The Slippery Slope #4: Introducing Sarge.

That is pretty cool. I really appreciate the sharing.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Douglas -

Well, I have been anxiously waiting to see how your rehab worked out . . . beautiful!

Looks like another plane sitting next to Sarge begging for the same treatment!

Thanks for sharing this blog . . . great writing, great photos and an awesome plane.

David

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

You did an amazing job on that plane!!! Wow! And I mean it! How long was the whole process?

You should do the same to the #4…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Also, what method did you use to square the sides to the sole???

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Great Job Douglas. The plane looks great. Users are better than collectors. because you get no enjoyment out of just collecting planes.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Well done!

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

I lapped both the sides and the sole on the trusty glass plate with the Performax/Jet 80 grit X weight cloth backed strips. It’s important to keep the frog, blade and chipbreaker in place and under tension, but with the blade retracted when lapping. After I Parkerized I had some unevenness in the color so I very lightly touched up with 120 grit disk sanding. This would likely not been the case if had use electrolysis, but I could not find washing soda, and the japanning was pretty intact, so I didn’t want to strip the whole kaboodle to bare metal. And I eased the edge between the sole and sides with a fine mill bastard file, so there would be no sharp edges. My thought was making this plane suitable for shooting board use, as I hope my planing skills will improve with patient persistence and the requisite fixtures.

It took several hours of work with breaks for arm weariness. I probably put in about 500 strokes (total for sides and sole) to alleviate a divot in the casting in front of the throat. There still is a bit of a dish back on the sole in the area between the frog and the tote, but the sole edges and heel are flat overall.

The blade sharpening took another couple of hours, but this is more a function of the abused iron than anything.

The Stanley only took an hour or so for both sole and iron, as they were in pretty good shape to begin with. Next up will be putting a steeper micro-bevel on the Hock iron. And since I still have Citric Acid (Local fermentation supplier) and Kleen-Strip Phosphoric (The BORG -Big Orange Retail Giant) left from Sarge’s transformation I will further rehab the #4.

As a side note, Both the knob and tote were stripped with acetone. The knob fit nicely on an adjustable length pen mandrel, so sanding to bare wood was pretty easy there – a matter of minutes. The tote was sanded to bare wood with a fine 3M flapwheel (the kind with non-woven abrasive backing up sandpaper flaps) on the drill press. Both were finished over the course of a week with plenty of drying time as both the home-brew tinted Danish and the salad bowl finish (Behlen’s) are oil based.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Douglas that is one fine looking plane. I like the way you restored it – now the #4 looks like a step child. I can’t wait to get the new Veritas BUS – it should be on Monday or Tuesday, and I’m off both days – yahoo!

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Hi Douglas;

Excellent job!

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

The Sarge does look better. Superb job.

I remember Ian Kirby teaching us that we had to flatten the sole plate. “Now why would I need to do that?” so I recognize the effort that went into this restoration.

Having thought of that I change my mind – you did an outstanding job.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

That’s a lot of work Doug and by the look of the result well worth it.
You will enjoy that restoration every time you use it now

Cheers
Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

This is the second time I’ve written this. It really looks great, Douglas. Let us know how that Parkerized sole works for you. I’ve noticed that not all #4’s are created equal. I have two and they are not the same length. I think it happened when they came from the casters and were hand ground to shape. I can tell from the shavings that you have got a real good tune on this plane. You might find as I have, that the Hock iron doesn’t improve the cut that much. It may stay sharp a little longer. Excellent work, my friend.

-- Thos. Angle

Very interesting. What is the ‘smoothness’ of the sole like Doug? Does it feel kind of like teflon or is there only a slight difference between the parkerized surface and a mirror finish you get with lapping?

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

I was waiting for your appraisal, Tom. I was a bit of a sharpie today, and had my wood store folks demo the Worksharp on the Hock iron and took it to a base 30° bevel, so I’ll pop it in and have a dedicated plane for difficult grain. But I did pick up a nice stick of purpleheart and put a down payment on Pam’s Xmas woodburning rig (Detail Master and a 1A handpiece -shh nobody tell now), so I don’t totally feel like a heel.

