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| I like it. |
I have a project coming up that has sliding dovetailed crossbattens in hard wood. I am a big fan of doing things like this with minimal tools (i.e. only a chisel), but I thought I would treat myself to a new old tool:
A router.
I about had a heart attack when I started looking for routers on eBay. The last time I looked, they were a dollar a dozen. Not anymore.
I had considered buying a new Veritas or Lie-Nielsen, but I already have one of those in Munich. (Just wait, I bet I'll have been back to Munich and had the opportunity to fetch it before I get to the project with the sliding dovetails.) Also, few retailers in Europe happen to have them at the moment. I bet I could sell my Lie-Nielsen here for a healthy profit, if I could get to it.
I was able to find a router on British eBay, and the seller was willing to ship it to Spain for a reasonable price. This one was more than I really wanted to pay, but because it was Record and not Stanley, I saved fifty bucks.
After a short wait, this arrived in the mail:
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| I was happy with it. It looks better than I expected. |
The plane was in remarkable shape. I would say 95% japaning is intact. 105% if you count the yellow paint. Some of the parts turned rough, and there was a small amount of surface rust that I wanted to get rid of.
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| Broken down. Time to clean it up. |
I decided to turn my attention to the knobs, first. My thought was this was the hardest part of the rehab. It turned out to only take an hour or so. I went through the grits with sandpaper, 120-240, then burgundy and gray 3M pads.
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| Wow! Not bad. |
I was worried as most of the "experts" on YouTube do this on their lathe, or with some other power tool. I was just careful, and sanded the least amount possible. I couldn't tell before, but now I see the wood is actually stained beech. There was only a few little spots where I sanded through the stain. I had considered staining them again, but decided since I have no stain, I'll just go with what's there.
I finished them with a dunk in my home-made BLO, and topped it off with my home-made beeswax and orange oil wax. What a nice finish. Nothing stinks.
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| Before and after brass knob bolts. |
I considered polishing up the brass screws, but decided in the end to only clean them up with a bit of liquid scouring goo and a toothbrush. This eliminated all the dirt, but left the patina.
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| In situ. |
This didn't take much time, so I next turned my attention to the metal bits. Since there was no heavy rust, I cleaned everything with the same scouring goo and a toothbrush. What needed it got a soft wire brush. I've always liked this way of rehabbing planes, as 1) it's easy, 2) it is not invasive - it leaves the plane in the condition it was found in, only clean, and 3) it's easy.
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| After. |
The hardest thing I did with this plane was sharpening the blade. That only took 20 minutes, and it's not perfect. However, it should service. The more I sharpen the blade, the better condition it will get over time.
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| 071, or o71? That is the question. |
This is a solid plane, and I expect it will work just fine. I like the depth stop on my Lie-Nielsen better, but I like that there is a front "foot" on this one. The LN probably adjusts in finer, more accurate increments, but I expect with a little fiddling, this one should work just as well.
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| I think it turned out nice. |
I look forward to getting to know this tool, and when I am eventually re-united with my Munich shop, I might sell one or the other.
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| I kept the yellow paint. It's part of this tool's history. |
Or, I might not.
