Hey Rex, love the channel and the enthusiasm. Engineer here: Acid-based rust removal can lead to hydrogen embrittlement in hardened, high-carbon steel, and might have some implications for the hardened lamination and its bond to the blade's base metal. (It also might not affect it at all, but it's a risk.) So the wire wheel: good call.
I am a beginner to woodwork, the main test I have with this bundle th-cam.com/users/postUgkxTNB_zFBSnTo_O1PqfVUwgi7ityw0JlKt is that I think that its hard to settle on a choice of the plan and outline to use as there are a large portion of them there. Nonetheless, I like the simple stride to step directions laid out there.
I’m in the UK. Most of the irons in my old planes have chip breakers attached with a screw through a tapped brass fixing on the breaker. You mention a composite blade, tougher at the blade end. Many English blades in the late 19th and early 20th century (as do mine) have the maker’s mark stamped on the blade in the form of an inverted ‘U’. This symbolises that the blade is open hearth furnace steel and the whole of the blade (as far as wear and tear will allow) is good enough to be reground and sharpened. 👍🇬🇧👍🇺🇸👍
Many old hand planes here in Europe don't have the chipbreaker attached to the iron with a screw, the only thing holding them together is the wedge. There is a screw, but it runs along the length of the iron and it is used to adjust the distance of the chipbreaker to the cutting edge.
Time vs Money vs Interest in the project. Truthfully I have become fascinated with hand tools in general. So many came into existence before me and will be around long after I am gone. … 🤔 simply amazing. Yet there is this other part of me that wants to make things out of wood that are not intended for the shop. Picture frames, stools, ornamental boxes… Thanks for sharing this restoration! So many ways to enjoy this craft
Scored a couple planes at the local flea market last Sunday and I’m in the process of getting them up and running, partially because I love giving new life to old tools, and partially because I want to learn wood working. One was a handyman number 4 (no idea why they’re so hated compared to Stanley) and a older than dirt wooden try plane, just got everything derusted and now I need to do the flattening/lapping/sharpening and we’ll see what happens
I just want to add that if you don't have room for a huge grinder like what Rex has, you can use a Dremel with a wire wheel attachment! It will take more time, but surprisingly, it works really well. Love these plane videos Rex!
Brilliant video Rex! I bought a wooden try plane a few months ago because it looked almost unused. I've been pulling my hair out messing with the mating end of the chip breaker and the back of the cutting iron. I never thought to look at the other end. After viewing your video I did the corner test and sure enough that's where I need to get to work. Thanks!
Lots of great stuff in this video! Love that you had to grind the iron back to get rid of pitting. I rarely see that actually done, only mentioned in other videos. I go through a lot of 3 and 1 oil out here as well. Sometimes I have found that doesn't work, so I invested $12.00 in an Impact Screwdriver Kit from Harbor Freight. I've needed to use it seven or eight times on old frog screws, and chipbreaker screws. It has always worked properly and never stripped anything. Huge help when trying to get past the rusted screws. As always, I am very appreciative of the content you put out there and am a weekly consumer of your videos. Thanks!
My mom bought an almost identical plane in The Netherlands decades ago. It has the thickest iron and chip breaker that I have ever seen. When I inherit it very little will need to be done to fine tune it. The irons and wedge are almost perfect, the body only has some dote holes here and there. Fun project you just did. After watching your videos I have been able to asses wood planes before buying them. No telling how much money and frustration you have saved me!
Great video yet again! Very happy to see the ad for your products being integrated onto the video rather than being the video. Hope sales are brisk! I watched Mr. Wrights video building your router plane, really cool to see you all collaborating!
Rex, another great video with some really helpful tips and tricks on rebuilding an old plane. Always appreciate you sharing your extensive knowledge on woodworking. Thank you!
Spring is coming and I'm just in the process of getting my salvaged planes to working condition. I have found ancient handplanes at my wife's grandparents farm and I want the tools to be ready when the weather stabilises and I can work outside. So this video couldn't come at a better time.
speaking of weather stabilising, make sure the climate the plane lived in is similar. I brought in an old wood plane and the wood began to dry and cracks began appearing, applying linseed oil stopped further stressing and it works great.
Well now I know for sure the old gussstahl german scrub plane I've been sitting on and wondering about is well and truly dead. There is almost no tool steel left on the blade. I had a feeling it wasn't able to be resharpened anymore, but it was dirt cheap, and looks nice in my office.
Hmmmm. I recall a place called Dusty Rose. I think. And he makes plane irons and even the angled ones I think. Rex knows it infinitely far better than I. 🙏🔥⚒️🧙🏼♂️
Great video. I'm lazy when I clean up these badly rusted planes I use 8 second bursts on the belt sander to flatten then cool them in water. Takes a lot less time than hand sanding which I tired of quite quickly.
