Along with a batch of 50″ Jet parallet clamps that arrived this week, I also received my latest eBay find – a Stanley #5 Jack Plane:
This one was in pretty good condition – no large patches of rust, both handles are in great condition, no cracks in the base. However, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the blade. So disappointed that I headed straight for my combination waterstone without taking a picture of the gouges. Let’s just say it resembled the mid-Atlantic coastline more than it resembled a straight line. One of the gouges had to be nearly 1/8″ deep.
Rather than go buy a new blade, I decided to give my hands a workout. I felt that keeping the current bevel (~30 degrees) would take forever to rub off enough of the blade to get below the gouges, so I took a more aggressive approach somewhere near 45 degrees. This got me past the rough spots, but left me with another problem: I now have a double beveled edge on my blade. So after taking an eighth of an inch off the blade already, I got to work the correct angle out to the edge of the blade. A few hundred passes on the stone later and I had a sharp edge I was happy with. Initially I thought my double angled approach would be easier/quicker, but in retrospect I’m not so sure. Anyone have an opinion either way?
I haven’t had a chance to make any shavings with it yet, due to the other work I accomplished this weekend. I also still need to check the sole for flatness before putting my newest plane to work. But I’m quite happy with my collection growing on the cheap.
