# Stanley #7 type 11 restoration



## JoeinDE (Apr 20, 2009)

I picked up an fairly old Stanley Bailey #7 from an online auction - $32 for the plane, $15 for shipping. From the pictures I was expecting it to be worse than it actually was. Before it showed up I went to Horrible Freight and picked up some evaporust, $20 for a gallon (I'd never used the stuff before and now I am a believer. Here's what it looked like when it arrived (these are the pics from the seller):





















































It came mostly disassembled, so after taking the remaining parts off, I soaked all the metal parts in the evaporust overnight. Evaporust worked really well. It took care of all of the surface rust and even removed the deeper rust on the frog, chip breaker and iron. I did have to hit the chip breaker and the iron with WD40 to get the screw to loosen. After rinsing off the evaporust solution, drying and giving a light coat of mineral oil, I flattened the sole on my granite block with PSA sandpaper. I also flattened the frog and tuned the chip breaker. 90% of the japanning remained so I didn't worry about repainting the body. I gave my best shot at the iron, but despite a whole lot of TLC, the pitting on the back was too bad for it ever to cut smooth surfaces. 








I went to Woodcraft and picked up a Hock iron for it ($41). The handle had no finish on it so I sanded the tote and the handle and applied a couple of coats of BLO to both. The handle looks to be the original rosewood.

I've got it cleaned up and taking beautiful shavings. I plan on using this plane a good bit so I wasn't too concerned about getting the petina off of the lever cap (ooh shiny!). Some people believe that the petina shows that the plane is indeed ~100 years old. I found a site with a step-by-step how-to for determining what type and hold your Stanley hand plane it. From that site I was able to identify this plane as a type 11 - from the four patents on the body and the full name on the old iron (see below).


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## Bagtown (Mar 9, 2008)

Looks great Joe.


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## ShipWreck (Feb 16, 2008)

Very nice Joe work Joe. I recently finished my #7c and I also added a Hock blade. I had to open the mouth a little on mine to accept the thicker blade.


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## ShaneA (Apr 15, 2011)

It looks great…a bargain too.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

that 7 needed a little love. Glad to see it got it.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

Looks like you got a fine user there for a good price!


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## jjw5858 (Apr 11, 2011)

Nice resto work on this….enjoy the shavings!


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## hhhopks (Nov 22, 2011)

Nice job.
Look like it is a great user.


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## ShipWreck (Feb 16, 2008)

Hey Joe, here are the #4 and #7. I left the patina on the #7. They both work very nice.


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## sandhill (Aug 28, 2007)

Nice job Joe, great pictures. I picked up a Stanley #5 1/2 and I am going to rework it even though it is usable now I want to flatten it and polish it up a bit. This is what I use for removing rust.









MATERIALS LIST 
• 5 gal plastic bucket
• re-bar pins for anode grid
• copper wire
• wire nuts
• alligator clips
• Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (sodium carbonate)
• 6/12 volt battery charger
• Kaboom Tile, Tub & Shower Cleaner
• brass brush
• 3M Grey abrasive pad
• WD-40
• Boe-Shield T-9
Pour enough water into the container to cover the item to be cleaned. Add about a tablespoonful of washing powder per gallon of water and stir until the powder is completely dissolved. Washing soda is sodium carbonate, and is said to be more effective than baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) which may alternately be used.


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## JoeinDE (Apr 20, 2009)

Shipwreck - thanks for the pics. The throat is tight, but the blade and chipbreaker barely fit through. I may open the throat a little in the future.

Sandhill - It's interesting that you brought up the electrolytic restoration. I work as a chemist, so I contemplated the electrolytic method. It is the only way to undo the pitting - to a certain extent. You actually add new metal to the surface when you use that method. Sodium carbonate is better than sodium bicarbonate because it is a stronger base and provides more driving force for the reaction. Good luck with the electrolysis.


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## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

Great restore. I had a tote and knob that looked just like that and a little BLO cleaned them up nicely! I would have replaced the iron like you did but probably also the chipbreaker too mostly for looks, though.


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## ShipWreck (Feb 16, 2008)

Yeah Brandon….... I agree. I have noticed that some of the old Stanley chip breakers are a little weak at the cutting area. I am getting some slight chatter on some hard woods, and I am positive that everything is set properly.I might stop over at Woodcraft this week and get a new one for my #7.


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