Hey Rex, greetings from Germany. This Video was very usefull to me. My uncle gave me a plane like the Plane showed in the video which belonged time ago to my Grandfather. Specially the treatment of the Chipbreaker was a eye-opener for me. Thanks for showing. Grettings Matthias
I found an awesome deal on a Stanley wooden jack plane that was made in the 1800s. It is maybe 90 percent like new condition. The iron and metal parts are in amazing condition. I only paid around $60 on ebay for it. That isn't something that will probably ever happen again haha. Most old wooden planes are beyond repair. Loved this video.
The floating head caught me by surprise at the 11-minute mark, I wasn't expecting Rex to appear there LOL! I've got a few Plane Irons that are pitted, I'll need to remember the trick to grind past the pitting.
I have a Stanley #45 and I don't understand how to sharpen the beading and fluting blades without changing the profile. I would love some help with this.
After years of using multiple stones, jigs, and sand paper I have narrowed it down to just 2 diamond plate 600 and 1200 then I strop. I have no troubles at all with the plane irons. I think because we have all these thing’s available to us we use them but we don’t stop to think about what is it that we really need. Make it simple and you will use it make it complicated and you won’t use it or use it very often.
@@1pcfred I do that with my hunting knives and broadheads. Sharp is sharp and I actually think the finer you get that edge the less durable it is so you end up sharpening way to often.
@@kentonward97 sharpening is a simple concept and also a dense topic. What's going on isn't always so apparent. The edge itself is microscopic so you can't really see it. Not being able to perceive it with the naked eye people get lots of crazy ideas about what's really going on. The molecular structure of the steel itself plays an important role in everything. The cemented carbides in it etc. Snow is snow unless you're an Eskimo. Then they have 50 names for the stuff. They know snow.
I performed nearly an identical restoration to give myself a decent jointer plane, well worth the time especially considering I only paid $10 for it. Great vid as always Rex.
When an iron's leading edge is so short there's a real risk it may have worn past the laminated section containing higher quality steel. A quick check after initial clean up on al ox paper simply involves heating the iron with boiling water and applying a quick wash of citric acid (lemon juice or "matured" coca cola) to highlight the presence of the lamination. The resulting reaction doesn't harm the iron and is virtually immediate, highlighting any remaining lamination by typically darkening the hard steel (Leaving the softer steel a pale grey) and allows the user to judge whether to continue with the restoration. The same method can be used on chisels and older knives and I hope this helps.
If you don't want to spend the rest of your life scrubbing away trying to flatten a pitted plane iron, try 36-grit ceramic sanding belts cut in two. (Make sure you snip off the tape where the two ends of the belt were joined or it will create a high spot.) I like the Shopsmith ones; they take forever to get dull, and even when dull they'll still make progress against vintage tool steel (just more slowly).
I ran into an odd issue restoring the iron in a block plane. I thought this may be a good a place to post my solution. I don't know that the iron is original. I don't know how, but the side edges of this iron were very uneven, like this was rough cut to fit the plane??? Anyway, there was also a piece of paper wedged under one side of the blade, and the irons cutting edge was not ground square; how could it be? I could not mark an accurate 90 degree line across the blade, for resharpening, till I ground one of the irons edges flat. Then I marked a line and sharpened the blade. There was no need for the little bit of paper. I didn't bother flattening the irons other side edge. It took a lot of grinding to do the one, and it would be more work getting the second edge parallel. For a cheap block plane, it works great now. Your tips Rex, made all my planes better.
Thanks for the great information. I personally love those little general too stainless rules with the inch fraction to decimal conversion on the back it's probably my most used ruler.
I like your stuff and glad you are keeping these old traditions alive. I am a professional furniture maker and I have a massive collection of old planes. BUT when sharpening after grinding your 25 degree angle there's no need for more than a couple of strokes at 30 degrees. Only the very tip of the blade needs to be sharpened. You were over working it and didn't demonstrate flatting off the burr after sharpening.
Yep. I do ~ 50 stokes at 25deg, and 6 at 30deg. 2 square, 2 favouring one side, and 2 favouring the other side. Plus, debur the back with the steel rile trick from Rob Crossman vids.
Rex, love your videos and am happy to join you on Patreon------your well worth it. Your content is inspirational and encouraging. Looking forward to looking at your project list and see what I can build. Keep up the good work, and thanks for doing this.
I got a large plain with a broken handle a few years ago. Sharpened the blade and the chipbreaker and it works great. The body have a split in it but it's straight. If you are interested i can send you photos. It's a german probably german/estonian.
Rex, you know 1,000,000 times more about tools than I do but disagree on rust removal. Wire wheel just takes the surface off. Cleaner followed by Rust911 is wet like you say, but followed by steel wool, elbow grease and wd(water displacement)40 get me fully clean and fully rust free. Thanks for everything else. Tapping the chip breaker is a great tip.
