# Bailey #5 refresh



## preacherman (Nov 29, 2011)

As I have said earlier in other threads I am just getting into hand planes. Upon reading old threads and gaining suggestions from that, I picked up this #5 to complement my block plane I received for a holiday gift. As you can tell it was not in bad shape. Original japanning at least 95%. There was no real rust or corrosion. The only real problem was the junk on the handles, it looked to be caulk or something like that. I began disassembling and cleaning this up and it cleaned up quiet nicely. Keep in mind this is the first time I had ever attempted such a project and this is not purposed to be a complete restore. I just want this unit in working order. Since we all like pics I took a few along the way. Sorry, I do not have everything pictured I did, I got in hurry and forgot to take some. Also these are poor quality from my phone, but here we go: 
The plane as I received it: 







A picture of the junk on the handles. Both the front and rear handles had this on them. 







Iron removed to inspect frog:







Body of the plane completely dissembled:


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## preacherman (Nov 29, 2011)

*continued...*

Okay, once totally disassembled, it was time for evaporust bath for metal parts; sorry no pic. Also while metal was soaking I chucked the front knob on my lathe to sand it, again no picture. Just a tip, you may already know this but, a pen mandrel fits perfectly to hold the knob and allows you to sand completly, evenly and easily. Once that was done I hand sanded the rear tote clean. They can be seen in the third pic in this post, cleaned and prior to finish. Not certain what type of wood they are but there are no cracks, chips or damage.
Here I have begun the reassembly. Evaporust done wonders on the metal parts. Frog cleaned and reinstalled.















Sharpened the iron on my new grizzly slow speed sharpener, works nicely by the way. Iron, chip breaker and lever cap cleaned, polished and reinstalled. Also handles can be seen here cleaned up.







I finished the handles with oil finish let them sit overnight. Finally, have everything reassembled and making a few shavings:







I clearly have to learn alot about hand planes, but I can tell that this is going to be fun. I already smoothed up a peice of 18 inch cherry and glued it up. It can be seen in that last pic. Going to make a lathe tool handle out of it. I have a little adjusting and fine tuning to do for this #5 but it is in working order and I am pleased with it!


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

My best guess is that this is a typt 17 plane from about 1942, in good condition, or possibly a #16 from the 30s, as some of the clues are hard to see in the pics. Nice catch!


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## MasterSplinter (Jan 12, 2013)

Very nice!


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## preacherman (Nov 29, 2011)

Woodwart said:


> My best guess is that this is a typt 17 plane from about 1942, in good condition, or possibly a #16 from the 30s, as some of the clues are hard to see in the pics. Nice catch!


Thanks woodwart. I was curious how old this thing is. Would more pics help? Just let me know what you need to see and I'll post them.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

preacherman said:


> Thanks woodwart. I was curious how old this thing is. Would more pics help? Just let me know what you need to see and I'll post them.


Nice restore. It did not look to be in bad condition, but it looks a lot better now. :thumbsup:

The details depend on the age, so a bit of an iteration.

It is easier for you to go to a dating site and then answer the questions while the plane is in front of you.

This is one site.

http://hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/


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## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

I have a list of dating sites, http://lumberjocks.com/donwilwol/blog/24092
Sometimes it takes more than one site, and sometimes they contradict each other. I find the mega chart to be most complete.

Either way, its a nice user. Its the shavings that count!!


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## preacherman (Nov 29, 2011)

After checking some of these charts it appears to be a type 16 from the '30s. That's impressive to me considering the shape when I received it. Thanks guys for helping me date this plane.


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## EricD (Jan 17, 2013)

If there's no patent date on the underside of the lever cap then the only way I have found to assure it's a #16 is to look at the plane body under the frog to see if it's a "Y" shape. If it has the "Y" shape yes it's a #19, if not then it's usually a #16.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Excellent! :thumbsup:


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## Joeb41 (Jun 23, 2012)

Excellent job! Keep the old iron working. :thumbsup:


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