Appreciation post: The $3 thrift store hand plane that took 4 months to get working

I picked up this beat up old Stanley hand plane at a Goodwill near Boise for $3 back in March. Looked like it had been sitting in a garage for 20 years with rust and a chipped blade. Figured I'd clean it up in an afternoon and start using it right away. Six hours of sanding and sharpening later I realized the sole was warped way worse than I thought. Took me four months of tinkering on and off, flattening the bottom with sandpaper on glass, and buying a replacement blade from a guy on Etsy. Finally got it to take a proper shaving last weekend and I almost cried. Has anyone else had a restore job that dragged on way longer than you expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantw3213d ago

Man that's basically the exact same thing that happened with mine except I gave up and let it sit in my garage for like a year before I finally tackled it again. What really saved me was using a granite countertop scrap instead of glass for flattening the sole, way more consistent.

grant.felix13d ago

Oh, that's smart. I've always used glass but it does have that flex issue if you're not careful with the pressure. I picked up a couple small marble tile samples from a flooring store years ago and they work great for smaller planes. I actually switched to using spray adhesive to stick the sandpaper down instead of worrying about it slipping, and the rigid backing makes a huge difference in consistency. You really notice it on the longer planes where even a tiny bit of give throws everything off.