If only all restoration TH-cam videos had such intellectual narration like this instead of that silent ASMR bs. Are those restoration guys too shy to talk to the camera?
What about the old woodies that don't make it? They could be source material for small projects, like jewelry boxes and shelves, with some real history behind them. That might be a good project for a video, don't you think?
Rex, with these irons you dont need to twist the chipbreaker when installing it. They have the hole for the screw at the "right" end unlike the ones for iron planes
pro tip 50/50 mix of acetone and transmission fluid = extra powerfull penetrating oil for anything rusted for removing rust fast and super clean surface...use norton blaze rapid strip/blend use Cubitron II sandpaper / discs overall anything you use for sanding / cutting especially for belt sander , grind literally 3x faster than standard sandpapers , colder , last 10x longer (in my case , if you push it hard you get probably less lifespan but still few x more than any "standard" sandpaper)
Oh yes. The acetone carries the transmission fluid oil in further than normal penetrating oils and then evaporates leaving the oil in place. When really stuck alternate heating and cooling with a chef type browning gun (not hot enough to affect the steel) plus using the right size turnscrew by alternate tightening and loosening will eventually break the screw free.
@@1pcfred yes You can get anything possible for angle grinder from cubitron and even more than you know (like diamond pattern discs , rollock style for big angle grinders etc You can even get discs for bench grinder Hand sanding paper Discs for orbital sander are awesome But for rust , sharp cormers etc norton blaze is the best Around 70% efficiency of cubitron But 10x stronger and elastic glue that wont fail when pushed to the limit (where cubitron like to get destroyed instantly) For wood there is also permagrit Literally buy once last lifetime Dremel have few blades from carbide And you can get carbide discs for different aplication for wood etc (orbital sander disc, angle grinder shaping discs etc) they last lifetime in wood indestructible ( i use carbide tools for 8 years and they still like brand new working with composites -glass /carbon / kevlar fiber etc)
@@1pcfred only BLAZE line , standard norton is great when you destroy blade faster by pushing it to hard , in corners on edges that will rip apart the blade etc...then i go only with norton Blaze on the other hand is the best when you need to rly rly push , it's like cubitron but that wont get damaged if you literally lay down on tool while grinding only 4mm thick nail etc
I have a plane with a Butcher iron in it. By the mark it's no later than 1836. That plane is museum quality. It's hard to believe it's as old as it is.
i now have bought 4 planes for really cheap. i needed to flatten the bottom on the wooden plane and it was good to go. Of the 3 metal planes, 1 i swear was in a bucket of water as some point... i let it hang out in a bucket of that Safe rust converter, then i had to do a lot of work on it if i wanted a half decent plane, its got a good frog at least, i called it a write off.
Hey man, love all your videos. Just one tip if you youtube is your main focus maybe you could invest in a good mic, the audio could be improved. all the best
Maybe you could invest in a good sound system? Rex sounds fine here to me. If you're on a smart phone or using ear buds you might need to step up some yourself.
Hey Rex if I wanted to take the sharpening class. Would it be beneficial to have some sharpening stones or anything ahead of time and will the vid be available to go back to
Hi Rex, great video. How does someone from the UK get to participate in the sharpening course, when it starts at 1am UK time. Will there be a recording available? Cheers
Such a cool restoration Rex! Most of the tips here can be used on new (inexpensive) replicas of good quality planes. I used your old videos as reference for mine every time :) Do you think you'll be selling the course in a recording format as well? I want to participate but here it will start at 4AM... in a work day (well... night). I would probably be wise to sleep then.
Apparently when I put away my flatpack firepit last season I failed to get some water off it, so guess I'm gonna be taking some sandpaper to those panels real soon.
Rex, i found some planes at an estate sale. One i cannot identify. Is there an email i can send pictures to for helpin identification. The one in question is small enough for one hand and the front of the shoe is adjustable forward and back.
If you get something really rusted where 3 in one oil doesn’t work, mechanics use PB Blaster or Kroil Penetrating oil that is even better. In a pinch you can just grab any lube oil in the garage like 10W40 if you don’t have 3 in 1 oil
@@1pcfred try PB Blaster if you have seized rusted parts. It’s better. But absolutely nothing against 3 in 1. I am just saying if you don’t have 3 in 1, far better to spray motor oil on your bike chain than ride it dry.
@@jrowe9301 PB Blaster was better years ago before they reformulated it. There was a time when the fumes from PB would really bring a tear to your eye. Make you gasp for air too. Only stuff that's toxic is ever effective. It's one of the basic laws of the Universe.
