My First Plane Restoration and a New Use for Ketchup

Welcome to another plane restoration.

This is my first proper plane, bought off eBay for £18 plus postage. It was in usable condition, but a bit rough around the edges. I’ve seen a few restorations on here lately and decided to have a go. I didn’t take any pictures of it before as I wasn’t planning a blog, but this is how it looks now:

It took about a week, doing an hour or so each day. Here’s what I used (plus wire wool, and sandpaper):

Some of the things that I did a bit differently to some of the other restorations I’ve seen here:

- I cleaned the brass parts with ketchup: covered for about 10 minutes, rinsed under running water and wiped dry with a cloth – it was as easy as that; no rubbing or polishing was needed. It did leave a slight red tinge though, so if you want to try it, I’d recommend starting with just 5 minutes.

- The rust was removed by soaking the metal parts in vinegar for up to two hours, then scrubbing with wire wool. The rust wasn’t deep, and came off easily. I applied oil and paste wax straight after to stop flash rusting.

- I removed the plating of the lever cap by rubbing it on sandpaper, starting with 80 grit and going up to 180 grit to finish, with a final coat of paste wax. This was really hard work and took over two hours of rubbing – not for the faint hearted!

I’m really happy with the results: it’s now a pleasure to pick up and use and well worth the effort.

-- John