes are just too much $$$ to buy one in nice shape. Getting a "fix-er-upper from ebay or luckout at a garage sale or flea market may be the best opportunity for many. Plus, to me, it's very enjoyable.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

adot45 said:


> Plus, to me, it's very enjoyable.


I agree, I enjoy the work of the restoration and especially the feeling of giving a good, but old tool a second life. :thumbsup:


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## nbo10 (Jan 26, 2011)

Those are some shiny parts


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

nbo10 said:


> Those are some shiny parts


 
Yep, all the easy stuff first, today I start on the base which won't be too bad to get cleaned up, and then my least favorite part of all.....the tote & knob.


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## Ted Tolstad (Feb 20, 2011)

looking forward to seeing this completed...I was looking at an old #7 the other day at an antique store...it is missing the tote though so not sure but may go back and look and see if everything else is there....anyways I love these restore threads...


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

I've got the frog taped up and ready to paint, here is a "before paint" picture.










There are shadows and light highlights on the metal but there is no old paint. I also got the base ready, here is a picture before I got it taped up.










I'll get it taped up and painted this afternoon and can post more progress tomorrow. I'm going to try the gloss black epoxy paint on this one.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Very nice clean up on the base casting. :thumbsup:

Looking good. The cleanup and preparation for painting can take me a long time. The actual painting goes fast.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

Thanks Dave

I agree about the prep work.......but the more careful you are the better the results with the painting. I put a light coat on the frog and already I see that the epoxy type paint takes much longer to set up than the high gloss lacquer does. Oh well, since I started with it, I'll finish with it.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

Ted Tolstad said:


> looking forward to seeing this completed...I was looking at an old #7 the other day at an antique store...it is missing the tote though so not sure but may go back and look and see if everything else is there....anyways I love these restore threads...


Thanks Ted I know there are more guys out there that enjoy working on these old planes as much as I do too. One bit of advice I'd give is to try to find a plane that is complete and no broken parts. You can get totes and knobs and whatever else but that just adds to the cost and defeats the purpose. They can be in terrible shape but if it's complete, you're a step ahead in my book. Not to bang eBay's drum but they are loaded with just about any plane you could hope to find. Grab ya one and go for it! :thumbsup:


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## zymguy (Jul 10, 2013)

Could you share a bit more one how you cleaned it up?


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

Hi Zymguy this plane was cleaned up using several methods, starting with the least destructive which was EvapoRust. I soaked everything but the base. After a few hours I scrubbed all the stuff and then put it to a wire wheel to get the grey film off. The base was just too big to do that with, I would have needed another gallon or two to get enough depth in my container. A guy could make some sort of narrow and long container for stuff like 6, 7 and 8's though. Anyway, I just plunked it in an electrolysis bath and went to bed. Then what paint was loose came off and I wire brushed it and then used a chemical stripper on the japanning that was exposed. That took a few applications, and then soap and water scrub and more wire brushing. Toward the last I was using very small wire wheels in a Dremel tool. This got it all down to bare metal. If it wouldn't have I would have sandblasted it using play sand at as low a pressure as I could and be effective. Usually 65~70 psi will do the job.

Timetestedtools has a very good "how to" on restoring hand planes that's well worth a look.

Anyway that's the work part, next is painting the metal and then the worst job of it all and that's sanding the knob and tote. After you get those dolled up just put it back together. If it's going to be a user, sharpen and hone the blade before you set it back together. Hope this helps, Dave


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Next time you need to evaporust a #6 or larger and need a long shallow container, look at plastic drywallers mud trays or wallpaper glue trays.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

sawdustfactory said:


> Next time you need to evaporust a #6 or larger and need a long shallow container, look at plastic drywallers mud trays or wallpaper glue trays.


 
Excellent suggestions, Thanks


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

I'm not sure how I've missed this thread so far. Excellent work. Looking forward to the shavings. I love the type 11's!


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

The base and frog are painted and here is the frog and a close up of the frog mount on the base.



















Hi Don, I was hoping you'd notice this.....very close to trying to make shavings. The iron was way out of whack and I'm working on it in sessions. I'm still trying to get it back to 25* , I work on it till my fingers and arms get sore then do something else. I'm using that Stanley kit. The stone is way too hard and smooth for this preliminary grind. I'm using the HF set of 3 diamond hones.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Looking very good. :thumbsup:

I feel your pain with getting the blade back to a decent bevel. Most of my restorations have very bad edges from previous user.

I prefer to use hand sharpening rather than belt sander or grinder. Too easy to take off too much with the power tools.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

Dave Paine said"

"I prefer to use hand sharpening rather than belt sander or grinder. Too easy to take off too much with the power tools."[/QUOTE]

Thanks Dave. 