There is one point here that I think needs some minor correction. Flattening and polishing the back of the blade has more than one function. The chief is that you really never need to address it when sharpening the blade except to remove the wire edge, once it has been flattened and polished. You do the same with chisels, and a plane blade is essentially a glorified chisel. On a chisel the polished back also reduces friction between the blade and the cut surface when paring. Remember that the bevel is always polished. When you employ a bevel-down plane, the back of the blade _never_ comes into contact with the shaving. So that polish, except at the very cutting edge apparently contributes nothing to the plane's function. So, why polish it, really? In fact, the polish surface also helps establish a flat surface for the chip breaker's edge to register against, and the shaving rides on that chip break surface when it is removed. So, I polish the chip breaker surface where it rises above the blade's back. It doesn't take a lot. Just as fitting the chip breaker edge exactly to the back of the blade prevents chips from jamming between the two, the polished surface of the chip breaker helps that chip pass along surface of the breaker with minimal friction. It might be subjective, but I find/feel it does incrementally improve and prolong the spans between sharpenings.
Has anybody else tried hot bluing plane blades? When I do it, only the front part (hardened or laminated) picks up a deep black finish, the rest stays grey. The recipe I found uses 1 litre of distilled water, 650g of caustic soda and 325g of potassium nitrate. Does anybody know a recipe or procedure that covers the entire blade in deep black?
Different steels react differently to bluing. Hi carbon turns blue/ black. Hi nickel is brighter. Low carbon is dull grey. Laminated blades will not look the same.
Nice video, thanks. But what happened to your sound? I have not watched your videos for a while and since then it's deteriorated terribly. The high frequencies seem muffled and distorted. Are you doing any processing, perhaps there's an eq you're using? Your old videos have much better sound.
I have to disagree about using acids to clear off rust. Acetic(vinegar), citric or best of all oxalic acid will chelate all the rust off the metal right down into the pits. Then it can be scrubbed and flushed with water and dried. The mechanical method leaves rust in the roots of the pits. The result looks more pitted than when mechanically cleaned but that is because the rust is gone. Mechanical cleaning will burnish the metal back down into the root of the pits. Overall though, thank you for the deep look into renovating old plane irons.
IF I ever run into the problem of the edge being pitted, I'd probably grind it back and instead of grinding a bevel on I'd probably forge it back out. I
Hey, Rex do you have a discord or some other way to communicate? With your community there’s a bunch of things I could use some advice on. I don’t know where to ask.
Rex - love your videos, and have learned a lot. But please, do not encourage anyone to destroy an old wooden plane, even if you're kidding. I know there were thousands made, but that was a relatively brief moment in time. If anyone deems a plane unworthy, then sell or give it away, or just put on a shelf in the garage. It breaks my heart watching that video of some sort of ceremony in New England where they've put a wooden plane into a campfire. There ought to be a law against that.
@@sedge5940 does it matter if it is 150 years old? Back then they didn't expect their stuff to last so long. What we have now are anomalies. The odd bits that did survive far longer than they should have.
![เปิดคำทำนาย นอสตราดามุส - บาบา วานก้า ปี 2025 คนทั่วโลกต้องเจออะไรบ้าง? | แฉ 11 ธ.ค. 67 [2/3] |GMM25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xmTIKWJUMPM/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey Rex, love the channel and the enthusiasm. Engineer here: Acid-based rust removal can lead to hydrogen embrittlement in hardened, high-carbon steel, and might have some implications for the hardened lamination and its bond to the blade's base metal. (It also might not affect it at all, but it's a risk.) So the wire wheel: good call.
I prefer a wire wheel, brush or cup brush too. There's no really need for those chemicals.
Steam it
What about electrolysis rust removal? Would that also risk embrittlement?
Like acid this method also out gasses hydrgen
Serendipitous video! My mom found my grandfather's planes he used when making garvey boats and sneak box duck boats. Some were his father's.
The sound of planing tells a lot about the shaving before you even look at it. I like that.
I am a beginner to woodwork, the main test I have with this bundle th-cam.com/users/postUgkxTNB_zFBSnTo_O1PqfVUwgi7ityw0JlKt is that I think that its hard to settle on a choice of the plan and outline to use as there are a large portion of them there. Nonetheless, I like the simple stride to step directions laid out there.
I’m in the UK.
Most of the irons in my old planes have chip breakers attached with a screw through a tapped brass fixing on the breaker.
You mention a composite blade, tougher at the blade end. Many English blades in the late 19th and early 20th century (as do mine) have the maker’s mark stamped on the blade in the form of an inverted ‘U’. This symbolises that the blade is open hearth furnace steel and the whole of the blade (as far as wear and tear will allow) is good enough to be reground and sharpened.
👍🇬🇧👍🇺🇸👍
Many old hand planes here in Europe don't have the chipbreaker attached to the iron with a screw, the only thing holding them together is the wedge.
There is a screw, but it runs along the length of the iron and it is used to adjust the distance of the chipbreaker to the cutting edge.
