From the depths of the "Dungeon Warehouse Basement" in Milwaukee Wisconsin, we have this "Poor Soul" of a Stanley Bailey No. 22 Smoothing Plane.

 

This "Poor Soul" spent the last few years in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet that was in the basement of a warehouse in Milwaukee that flooded 4 or 5 years ago.

There were several planes in this drawer, and this one survived in the best condition.

I did a little research, and found that Stanley made these planes from 1870-1943.

I believe this one dates from the end years of production due to the Stanley Tools decal on the side of the wood sole.

I couldn't quite make the decal out, but I believe this photo from ebay is what it's supposed to look like.

As you can imagine having been submerged is going to make this one a bit of fun to bring back.

I'm in the process now of trying to dry the Boxwood sole out without it totally splitting, etc.

I found during my research, that this is not one of the popular "Collector" planes, but I'm going to give restoring it a go anyway.

The price was right $0.00, so I won't lose anything trying.

This will be my first attempt at restoring a hand plane, so I may as well start out with a good challenge.

So any advice from the "Plane Experts" in going about saving this "Poor Soul" will be appreciated.

Larry

Old Woodworking Machinery Forum Host

That'll be a nice addition to the workshop- or for a neat display piece.

Thanks Lew,

I thought it was pretty cool when I found it, I also thought it was older than it is.

The metal parts will be the easy part, I'll do the electrolysis process for their clean up.

I'll use Rust-Oleum Hammered Black for refinishing the metal parts.

I'm hoping the wood sole doesn't split as it dries out. I'm not sure what to refinish it with.

I intend to return it to user status.

Get a big tub of BLO, and soak the wood for awhile. Just let it soak up as much oil as it can. You can always wipe off the excess later.  Add some wax to another batch of BLO, and wipe that on as a finish. Plain old candle wax gets rubbed onto the sole.

 

 

 

Steve,

Should I wait for the wood to dry out first?

It's got moisture coming out of it now. The drawer it was in still had water in it.

I've got it clamped in a drill press vise now, hoping to keep it from splitting worse than it already has.

I may have to force some glue into the cracks it has now.

Let it dry awhile, then soak it down with the oil. The oil will close up the splits for you. No real need for glue.

 

 

That is a nice find Larry. I don't care that the collectors don't like them, I do. It's still old and it survived even if under water.
They usually tell you not to oil them, but in this case I agree with Steve, when it dries out soak it with BLO and maybe later when it dries out put some paste wax on it.

 

John,

I was actually surprised that the "collectors" tend to overlook them.

I think the wood soled planes have a cool character to them.

Being submerged must have preserved the metal parts, everything came apart easily! No rusted solid screws.

I was watching another No. 22 on ebay earlier, it was listed at $0.01 with free shipping. The auction closed with no bidders.

I know it is really strange to me. I was reading about them on one collector site and he said all they were good for is firewood. I totally disagree. I think they have just as much character to them as the metal ones do. I like to imagine the woodworker that had it and think of what he made using it. Wood planes have been around for a long time. That one is really neat that the decal has lasted on the side. I have a Stanley No.5 that has that same decal on the handle. It doesn't have all of it but enough to know what it is.

Moved from Archives

2 hours ago, John Morris said:

Moved from Archives

Wow John,

It seems like longer than 5 years ago that I posted this! 

I can't believe even 5 years has gone by, we sure have a wonderful long lasting community here! And you know what, as long as I am living, it will never go away, not beholding to advertising or profit driven motives, just fun and camaraderie, it's a fool proof way to keep us alive!

Maybe 10 years ago when I was building my plane collection I came across a #24 I think. I restored it because I didn,t know and better . Had to find a lever cap as the original has somewhat of an engraved look in the casting. Well I found one on eBay for about $7 and think I only paid 12 for the plane. When done It dod moderately well but definitely not in my favorite 10, may in the bottom 5 actually. My guess is that is why they are not highly collected.Image off ebay so you can see the lever cap,and the price on this one is 34.99 plus 11 shipping.

I just paid around $30 for parts to put this old one back together...

 

 

 

 

Worth it to save that beauty!

Little elbow grease and that is a prom queen.

The screw was loose that held the back handle on. 

It was tight in the wood but loose where it screwed

into the metal base. I spent a few hours trying to get

the screw to turn. At the end I cut the handle off and 

made a new one.