Stanley Type 20 plane restoration with pictures.

[Coalsmoke]

Hi guys. I'm a new member here and thought I'd put up a couple pictures of my first bench plane, a Stanley Type 20. Price was free if I could resurrect it. I have about 8 hours into it. I did the handle and knob in Minwax Antique Oil as I didn't want it to look to new and flashy.

I'm pretty new to woodworking, but not new to wood per say. My wife and I have a small custom cut sawmill business. Anyways, with any luck I'll have a couple of before and after pictures attached to this thread of the new-to-me plane.

[Brian @ Muir]

With your sawmill do you have your own logs. Will be looking for cedar fence boards in the spring. Also interested in Douglas Fir, 4/4 for cabinets

Brian

More Importantly, welcome to the forum.

[Coalsmoke]

Thank you for the welcome. We keep 30,000 - 50,000 board feet of logs in stock at all times, and concentrate on providing higher grade wood, usually to craftsmen (timber framers, wood workers, etc.) Fir and Cedar are regularly stocked items. I'm not sure how shipping would work out though, unless you are planning to come out this way?

[Brian @ Muir]

I lived in Brookswood a few years ago and my brother still lives there. Will be in Langley in the spring. Your link does not work.

Brian

[Coalsmoke]

Well we're practically neighbours then. Thanks for the head up on the link, hopefully it is working now. It is just a personal site of mine. I'm not here to flog our business (but am happy to help members here as much as I can with supplying wood).

[Chris Kees]

Nice Job! How were you able to get the blue paint off the body? I recently picked up a #6 plane of about the same vintage free from a coworker and wasn't sure the best method to remove the blue paint.

[Coalsmoke]

Thanks Chris. Actually I left the original blue paint as much as possible. My goal was to remove as much rust as possible without completely stripping the plane. I removed the rust with a brass wire brush in a die grinder and it worked quite well since it wasn't too aggressive. I now have 3 restored Stanley planes, I guess I should get a few more photos up. I wasn't sure about the lead paint issue, if it is an issue on tool paint or not, so I did all the brushing in front of my exhaust fan and then cleaned everything up with shop towel and thinner.

[Bob in Weyburn]

Nice job of fixing that plane up.
My own experience with Stanley is that the older planes, older than the painted body series, are of a higher quality. They are a bit heavier and the machining is better. After restoration, you generally have a better quality plane. Keep an eye out for an older series, fix it up, and see if you notice any difference.

I bookmarked your site, I may be needing some 20 foot clear cedar for a canoe in a year or two.

[Coalsmoke]

Hey Bob, we sold the sawmill portion of our business, but thanks all the same. The planes with the black painted body, is that still considered a painted body? I heard somewhere that is wasn't a paint they used like on the blue ones and that they were and older generation than the blue body planes. Hear is a picture of my 3 planes to date, after restoring the Type 20 (size number 4?) I found the number 5 and restored it. This January I found the number 7 jointer plane. Its a joy to use now that its been restored.

[flairwoodworks]

Coalsmoke,

Nice to see another BC boy 'round here. The group here is predominantly from Ontario.

Isn't it great to tune-up an old plane? There aren't too many tasks as satisfying, in my opinion. I especially like to custom-make the totes to fit my hand.

[Coalsmoke]

Hey Chris, us "west coasters" have to stick together don't you know ;) I love the history in an old tool or piece of equipment. I have a lathe and a drill press from the mid 1800's that speaks volumes about the budding industrial world of 150 years ago. I'd like to try making a tote and knob one of these days.

[spearthrower]

HI there....and thanks for the pictures and the information. I am trying to restore a Stanley type 20 plane exactly like yours. It is in very good shape, BUT...I have found that the frog to sole contact is on 2 points only...those being below the bolts that hold the frog to the sole. There is NO contact to the sole on the front of the frog, where there would "normally" be 2 more contact points....making either 3 or 4 in all to keep that frog rock solid. This one, on the front of the frog, sits out in space, approx. 1/8 of an inch above the sole, and has never even come close to touching it. Is yours like this also? I assume this matters...to how well the plane will work? I realize this is NOT a high quality plane, but I'd like to get it working it's best. Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon, even though I know this post is getting old...(like me).

[Coalsmoke]

Hi there, my #20 is not like that, the front of the frog also rests on the sole up by the mouth. Can you remove the frog and file or lap it flat? My #20 has become a scrub plane, it works very well for this. The Jack and the Jointer planes received O1 irons and cap upgrade kits from Lee Valley and now cut like a high end plane. I use the jointer as a jointer and the jack really earns its keep, from flattening to final smoothing. I can take consistent shavings with them thin enough to read a book through, but I did spend a fair amount of time getting the planes to this stage. Worth it in the long run.

[Warthog]

Spearthrower, this is my type 20 #5 plane that I bought in the early 70s. I never took it apart until last year, when I found out a whole lot of things, including the fact that the frog had been installed off kilter. It is my goto plane now, after I got into how to use planes and sharpen them. Does your frog and receiver look like this?