Time vs Money vs Interest in the project. Truthfully I have become fascinated with hand tools in general. So many came into existence before me and will be around long after I am gone. … 🤔 simply amazing. Yet there is this other part of me that wants to make things out of wood that are not intended for the shop. Picture frames, stools, ornamental boxes… Thanks for sharing this restoration! So many ways to enjoy this craft
Scored a couple planes at the local flea market last Sunday and I’m in the process of getting them up and running, partially because I love giving new life to old tools, and partially because I want to learn wood working. One was a handyman number 4 (no idea why they’re so hated compared to Stanley) and a older than dirt wooden try plane, just got everything derusted and now I need to do the flattening/lapping/sharpening and we’ll see what happens
I just want to add that if you don't have room for a huge grinder like what Rex has, you can use a Dremel with a wire wheel attachment! It will take more time, but surprisingly, it works really well. Love these plane videos Rex!
Brilliant video Rex! I bought a wooden try plane a few months ago because it looked almost unused. I've been pulling my hair out messing with the mating end of the chip breaker and the back of the cutting iron. I never thought to look at the other end. After viewing your video I did the corner test and sure enough that's where I need to get to work. Thanks!
Lots of great stuff in this video! Love that you had to grind the iron back to get rid of pitting. I rarely see that actually done, only mentioned in other videos. I go through a lot of 3 and 1 oil out here as well. Sometimes I have found that doesn't work, so I invested $12.00 in an Impact Screwdriver Kit from Harbor Freight. I've needed to use it seven or eight times on old frog screws, and chipbreaker screws. It has always worked properly and never stripped anything. Huge help when trying to get past the rusted screws. As always, I am very appreciative of the content you put out there and am a weekly consumer of your videos. Thanks!
I've had good luck soaking parts in Evaporust to get pieces un-fused.
Excellent video, Rex! Very thorough, and I’ve never seen one like it! Seriously, not to this level of detail. So thank you VERRRY much!
My mom bought an almost identical plane in The Netherlands decades ago. It has the thickest iron and chip breaker that I have ever seen. When I inherit it very little will need to be done to fine tune it. The irons and wedge are almost perfect, the body only has some dote holes here and there. Fun project you just did. After watching your videos I have been able to asses wood planes before buying them. No telling how much money and frustration you have saved me!
Great video yet again! Very happy to see the ad for your products being integrated onto the video rather than being the video. Hope sales are brisk! I watched Mr. Wrights video building your router plane, really cool to see you all collaborating!
Rex, another great video with some really helpful tips and tricks on rebuilding an old plane. Always appreciate you sharing your extensive knowledge on woodworking. Thank you!
Very informative about irons. Thank you.
There is something so imperative about rescuing a small piece of history. I have to at least try.
Spring is coming and I'm just in the process of getting my salvaged planes to working condition. I have found ancient handplanes at my wife's grandparents farm and I want the tools to be ready when the weather stabilises and I can work outside. So this video couldn't come at a better time.
speaking of weather stabilising, make sure the climate the plane lived in is similar. I brought in an old wood plane and the wood began to dry and cracks began appearing, applying linseed oil stopped further stressing and it works great.
Well now I know for sure the old gussstahl german scrub plane I've been sitting on and wondering about is well and truly dead. There is almost no tool steel left on the blade. I had a feeling it wasn't able to be resharpened anymore, but it was dirt cheap, and looks nice in my office.
Hmmmm. I recall a place called Dusty Rose. I think. And he makes plane irons and even the angled ones I think. Rex knows it infinitely far better than I. 🙏🔥⚒️🧙🏼♂️
Great video Rex...best one I've seen on pitting and straightening chip breakers.
Great video. I'm lazy when I clean up these badly rusted planes I use 8 second bursts on the belt sander to flatten then cool them in water. Takes a lot less time than hand sanding which I tired of quite quickly.
Thanks a bunch, Rex! Lots of useful info there! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Hey Rex, greetings from Germany. This Video was very usefull to me. My uncle gave me a plane like the Plane showed in the video which belonged time ago to my Grandfather. Specially the treatment of the Chipbreaker was a eye-opener for me. Thanks for showing. Grettings Matthias
I found an awesome deal on a Stanley wooden jack plane that was made in the 1800s. It is maybe 90 percent like new condition. The iron and metal parts are in amazing condition. I only paid around $60 on ebay for it. That isn't something that will probably ever happen again haha. Most old wooden planes are beyond repair. Loved this video.
The floating head caught me by surprise at the 11-minute mark, I wasn't expecting Rex to appear there LOL! I've got a few Plane Irons that are pitted, I'll need to remember the trick to grind past the pitting.
I have a Stanley #45 and I don't understand how to sharpen the beading and fluting blades without changing the profile. I would love some help with this.
After years of using multiple stones, jigs, and sand paper I have narrowed it down to just 2 diamond plate 600 and 1200 then I strop. I have no troubles at all with the plane irons. I think because we have all these thing’s available to us we use them but we don’t stop to think about what is it that we really need. Make it simple and you will use it make it complicated and you won’t use it or use it very often.