BTW I’ve noticed Wayne hasn’t commented or posted for 10 days. If anybody is a telephone or visiting buddy of his it would be nice to know if he’s okay.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Jeff, it feels pretty slick, but I waxed it up. I never did take it all the way to mirror, just stopped at 80 grit and touched it with the 120 RO disk to even out the hue after Parkerizing. The lever cap looks pretty good with minor steel wool rubout.
Some gun folk on-line have gray and black Parkerizing kits for around 30 bucks. If anyone else decides to try this it would be fun to see the results. The Kleen-Strip Phosphoric ran about 14 dollars with sales tax.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

I sent Wayne a PM but have heard nothing back. Maybe he’s way out back of the back of beyond. Wait a minute, that’s where I am!!!

The Purple Heart will test your plane. I’ve got a big chunk of Coco Bolo to play with. I’m going to run it through the planer. If you were at WC, that may be the burner I have. Can’t remember.

-- Thos. Angle

We love Sarge, wonder what’s become of Wayne C., and still want the answer to this question:

...what method did you use to square the sides to the sole???

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Thanks for the follow-up Doug.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Thanks for sharing Doug. Thaey really came up well. Can I send you a couple of mine to practise on (only kidding). Regards

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Dorje-
I lapped the sides on the glass with a wooden fence clamped to the bench and checked it with a Starrett combination square. It’s woodworking close over the length of the sides.

The link for the Parkerizing kits is here There’s a sale on this weekend through Sunday.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Got it!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Pretty cool, Douglas!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Great job, Doug!
Can I ask a question about the lapping of the sole? I am a real rookie when it comes to restoring planes. I have quite a few of them waiting fo rme to get em done. I think you used 80 grit glued to glass, then glued 120 grit and used that. Am I correct?

That sarge looks great and I am sure you will enjoy using it. Ain’t nothin more pleasurable than planing thin wisps off wood…. well maybe there is, but not much in woodworking, anyway!

God Bless,
Hawg

-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards

Hawg,
I just used 80 grit to lap. I parkerized the casting, blade and chipbreaker with Kleanstrip Phosphoric (from the Home Depot – this stuff is mild Phosphoric Acid usually used to etch concrete or remove mortar residue from brick walls). The 120 grit treatment was a brief touch up with a random orbit sander at the lowest speed and next to no pressure, and this was just to even out the color left by the Phosphoric. If I had followed David Pruett’s technique to the letter, that would probably been unnecessary. David used electrolysis to get the rust and japanning totally off his plane’s casting. I just used WayneC’s citric acid technique to de-rust.

I finally found Arm and Hammer Washing Soda at a local grocery. I may try electolytic cleaning on the Stanley #4 after things settle down in my haste to get Christmas projects finished and in the mail. I would like to see if electrolysis will remove all corrosion and finish from that plane, and then try the modified Parkerizing treatment. I also found Parkerizing kits on-line (designed for handguns, there is a black Parkerizing kit and a gray kit. I think a black Parkerized plane would look pretty cool). Anyhow the new plane has become my go-to #4, and has shown no signs of corrosion in my unheated shop thusfar. I will likely put the Hock iron in the Stanley and use it as a dedicated plane for difficult grained wood, as it has a frog adjustment screw that will make on-the-fly throat adjustment easier. The Sargent is adjustable only by moving the frog position forward after loosening the screws that bear into the casting. One has to remove the blade and chipbreaker to do this in a trial and error process.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Just bought a #408 (equivalent to a Stanley #3) this weekend. $19.00 delivered. It’s a cutie.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

That’s a good one as well. I have 2 and they are favorites of mine.

-- Thos. Angle

Hey Doug, I have a plane in need of restoration, but it has a “corrugated” sole. How would you proceed on that?

Sorry, forgot to add…, The Sarge looks brand new. Nice work.

That should only make lapping the sole easily, Rikkor. I finally found washing soda at a local store, so I may try the full David treatment, including the Parkerization with the new plane and the Stanley #4. Just the ticket for indoor fun. It’s mighty cold in the garage.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.