The seating of this frog is fairly straightforward. If the frog and receiver are both scrupulously clean, you may have to judiciously file or sand any imperfections in the casting which may be making it wobbly. Fortunately, mine seems to be OK, but the final assembly shouldn't have passed quality control. These are the last planes Stanley made and far from their best.

I intend at some point to touch up the black paint on the handle and knob, and depending on how the blue paint cleans up, I may retouch that, too. These type 20s are not historic planes, and anyway as I use my planes rather than display them it doesn't bother me to mess with their value as antiques. That'll be my kids' problem when they sell them after I'm gone.

[Warthog]

Hmmm. I've just noticed that my plane doesn't have a frog adjustment screw, or a place for it. The threaded hole under the blade height adjuster is a continuation of the screw that holds the lever cap and blade assembly in place. Maybe this is just a feature of Canadian made Stanley planes, as it is supposed to be on the type 20.

[Warthog]

Hey Bob, we sold the sawmill portion of our business, but thanks all the same. The planes with the black painted body, is that still considered a painted body? I heard somewhere that is wasn't a paint they used like on the blue ones and that they were and older generation than the blue body planes. Hear is a picture of my 3 planes to date, after restoring the Type 20 (size number 4?) I found the number 5 and restored it. This January I found the number 7 jointer plane. Its a joy to use now that its been restored.

That's a fabulous set of planes! May be all you need, but you've already been bit by the bug...

[spearthrower]

Hi and thanks to Warthog and Coalsmoke for replying! This is the 2nd try at posting, as I had one ALL done, and hit "submit"....and even though I had logged in, I was now NOT logged in (why not?) and I lost it all. I should have saved it first...copied it...but didn't. Does this time out or something?
Anyways....to try again....am including some pictures to try to show my problem a bit better. As I see it, the frog has to drop straight down by about 1/16 of an inch or a bit more, to allow the front bottom of the frog to contact the sole just behind the throat opening. The 2 pads on the sole that the frog sits on need to be worked down; the question is HOW to do it and keep them even? These 2 pads are not machined surfaces at all, and are quite "rough". The paint on them, and the mating surfaces on the bottom of the frog (before I worked them) had no marks at all. The blade side of the frog worked down nicely on sandpaper on glass. I am very aware that this is not a "great Stanley", and is quite poorly made, but, being of good Scot ancestory, I'd like to get it performing as best it can. I am also restoring a vintage CRAFTSMAN Model 5CBB 14" corrugated sole jack plane, which is very well made and it's going slow, but very well. I have purchased Veritas Stanley blade and cap iron sets for both these planes.
I am considering using a common sanding block to attempt the working of those pads. Any suggestions would be appreciated...thanks!

[dickandjane]

Hey there Spearthrower,
I have fixed up a few of these later "blue" stanleys, don't underestimate them - when they are properly set up they can do an excellent job on most any wood. My #4 is set up in such a way that it can take gossamer shavings, in any wood I throw at it, in any grain direction - so these can be made to work. I believe my #4's frog is like yours, not precisely mated to the bed. (Warthog's is the same.)

How does the plane perform right now? What kind of performance are you expecting from this plane? The reason I ask is that if the frog doesn't move, or shift in any way right now, and all you want to accomplish is a plane that makes things "pretty flat", I wouldn't really worry about filing the bed pads. If however you'd like to get max performance from this plane, I'd spent ten or twenty minutes, and knock down the pad so it's flat, and get on with using the plane. Close the mouth down to make fine shavings, make sure that there is no movement in the frog. Make sure that the bottom is pretty flat in and around the toe, mouth area, and heel. And especially, make sure that you have it sharp - sharp enough to make the hairs jump off your arm, painlessly. If you get a blade that sharp, I mean really sharp - (and even the blade it came with will cut very nicely if sharpened truly "razor" sharp) - then your plane will do what it was designed to do, often with no further "messing around".
I have read lots about how blue stanley planes are garbage etc - the belief probably stems from a prominent tool collector/dealer in the states, Patrick Leach. (Who I think spends a lot more time looking at planes, than using them.) While they are less refined, they will (if given proper attention) make a fine shaving.

So my suggestion is to just file those pads flat, and make some fluffy shavings.

Hope this helps!
Pete

[Warthog]

Try putting a 1/16" shim under the front of the frog and tighten the frog screws down. Once the screws are tightened the shim won't move, and it will hold everything steady. And save you a lot of grinding.

[spearthrower]

Thanks Pete and Roger! I have never used this particular plane; I got it basically for nothing, and the blade was so badly knicked etc that I decided to put that new set in from Lee Valley....SO...decided to tune it up first, and this is where I ran into this little problem. I like both suggestions...I will at least flatten the 2 pads...right now they are rounded and rough (cast that way). Once those are shiny and flat, I will try the shim idea, tighten eveything up and have a go. I also have yet to flatten the sole, but that isn't a big issue to do. I will post back later, and thanks guys!