I'm down to just one 1,000 grit diamond plate myself and then I polish on ceramics.
@@1pcfred I do that with my hunting knives and broadheads. Sharp is sharp and I actually think the finer you get that edge the less durable it is so you end up sharpening way to often.
@@kentonward97 sharpening is a simple concept and also a dense topic. What's going on isn't always so apparent. The edge itself is microscopic so you can't really see it. Not being able to perceive it with the naked eye people get lots of crazy ideas about what's really going on. The molecular structure of the steel itself plays an important role in everything. The cemented carbides in it etc. Snow is snow unless you're an Eskimo. Then they have 50 names for the stuff. They know snow.
I performed nearly an identical restoration to give myself a decent jointer plane, well worth the time especially considering I only paid $10 for it. Great vid as always Rex.
Thanks Rex, Excellent, honest content as usual !
When an iron's leading edge is so short there's a real risk it may have worn past the laminated section containing higher quality steel. A quick check after initial clean up on al ox paper simply involves heating the iron with boiling water and applying a quick wash of citric acid (lemon juice or "matured" coca cola) to highlight the presence of the lamination. The resulting reaction doesn't harm the iron and is virtually immediate, highlighting any remaining lamination by typically darkening the hard steel (Leaving the softer steel a pale grey) and allows the user to judge whether to continue with the restoration.
The same method can be used on chisels and older knives and I hope this helps.
If you don't want to spend the rest of your life scrubbing away trying to flatten a pitted plane iron, try 36-grit ceramic sanding belts cut in two. (Make sure you snip off the tape where the two ends of the belt were joined or it will create a high spot.) I like the Shopsmith ones; they take forever to get dull, and even when dull they'll still make progress against vintage tool steel (just more slowly).
HA! Good stuff! thanks for sharing your wisdom on these old classics! I want one!
What an awesome video. Thank you!
I ran into an odd issue restoring the iron in a block plane. I thought this may be a good a place to post my solution. I don't know that the iron is original. I don't know how, but the side edges of this iron were very uneven, like this was rough cut to fit the plane???
Anyway, there was also a piece of paper wedged under one side of the blade, and the irons cutting edge was not ground square; how could it be?
I could not mark an accurate 90 degree line across the blade, for resharpening, till I ground one of the irons edges flat. Then I marked a line and sharpened the blade. There was no need for the little bit of paper. I didn't bother flattening the irons other side edge. It took a lot of grinding to do the one, and it would be more work getting the second edge parallel.
For a cheap block plane, it works great now. Your tips Rex, made all my planes better.
"listen to the chipbreaker!"
Thank you for this trick👍
As usual Rex, awesome work. You know I LOVE the old irons. My system is exactly like yours. Wire wheel or bust.
Thanks for the great information. I personally love those little general too stainless rules with the inch fraction to decimal conversion on the back it's probably my most used ruler.
I like your stuff and glad you are keeping these old traditions alive. I am a professional furniture maker and I have a massive collection of old planes. BUT when sharpening after grinding your 25 degree angle there's no need for more than a couple of strokes at 30 degrees. Only the very tip of the blade needs to be sharpened. You were over working it and didn't demonstrate flatting off the burr after sharpening.
Yep. I do ~ 50 stokes at 25deg, and 6 at 30deg. 2 square, 2 favouring one side, and 2 favouring the other side. Plus, debur the back with the steel rile trick from Rob Crossman vids.
Rex, love your videos and am happy to join you on Patreon------your well worth it. Your content is inspirational and encouraging. Looking forward to looking at your project list and see what I can build. Keep up the good work, and thanks for doing this.
9:17 Mediterranean Mint. Good choice.
I got a large plain with a broken handle a few years ago. Sharpened the blade and the chipbreaker and it works great. The body have a split in it but it's straight. If you are interested i can send you photos. It's a german probably german/estonian.
Rex, you know 1,000,000 times more about tools than I do but disagree on rust removal. Wire wheel just takes the surface off. Cleaner followed by Rust911 is wet like you say, but followed by steel wool, elbow grease and wd(water displacement)40 get me fully clean and fully rust free. Thanks for everything else. Tapping the chip breaker is a great tip.
If only all restoration TH-cam videos had such intellectual narration like this instead of that silent ASMR bs. Are those restoration guys too shy to talk to the camera?
What about the old woodies that don't make it? They could be source material for small projects, like jewelry boxes and shelves, with some real history behind them. That might be a good project for a video, don't you think?
You could make a pretty nice table saw push tool out of one. That's what I would do with one that's too far gone.
I missed where you put the thyme on the chipbreaker screw.
