Description
This article is from the Woodworking FAQ
Collection 1, by multiple authors.
50 Old Woodworking Tools Restoration Concerns
Much of what I'm about to say may sound extreme. To some extent
it is. However, until one knows enough about old tools to
distinguish the dross from the fine stuff, it's best to err on
the conservative side.
Even though most old tools are not extremely valuable from a
financial standpoint, they are part of a finite and dwindling
pool of antique artifacts. As such they should be treated with
care and respect. Even something as innocuous as the grunge
coating a tool (called patina by devotees) can reveal forgotten
facts about the trades (e.g., what one did with the second hand
when using a ripsaw). Even if the tool holds no secret such as
this, realize that patina is made of the sweat and shop materials
of its previous owner. These tools have often provided incomes
for 2 or more generations of artisans and their families, perhaps
before your grandparents were even born. Meditate on this a
while before breaking out the Comet.
The patina itself gives a lot of the value to the tool. This is
especially the case with wooden tools. Avoid stripping at all
costs. Simple cleaning is usually ok. Mineral spirits, rags and
toothbrushes will accomplish a lot. If you're certain a tool is
nothing special, mild abrasives such as automobile rubbing
compound can be used. Avoid wire brushes, especially wire
wheels! They remove material quickly, obscure detail, and leave
a matte finish that initiates can spot a mile away. I have a
very nice Mathieson infill smoother whose mouth was damaged by an
idiot with a wire wheel. It is functional and a wonderful plane,
but it will never be what it was and they don't make em' anymore.
Mild rust can be rubbed off with a cloth and mineral spirits. If
it is heavy, abrasives can be used. Chemical methods tend to
leave an unattractive surface so avoid Naval Jelly and Coke(tm)
(same active ingredient!). I have tried soaking a saw in
vinegar; this dissolved the rust, but also pitted the steel (I
know because it etched the weave of the wicking cloth I was using
into the blade). Electrolysis is used in serious conservation
circles to remove corrosion. A discussion on this is archived at
the Electronic Neanderthal.
It's best to try to maintain the original finish on the wooden
portions of old tools. This of course can have its fanatical
extremes, but it's worth striving for. In general they were
either left unfinished (most wooden planes) or shellacked.
French polishing is the best way to renew the latter. The
simplest and least destructive of refinishing methods is to apply
a decent coat of paste wax. The gravest sin is polyurethane. It
can make the rarest of planes pariahs. The ultimate rule is
avoid irreversible changes.
Functional modifications should be avoided unless you really know
what you are doing. All of this may seem extreme, but until you
familiarize yourself with what is valuable and what is junk,
there is a chance you will be ruining a wonderful tool. Anyone
who has searched for old tools for very long has many stories of
wonderful tools "fixed" by people who simply didn't know how to
use them properly. I recently saw a wonderful 2" wide complex
moulding plane with its mouth whacked open. I guess the original
tight mouth did not allow the 1" thick shavings the user was
producing to clear the throat. ;-(
That said, there are times when an otherwise useless old junker
can be transformed into a useful working tool by means of radical
surgery--such as turning a handyman class smoother into a scrub,
or an old wooden rabbet into a sliding dovetail plane.
Most accounts of tuning old planes usually emphasize the
importance of flattening the sole. This is a somewhat
controversial issue in old tooldom. While a seriously non-
planar sole is a problem, most are quite functional. Wooden
planes (with which so much of the greatest furniture was made)
are never terribly flat. I think it's a genre issue. If you are
writing an article or book on restoring and tuning tools, you
will want to include everything. Article after article notes
sole lapping and it becomes dogma. But not all planes need this
treatment. Nevertheless there are times when a sole is so out of
whack that it has to be flattened, and there's no harm in that.
Note, however, that lapping the sole can enlarge the mouth
harming its performance. It will also lesson the plane's appeal
to collectors. So don't go lappin any #164's.
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crafts, woodworking, bandsaw, biscuit joiners, dust collect, jointer, miter saw, motors, planer, router, sander, shop heat, toy safety, ammonia, antique tool, hide glue, motors, wood bending, workbench