Right on Dave.....I feel doing the blade by hand keeps within the spirit of things. Here is what I ended up with:


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## jjboozel (Mar 11, 2013)

adot45 said:


> Dave Paine said" "I prefer to use hand sharpening rather than belt sander or grinder. Too easy to take off too much with the power tools."


 Thanks Dave. Right on Dave.....I feel doing the blade by hand keeps within the spirit of things. Here is what I ended up with: [/QUOTE]

WOW!!! That is nice!!!!!!


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

adot45 said:


> Dave Paine said"
> 
> "I prefer to use hand sharpening rather than belt sander or grinder. Too easy to take off too much with the power tools."


Thanks Dave. 

Right on Dave.....I feel doing the blade by hand keeps within the spirit of things. Here is what I ended up with:

[/QUOTE]

Terrific restoration. Now a real beauty. :thumbsup:

This will be a pleasure to use.

Now if you ever want to pretty this up further with a new knob and tote, I will be happy to turn a walnut knob for you.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

[/QUOTE]

Terrific restoration. Now a real beauty. :thumbsup:

This will be a pleasure to use.

Now if you ever want to pretty this up further with a new knob and tote, I will be happy to turn a walnut knob for you.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Dave, I appreciate that. I'm not calling my knob and tote done just yet but as I've mentioned before I just don't like working on them. No doubt about this plane deserving a new knob and tote, especially out of walnut, (yum) but I'll have at the ones on there in a while. They are in pretty good shape actually, I just have to force myself to do something with them. I have patterns for knobs and totes, it's more a question of getting nice 4/4 lumber. When I think of walnut I think of that guy's Marsh planes display. Astounding really.


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

I'd sand and wax the original rosewood. They look in good shape and should clean up close to perfect.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

timetestedtools said:


> I'd sand and wax the original rosewood. They look in good shape and should clean up close to perfect.


 
They are and I'd use your tip for the knob but the tote drives me nuts. Seems like no matter what I do I end up with cross grain scratches etc. and it's maddening.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

timetestedtools said:


> I'm not sure how I've missed this thread so far. Excellent work. Looking forward to the shavings. I love the type 11's!


Here you go Don, even with the sub-standard sharpening job I put on I was still able to curl up some shavings. Those ole boys that used these sure have my respect!










Thanks to all who read this thread and especially the ones that commented, I really appreciated knowing there were others interested. :thumbsup:
Dave


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

excellent


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

adot45 said:


> Here you go Don, even with the sub-standard sharpening job I put on I was still able to curl up some shavings. Those ole boys that used these sure have my respect!


Shavings looking good. :thumbsup:

I feel the same respect for the old boys. I often wonder about how many pounds of metal the old boys had to take to the work site and back each day.

Even if the planes were used in a shop environment, a No. 7 or No. 8 is a lot of metal to be pushing hour after hour.

You mentioned about the tote being difficult to sand. I agree.

The best method I had found is a sand mop in the drill press.

Strips of abrasive paper arranged in a disc. Gets into the difficult shapes. I need to get a replacement pack for my mop.

http://www.woodworkingshop.com/search.aspx?q=sanding+mop


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

Hi Dave Thanks. Yep, a lot of metal to pack around for sure. And from what I've read about the basics, they would have had a 4, 5, and a 7 for the standard "kit".....whew. Hmmm, a sanding mop is something I hadn't thought of and I like the sound of it, Thanks!
Check this out:










This is white oak, beech, and poplar in varying widths, lengths, and thickness......the only constant? All free! :yes:


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

adot45 said:


> Check this out:
> 
> This is white oak, beech, and poplar in varying widths, lengths, and thickness......the only constant? All free! :yes:


That is a very nice score, especially for the price.

I love turning beech. The grain is so fine and consistent, turns like butter. :yes:


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

Dave Paine said:


> Shavings looking good. :thumbsup:
> 
> 
> The best method I had found is a sand mop in the drill press.
> ...


I've been going to try thee, but till going at it by hand. Does it make a big difference Dave?


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

timetestedtools said:


> I've been going to try thee, but till going at it by hand. Does it make a big difference Dave?


I find the sand mops faster than hand sanding. They do not create scratches which are easily seen, since do many layers abrading the surface.

These are not magic and may require hand sanding before, or after, but they do save me a lot of time to get a tote or knob prepared for re-finishing.


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## nbo10 (Jan 26, 2011)

Looks like the girl still has a lot of life in her. It's a excellent restore.

Dave, thanks for the tip on using a sanding mop. I'm about to start cleaning up a few saw handles, totes, and knobs. The first saw handle was a PIA to sand.


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## adot45 (Jul 8, 2013)

nbo10 said:


> Looks like the girl still has a lot of life in her. It's a excellent restore.
> 
> Thank You nbo. It was fun for me, I was out picking my next one to do this morning.
> 
> Hey Dave, those sanding mops....I see a lot are available in 240 grit, that work?


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