Traditional Woodworking Tools Internet Magazine

In order to help others who are just beginning this process I am going to document the cleaning of several planes in varying states of decay. I am going to describe and show pictures of how “I” go about it.

The first subject will be a very late model Stanley No. 5C chosen mostly for its condition, which is quite good with some light to medium rust all over.

As the pictures show the plane is in very good overall condition with about 95% of its’ japanning, a good knob and a good if not great tote; all the parts are in good order and the blade is near full length.

Now, this not being a real old plane it has not really developed a “patina”, that wonderful brown combination of sweat and oil and labor and iron, which some purists preserve for authenticity.

I myself prefer a tool that looks a little more clean and shiny.

These are a couple of my “users” and this is the condition or “look” that I prefer.

Stanley Type 12 No. 603C

Stanley Type 9 No. 4 1/2C

Enough showin’ off, back to the cleaning. My method for this plane will be to give it a citric acid bath to remove the rust and then a buff with a Scotch Bright pad. The bottom, which is corrugated, will be a little more difficult than the flat sides but it can be done relatively well. So off we go to the dip tank. Some others recommend scraping the heavy rust off with a razor blade, but I always manage to gouge the tools so I no longer scrape. Another option is WD-40 and steel wool, which I do use, but because the plane is corrugated I will dip. I will recommend tools and other stuff I have found useful but by no-means are my means the only ones you can use. One recommendation I will make is; invest in a box of surgical gloves; they will save your hands a lot of grief.

It’s Saturday night bath time, really, and since I won’t be able to check it for 5 or 6 hours, (bedtime) we’ll see what it looks like tomorrow…it probably won’t take that long for the citric acid to do it’s magic but the extra time will not harm the plane.

Okay it’s been about 18 hours or so and I am going to take it out of the bath to wipe it dry with a cotton towel. This will remove most of the crud left from the Citric Acid.

At this point you can determine if the parts have de-rusted long enough or need to go longer.

On the right is the plane fresh from the solution and as you can see the sides are almost spotless.

Here is the bottom, half of it wiped with just a cotton towel. This plane is in very good shape

This is how I dry my tools thoroughly; you don’t want them to flash rust.

Some people recommend that you do this in the oven, but I don’t find that necessary. One of my wife’s old hair dryers works in just a few minutes.

At this point I like to clean the threaded holes with a Q-tip and then use a Q-tip with a drop of 3in1 oil to lube the threads.

Buffed with a towel and dried...

...it looks pretty good…

On the left the side before Scotch Bright polish and on the right after a good polish, still has a little character but is almost clean. A look I like, and it will age nicely within a couple years, to a mellow glow.

The blade has been through the same process plus it has been buffed with a Scotch Bright pad, as has the lever cap but the chip-breaker has yet to be buffed with the S/B. I could probably buff the discoloration on the blade out with a fine wet or dry sandpaper or crocus cloth lubricated with WD-40, but find no need to do so.

With the major parts of the plane clean I turn to the threaded parts. These are done the same as the other parts with the exception that I use a brass bristle brush to scrub them; because, the brass won’t damage the threads. The other two brushes in the next picture are steel wire and nylon; you can get these cheapies at the dollar store, and just use them and toss them. After all the threaded pieces are cleaned I put a couple drops of oil on a clean cotton rag and lubricate the threads.

This is just a block of plywood with 220-grit wet or dry sandpaper stuck down with spray adhesive. As you can see, the slot allows me to flatten and clean the bedding surface for the blade. I also do the frog bedding surfaces. Work carefully and you can get very flat surfaces, which improves the plane’s performance. Now I polish the lateral lever, clean the threads on the frog adjuster bolt and blow out (because of the sandpaper grit) the hole for the lever cap bolt. Q-tips and oil.

While I have the plane at this point I do a little tuning to improve the performance. The first picture is 100 grit and 220 grit sandpaper on my granite lapping plate. Picture two is flattening the bottom, three is the flattened bottom. I install the frog, knob, and tote for this step for ease of handling and the frog so the plane will have its working stress on it. The next three pictures are of flattening the front edge of the chip-breaker so it makes full contact with the back of the blade.

Now that I have finished with the cleaning, I wipe the plane down thoroughly with a clean rag and then apply a liberal coating of wax to all the parts, excluding threads. Then buff the wax out with a cotton rag.

That leaves the brass and wood; I clean my brass with Brasso and a soft rag, toothbrush, Q-tips, etc.

After the tote and knob retainers are clean I smooth out any screwdriver burrs with a needle file. The wood on this plane is in good shape with its original finish and I will leave it that way. I will clean the handle and knob with a good wood cleaner and then wax and hand buff them with a soft cotton rag.

A good sharpening of the blade and this one will be ready to go to work.

Plane Cleaning 101 by Roy Griggs

Plane Cleaning 101
by Roy Griggs