TaxiDriver Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 (edited) Whilst tidying my shed I have found an old(ish) plane, On a piece that sits over the blade it says STANLEY but on the front of the cast base part at the front where the handhold wooden knob is it says BAILEY No4 Is this usual, is it a Stanley Plane or a Bailey or a mixture of parts from 2 makers ? The blade is not very sharp, looks like the cutting edge has a few different angles and a couple of nicks out of it, who or what sort of place do I need to find to sharpen the blade ? I imagine it needs a certain degree of skill and/or tools which I don't have meself. I don't even know why I have a plane like this I can only think I was given it when I was a kid/teenager. Edited September 5, 2016 by TaxiDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Sharpen it at 35 degrees if it's bevel up. There's a video on youtube shows how to do it for the No4. They were marketed as Stanley / Bailey and numbers range from 1 to 8. A good plane, not looked but I expect e bay sell replacement blades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiDriver Posted September 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Cheers, Don't really know what you mean 35 degrees and bevel up. I need to find meself a local woodwork/carpentry enthusiast I think, got some old chisels that could do with a wire brush and honed up. For someone who's only woodwork has ever been 3" square posts and 6" nails I seem to have found a few woodworking tools, like tri squares, tennon saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Oh go on then Post it to me in a jiffy envelope ( the blade and iron its attached to and I'll sort it Or if you visit Tamworth again like last year you can just call in and I'll do the lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landyboy Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Sold one the bay a few weeks ago for £25 in good order Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 guy I work with just got a motorised chisel sharpener from machine mart. How I laughed, until he did one of my Marple's. Even my butchering chisels are sharper than the day they were made. Put an edge on my bolsters I could shave with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 I'm still working and look what I have next to me lol If you take apart until the last pic and just send that bit. I'll have it back within a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undertree Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 It is made by Stanley who bought out Bailey who had invented this type of plane and Stanley retain his name in the casting out of respect for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Smoothing plane, excellent ones; and the blade appear to be in pretty good shape, just needs to be reshaped and sharpened. Unless you have a use for it, just sell it as is -- as mentioned before, you'll get 30 quid or so. I think there a special pleasure center in the brain that is triggered when using a very sharp No 4 smoothing plane on a piece of timber :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 (edited) I think there a special pleasure center in the brain that is triggered when using a very sharp No 4 smoothing plane on a piece of timber. Most definitely. Until you hit a hidden nail. Edited September 5, 2016 by winnie&bezza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digger Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 there's a competition in Japan where they plane wood to within 5 microns which is thinner than a human hair. Along about 8ft of timber, they have a helper hold the planed off bit as they go. Weird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Smoothing plane, excellent ones; and the blade appear to be in pretty good shape, just needs to be reshaped and sharpened. Unless you have a use for it, just sell it as is -- as mentioned before, you'll get 30 quid or so. I think there a special pleasure center in the brain that is triggered when using a very sharp No 4 smoothing plane on a piece of timber :-) Your not looking at mine in the pic are you That's a razor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Your not looking at mine in the pic are you That's a razor Hehe yeah, wrong author -- I was a bit surprised that an abandoned plane ended up in such a good state! I restored quite a few blades BTW, using electrolysis, gentle baking, and then re-shaping. You can end up with lovely blades like that from some that were in pretty horrible shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adge Cutler Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Always reminds me of woodworking lessons at school in the late 60's with moggy Morgan the Welsh woodworking wonder, universally hated by everyone . He had a repertoire of totally inane and meaningless phrases. He used to creep up behind you and crack you across the exposed elbow. (we always had to have our sleeves rolled up when we did woodwork) with a piece of 2 x 1 ramin if you did something he didn't agree with. One day I was planning a piece of iroko in the jaws of a beech wood vice when I noticed the shavings were changing colour...yes that right...... I was planing the top off the vice ! With a excruciating crack on my elbow and a booming welsh accent he barked his disapproval " Cook you bloody idiot boy go careful with that wood it doesn't grow on trees " I can see his face and hear his