I love all hand tools. And as many of you know I make moulding planes and have made quite a few posts about them. I have made many tools. All in all though my favorite tool is my Stanley Bailey #3 Smoothing plane. It was a wreck and I totally refurbished it. Everything.

Here's some photos:

Thanks for looking!

Cheers!

MrRick

That is a beautiful restoration Rick and even more so with the custom made box. The knobs and tote look amazing.

I have a couple #3's in my round2it restoration queue. You've set a high bar, worthy standard. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Grandpadave52 ...

A neighbor of mine was working at an antique store at the time and brought it home to me. I offered to pay and he said it was a piece of junk, they couldn't sell it, and just keep it.

It was a bucket of rust. The knob and tote were painted an awful purple paint that was scratched and peeling. All the brass was corroded and tarnished. The japaning was so yucky with dried paint, grease, and other stuff not identifiable. The blade was a mess and the chip breaker in bad shape. I took everything apart. EVERYTHING.

I made an electrolysis tank to clean everything. Flattened the sole and blade. Resharpened. Reworked all brass and the blade adjuster knob, etc., etc. Polished everything on a buffing wheel.

I spent all week on it at the time.

It functions like a charm now and an absolute joy to use!

Yes I have cleaned up a few as they are better than new. It is a joy to use them

A 5 1/4 junior jack was my favorite until I dropped it on the concrete floor! Mine was the cheaper type they made and I reused some of the parts on a wooden scrub plane I made. I've thought of buying another now and then, but never seem to get around to doing it, and tracking down specific planes on ebay can be discouraging as they are often more expensive than I really want to pay for a tool that only sees a little use in my shop. I still love hand planes, but I have some practical limits on spending for them (not so with exotic wood though, there I'm a sucker soon to be parted from my cash! 😀)