Restored Handplanes

I purchased a couple used handplanes at a local garage sale. Both planes, a #5 and a #4, were purchased for $20 each. They were quite rusted and in pretty bad shaped. I used a belt sander to do a rough cleanup of all the parts. I then used my diamond honing stones to progressively flatten and smooth all surfaces. I also lapped the top and bottom of the blades and then sharpened them. I think I did pretty good for my first try. I wish I had some way to professionally grind the surfaces flat. I think I’ll look into buying new blades. Even with the current blades I’m able to plane paper thin shavings. They were well worth the $40. I’m planning on making new pommels and totes for both planes.

The curve on the bottom of the smaller plane is an optical illusion from my camera.

-- Owen Johnson - aka IowaWoodcrafter