Rex, with these irons you dont need to twist the chipbreaker when installing it. They have the hole for the screw at the "right" end unlike the ones for iron planes
thanks for the video sir. Looking forward to the colab with three of my favorite youtubers!
pro tip
50/50 mix of acetone and transmission fluid = extra powerfull penetrating oil for anything rusted
for removing rust fast and super clean surface...use norton blaze rapid strip/blend
use Cubitron II sandpaper / discs overall anything you use for sanding / cutting especially for belt sander , grind literally 3x faster than standard sandpapers , colder , last 10x longer (in my case , if you push it hard you get probably less lifespan but still few x more than any "standard" sandpaper)
Oh yes. The acetone carries the transmission fluid oil in further than normal penetrating oils and then evaporates leaving the oil in place.
When really stuck alternate heating and cooling with a chef type browning gun (not hot enough to affect the steel) plus using the right size turnscrew by alternate tightening and loosening will eventually break the screw free.
I've attacked steel with angle grinders but that's not a beginner technique. They make grinding wheels out of Cubitron too!
@@1pcfred yes
You can get anything possible for angle grinder from cubitron and even more than you know (like diamond pattern discs , rollock style for big angle grinders etc
You can even get discs for bench grinder
Hand sanding paper
Discs for orbital sander are awesome
But for rust , sharp cormers etc norton blaze is the best
Around 70% efficiency of cubitron
But 10x stronger and elastic glue that wont fail when pushed to the limit (where cubitron like to get destroyed instantly)
For wood there is also permagrit
Literally buy once last lifetime
Dremel have few blades from carbide
And you can get carbide discs for different aplication for wood etc (orbital sander disc, angle grinder shaping discs etc) they last lifetime in wood indestructible ( i use carbide tools for 8 years and they still like brand new working with composites -glass /carbon / kevlar fiber etc)
@@ErtsenPlayGames Norton better than 3M? I don't know about that. Them's fighting words!
@@1pcfred only BLAZE line , standard norton is great when you destroy blade faster by pushing it to hard , in corners on edges that will rip apart the blade etc...then i go only with norton
Blaze on the other hand is the best when you need to rly rly push ,
it's like cubitron but that wont get damaged if you literally lay down on tool while grinding only 4mm thick nail etc
Great video Rex
I have an old plane with a Sheffield made iron and its nice
I have a plane with a Butcher iron in it. By the mark it's no later than 1836. That plane is museum quality. It's hard to believe it's as old as it is.
Very informative thank you
i now have bought 4 planes for really cheap. i needed to flatten the bottom on the wooden plane and it was good to go. Of the 3 metal planes, 1 i swear was in a bucket of water as some point... i let it hang out in a bucket of that Safe rust converter, then i had to do a lot of work on it if i wanted a half decent plane, its got a good frog at least, i called it a write off.
I love Rex and this channel, BUT why am I getting notified EVERY day that this episode is new?
thanks
Nice, thanks for posting this!
Also, some planes have dubious metal quality, so acid like vinegar can sometimes end up etching or damaging those dubious blades.
Hey man, love all your videos. Just one tip if you youtube is your main focus maybe you could invest in a good mic, the audio could be improved. all the best
Maybe you could invest in a good sound system? Rex sounds fine here to me. If you're on a smart phone or using ear buds you might need to step up some yourself.
Great video!
Excellent tutorial for an old plane.
Thanks for another quality video. Where can one obtain that little tool you have? I checked your store and I don't see it there.
I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.
Love this stuff!!! Keep up the great lessons!!!
Hey Rex if I wanted to take the sharpening class. Would it be beneficial to have some sharpening stones or anything ahead of time and will the vid be available to go back to
Hi Rex, great video.
How does someone from the UK get to participate in the sharpening course, when it starts at 1am UK time. Will there be a recording available?
Cheers
Great info
Attaboy Rex. Thanks.
Your'e right REx about all the chemical and electrolytic methods - really just a waste of time compared to abrasive methods!
Now that you have gone over fixing old planes how about a video on how to make a wooden plane starting from a chunk of hardwood from the sawmill?
Such a cool restoration Rex! Most of the tips here can be used on new (inexpensive) replicas of good quality planes. I used your old videos as reference for mine every time :)
Do you think you'll be selling the course in a recording format as well? I want to participate but here it will start at 4AM... in a work day (well... night). I would probably be wise to sleep then.
Apparently when I put away my flatpack firepit last season I failed to get some water off it, so guess I'm gonna be taking some sandpaper to those panels real soon.
Where do you buy your eye shadow?
Cool.
Rex, i found some planes at an estate sale. One i cannot identify. Is there an email i can send pictures to for helpin identification. The one in question is small enough for one hand and the front of the shoe is adjustable forward and back.
Diesel is a brilliant penetrating oil. 👍
If you get something really rusted where 3 in one oil doesn’t work, mechanics use PB Blaster or Kroil Penetrating oil that is even better. In a pinch you can just grab any lube oil in the garage like 10W40 if you don’t have 3 in 1 oil
If you don’t have 3 in 1 oil go get some. Every shop should have it.
