Peter McBride Antique and Old Tools
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Restoring Gunmetal Planes - fitting a steel sole.
I have done a few of these recoveries of badly treated brass planes, and enjoyed the results. I like the steel soles on gunmetal and brass planes, and have some nice wood to remake the infill. Here are some pictures of the road to recovery for a shoulder plane, and a smoother.
This is page 3, I will add to the pages as I find time to do more on the planes.
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click on the images for a larger picture
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I ground down the sides of a flat file,
and worked it back on forth on the plane where the blade sits. This took a
bit more time than expected, but it was worth the effort. See the next
three pictures.
Originally the plane had a rosewood front infill, and a mahogany wedge. The front infill is a poor fit, and the wedge is a nice shape, but doesn't match the front. The plane at the back is like a glove on the hand. I like that shape for the horn. |
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The inside of the escapement looks
good now. I spent about an hour using the bench files on my jeweller's
bench and refined the shape of the side cut-out.
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I am happy with the throat. I got it to the width I wanted using a flat needle file working on the curve of the front of the opening.. |
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With the wedge in place the blade
sits down onto the steel very nicely.
This is looking from the front down along the blade. |
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This plane is ready for the infill, so I looked through the piles of
timber for a good piece. I have some fantastic heavy and hard Australian Blackwood (Accacia
melanoxylon)...well really I have lots of it, I used less than a tenth of it
on my kitchen.
It was a huge tree that was overhanging a tennis court and had to be cut
down. 3 logs, each about 3M (10ft) long I will copy the nose of the plane
above, and make a new wedge similar to the shape of the original one.
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Copyright © Peter McBride 2004