O' CRAP! It's a 602 ! What now?

Put it in a safety deposit box. You will soon notice LJ’s lurking in the shadows around your house. ;) Good find! My luck is I would pay a grand and find it’s worth a dollar.

-- Regret- the feeling you get just after you do something really stupid.

If you do clean it ,Share the process with all of us by posting it on Lj . I’ve found that the best rust remover other than Navel Jelly is C.L.R. It doesn’t etch the metal and it’s slow enough to control. Also keep in mind that the longer you keep that tool the more it appreciates in value.

-- Tim B. Sweely Elizabeth, Illinois, timsweely@yahoo.com -------- My potential is limited only by my emagination.

If your going to use it clean it,if your going to sell it DON’T. Its that simple.

-- Roper - Master of sawdust-www.coloradocustomworks.com

@CBP I started the clean up with out knowing what it was worth. So I guess that would mean I have to use it. :) But all along I had plan to use it 1x at the least. And it was so caked with oil and dust that that was impossible with out a good cleaning.

@TSww that’s a good Idea. I wish I had taken a before picture with the sides and bottom all covered with gum and paint. I started with disassemble and soak in vinegar and scrubbing.

-- ~jtd

photos?

Clean it. I do collect old planes. The “Antique people” do not want things touched. They want to buy something ,do absolutely nothing, calling it Patina. (It’s Dirt & Rust) then sell it as an original piece for an inflated price. When I buy a rusty old piece , I don’t pay extra, in fact I pay less. My goal is to give the tool back the life it was when built. You can carefully clean the rust and dirt and still have a valuable piece.
Avoid sandpaper, wire brushes, Naval Jelly can be used (properly) put it on, wash it off in 10 -15 minutes. People think it causes etching. The rust has already done the damage, (pitting) naval jelly just removes the rust from the pit. Make sure you apply a coating to prevent more rust after using the naval jelly.

-- "My mission in life - make everyone smile !"

I agree with canadianchips but I go with evapo-rust rather than naval jelly. However, best to leave it as is if you plan on unloading it sooner rather than later. Enjoy the decision making process. ;)

-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com

electrolysis or critc acid can clean it very well for rust
I wood say make a user out of it and ceep it

good luck on the slippery slope of handtools :-)

Dennis

I know that you can use vinegar to remove rust, but this will also etch the iron and leave it highly susceptible to rust again. Also, it will not leave a desirable finish on the bare metal parts. More recommended would be some light application of steel wool with some penetrating oil to help in cutting the rust. If you want some good information on restoring old planes, check out these sites:

http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm

http://www.wkfinetools.com/

http://galootcentral.com/

Personally, after having used a couple of well tuned Bedrock planes, I would keep it and use it. They are the best that Stanley made by far.

Doc

-- Hey, woodworking ain't brain surgery. Just do something and keep trying till you get it. Doc

I would sell it and buy a bunch of other stuff. I’ve bought and
sold several Bedrock planes. They aren’t appreciably better
performers than the Baileys, in my opinion. The Lie-Nielsens
are better though, due mostly to more weight and better irons
in them.

I also make my own wooden planes and they work good too. There’s
little magic in a fine plane to transform you into a great craftsman
unfortunately.

You can get more money out of an antique tool if you demonstrate
that you are a tool user and are representing it honestly.

Maybe if I had know what it was before I started cleaning it, I could have sold it for more. But I can’t turn back time so all the “Patina” as well as the scale rust, oil, dirt is gone. I used soap and water first to clean the gunk off. Then strait to the vinegar bath. Pulling them out to scrub them clean with scotch-brite, a Colgate 360-Sonic tooth brush ($9 of Awesomeness), and a flat head screwdriver for the built up rust. The vinegar bath looked like brown paint when I was done.

Vinegar does not cause pitting. Rust does! So after the rough cleaning I let them soak for about 18hrs in a clean vinegar bath. The screws were the worst. After another scrubbing, I rinsed them thoroughly and wiped and used a can of air to dry them and immediately applied a coat of Renascence wax. You have to do it one part or a time or it will flash rust.

I am going to sharpen the blade today and flatten the back iron. But I can’t use it until I replace the back handle. Has anyone mad one before?
Here are the pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47710366@N08/?saved=1

-- ~jtd

Shame about the brown patina. I try to leave it intact on old planes
and machine tables. I knock of the rust with a soft brass wire brush
but never sandpaper and I only use a steel wire brush on machines
when there’s a lot of build-up. If you’re careful you’ll get to a surface
that’s kind of like a well-seasoned cast iron pan. If you don’t cut into
that surface (the patina is in the pores) you’ll get a soft, glowing
brown look when you wax it up.

Not everybody likes the old brown iron, but I like the mottled character
of it. Most serious collectors do as well I think, because it develops
over many years.

I only do this stuff for my own use usually and haven’t often dealt with
very rare planes in unrestored condition. I might forgo the brass wire
brush if I were and use cotton balls and alcohol or something like that.

such L J there is plenty who had made both nops and handles to planes ,cheisels and saws

Dennis

Not to diminish your find but to get up to $1,000 it would need to have a corrugated sole and be in pretty good shape. Is your plane a 602 or a 602C?

I’m not sure where this “as found condition” stuff comes from. If you go to a tool collector’s meeting you’ll see that metal planes that have been cleaned actually sell for more money. Most dealers clean them up for shows using products like Kramer’s Antique Restorer. If you happen to find something really rare then it’s best not to mess with it but Stanley made a lot of 602 planes in their factory.

That makes me feel better about wanting to hang on to it for a little while. Mine is a 602 no corrugation. My limited research keeps pointing to 602 >$ than 602C, but also that prices have fallen ~%50 with the economy.

The fact that it is 100yrs old is so cool. I don’t think I have anything that old. I might keep it, as it is smaller than my #4 and larger than my block plane.

“But” I would also like a thickness planer and a band saw. So I am still in turmoil again.

-- ~jtd