@@1pcfred try PB Blaster if you have seized rusted parts. It’s better. But absolutely nothing against 3 in 1. I am just saying if you don’t have 3 in 1, far better to spray motor oil on your bike chain than ride it dry.
@@jrowe9301 PB Blaster was better years ago before they reformulated it. There was a time when the fumes from PB would really bring a tear to your eye. Make you gasp for air too. Only stuff that's toxic is ever effective. It's one of the basic laws of the Universe.
I find more and more that i can get better results with wood planes then metal for the cost.
There is one point here that I think needs some minor correction. Flattening and polishing the back of the blade has more than one function. The chief is that you really never need to address it when sharpening the blade except to remove the wire edge, once it has been flattened and polished. You do the same with chisels, and a plane blade is essentially a glorified chisel. On a chisel the polished back also reduces friction between the blade and the cut surface when paring. Remember that the bevel is always polished. When you employ a bevel-down plane, the back of the blade _never_ comes into contact with the shaving. So that polish, except at the very cutting edge apparently contributes nothing to the plane's function. So, why polish it, really? In fact, the polish surface also helps establish a flat surface for the chip breaker's edge to register against, and the shaving rides on that chip break surface when it is removed. So, I polish the chip breaker surface where it rises above the blade's back. It doesn't take a lot. Just as fitting the chip breaker edge exactly to the back of the blade prevents chips from jamming between the two, the polished surface of the chip breaker helps that chip pass along surface of the breaker with minimal friction. It might be subjective, but I find/feel it does incrementally improve and prolong the spans between sharpenings.
Has anybody else tried hot bluing plane blades? When I do it, only the front part (hardened or laminated) picks up a deep black finish, the rest stays grey. The recipe I found uses 1 litre of distilled water, 650g of caustic soda and 325g of potassium nitrate. Does anybody know a recipe or procedure that covers the entire blade in deep black?
Different steels react differently to bluing. Hi carbon turns blue/ black. Hi nickel is brighter. Low carbon is dull grey. Laminated blades will not look the same.
While @David is correct, I would recommend giving this one a try: th-cam.com/video/4OhhBIN1Odw/w-d-xo.html
Nice video, thanks. But what happened to your sound? I have not watched your videos for a while and since then it's deteriorated terribly. The high frequencies seem muffled and distorted. Are you doing any processing, perhaps there's an eq you're using? Your old videos have much better sound.
whats the point of making that plane take a shaving from an s4s board? that wont be used to joint anything?
done it more than once
👏👏👏
I have to disagree about using acids to clear off rust. Acetic(vinegar), citric or best of all oxalic acid will chelate all the rust off the metal right down into the pits. Then it can be scrubbed and flushed with water and dried. The mechanical method leaves rust in the roots of the pits. The result looks more pitted than when mechanically cleaned but that is because the rust is gone. Mechanical cleaning will burnish the metal back down into the root of the pits. Overall though, thank you for the deep look into renovating old plane irons.
You hit it on the wire wheel and in a minute you're done. Not all iron oxide is bad. Black oxide is good.
I wouldn't say firewood - I've turned old wooden planes into other tools!
IF I ever run into the problem of the edge being pitted, I'd probably grind it back and instead of grinding a bevel on I'd probably forge it back out. I
Hey, Rex do you have a discord or some other way to communicate? With your community there’s a bunch of things I could use some advice on. I don’t know where to ask.
I have Patreon! We have a great forum and you can message me directly.
Sorry, can’t stay up until 2am for the class 😢
Hello there
Crappy irons probably don't make it 80-100 years down the track ... unless affected by fire ..
Ah see what he’s doing here
Second time he tried this trick
Rex - love your videos, and have learned a lot. But please, do not encourage anyone to destroy an old wooden plane, even if you're kidding. I know there were thousands made, but that was a relatively brief moment in time. If anyone deems a plane unworthy, then sell or give it away, or just put on a shelf in the garage. It breaks my heart watching that video of some sort of ceremony in New England where they've put a wooden plane into a campfire. There ought to be a law against that.
You can make wooden planes today. I think Rex has a video where he does.
@@1pcfred This is true, but you can't make one that's 150 yrs old! Regards
@@sedge5940 does it matter if it is 150 years old? Back then they didn't expect their stuff to last so long. What we have now are anomalies. The odd bits that did survive far longer than they should have.
@@1pcfred Well, I guess I just like the vibe of old stuff.
@@sedge5940 even a new plane would be made out of wood that is pretty old. So there's that I suppose.
I'm a gunsmith, not a carpenter, seeing that wire wheel just put me in a bad mood
What a fool "Don't go in for that mumbo jumbo about old Sheffield irons" Now we know he doesn't know about woodworking tools.
Not sure why I am not a fan, but I am not. My bad probably. 😢