Stanley Bailey No. 27 Refurb

[dave d]

Inspired by the posts of Dave and Kevin, I thought I should give my plane a cleaning and tune-up. I had already done a little truing of the sole and sharpened up the iron, but this time I meant business. {cue dramatic music}

So this is the story of this plane: (Source - http://www.handplane.com)
Stanley Rule and Level Co. No. 27 Jack Plane
Manufactured: 1869 to 1917
Length: 15 inches
Blade Width: 2-1/8 inches
Construction: Cast iron frame, beech base, handle & knob
Finish: Japanned frame, lacquered wood parts
Features: Wood base
Uses: General purpose bench plane

Wow! It's pretty cool to be using a tool that was made a hundred years ago. Makes you wonder what it might have been used to build, by whom, and all that. With a little more research I may be able to narrow down the year it was made.



Here are the 'before' photos.

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I took it all apart and sanded the body down to the bare metal which wasn't hard as the paint was mostly flaked off.

[dave d]

I painted the metal parts, except for the iron, which I polished up and sharpened the edge.

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I flattened the sole and squared up the sides, using another plane. It does a respectable job as a shooting plane now, or can be used for general plane work. I was able to get a 3' long strip of .0015" thick shaving without any problem.
Edit - I forgot to mention that I applied some tung oil to the bare wood.

Let's give those old-timey planes another chance!

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks Dave, you have encouraged me to get on with cleaning mine up and making them more useful! Especially since Kevin has backed out of doing it. :-)

[Kevin in California]

That is a sweet plane Dave. I also have one of the transitionals I need to work on. It is a 24" jointer and in really good shape.
I was going to tune it and see if it would work flattening the top on the bench I'm making, but I didn't get to it and just used a jack plane.

I love these really old tools and it is fun to bring them back to use.