voice now 45 years on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Hehe yeah, wrong author -- I was a bit surprised that an abandoned plane ended up in such a good state! I restored quite a few blades BTW, using electrolysis, gentle baking, and then re-shaping. You can end up with lovely blades like that from some that were in pretty horrible shape. Lol no worries:) I admit it's rare I use it of late . Electric plane is to easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adge Cutler Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 You can only marvel though at the pure skill of the old and ancient joiners and carpenters who created great ships like the Mary Rose, Victory and Cutty Sark with no more than hand tools and pit saws.....bloody amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 You can only marvel though at the pure skill of the old and ancient joiners and carpenters who created great ships like the Mary Rose, Victory and Cutty Sark with no more than hand tools and pit saws.....bloody amazing. Very true but they didn't have much to do in life back then. Lol no worries:) I admit it's rare I use it of late . Electric plane is to easy I only use electric for bigger stuff or getting close to where I want to go and then finish with hand plane. No forgiveness with electric! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adge Cutler Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 Very true but they didn't have much to do in life back then. True... but staying alive probably pre-occupied them. ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 You don't have to go that far; my elder brother is a "Companion du devoir" in France, and he always tells me the stories of seeing is elders picking wood by taping a screwdriver handle at one end of a cut piece of lumber and listening to the echoes to know if they were good timber, or how jointers used to "Use the wood their father's had picked for them, and pick the wood their son would eventually use". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted September 5, 2016 Report Share Posted September 5, 2016 True... but staying alive probably pre-occupied them. ! Ha true again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brixsmaid Posted September 6, 2016 Report Share Posted September 6, 2016 My dear old departed Dad was a time served shipwright and left me amongst his other tools his old wooden planes etc., which he'd had to make during his apprenticeship. He started his apprenticeship building wooden trawlers and ended it on RN battle cruisers, before swallowing the anchor and having his tea on a steady table ashore as a successful general builder. Part of the practical test to qualify as a shipwright was apparently to be given a chunk of tree and only an adze and depending on the instructor to be required to produce either an oar or a mast depending on how the instructor felt. Mind you he claimed you could do just about anything with an adze, including shaving!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiDriver Posted September 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2016 Just been watching some YouTube videos by a bloke called Paul Sellers, Rejuvenating rusty old, neglected planes, Brilliant. Mines cleaned up a treat, still needs a sharpen when I get around to it. TT Thanks for the kind offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flynny Posted September 8, 2016 Report Share Posted September 8, 2016 (edited) I think there a special pleasure center in the brain that is triggered when using a very sharp No 4 smoothing plane on a piece of timber. Most definitely. Until you hit a hidden nail. My old gaffer who I did my apprentaship with said you could hear it sing,/ sing thru thru thru thetimber That's when you knew the blade was sharpened correctly,( done by hand in a figure of 8 on a oil stone , so as to keep the stone flat) 8 passes at figure 8 then 8 straight thou they stone Flynny Edited September 8, 2016 by flynny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brixsmaid Posted September 9, 2016 Report Share Posted September 9, 2016 (edited) My old gaffer who I did my apprentaship with said you could hear it sing,/ sing thru thru thru thetimber That's when you knew the blade was sharpened correctly,( done by hand in a figure of 8 on a oil stone , so as to keep the stone flat) 8 passes at figure 8 then 8 straight thou they stone Flynny Bringing back memories there, my Dad sharpened everything on an old stone, and was very conscious not to have any low spots of the stone, he even sharpened his old twist drills, to the point they weren't long enough to do the job, tight *** !! Remember him spending hours hand sharpening his saws, couldn't see him buying a jack saw in B&Q and throwing it away when it got blunt! Edited September 9, 2016 by Brixsmaid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted September 9, 2016 Report Share Posted September 9, 2016 Bringing back memories there, my Dad sharpened everything on an old stone, and was very conscious not to have any low spots of the stone, he even sharpened his old twist drills, to the point they weren't long enough to do the job, tight *** !! Remember him spending hours hand sharpening his saws, couldn't see him buying a jack saw in B&Q and throwing it away when it got blunt! I sharpen my drill bits on a grind wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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