"new" stanley bedrock 4 1/2 c plane

[Sydney Smith]

I was in the local consignment store, talking to the proprietor who is a friend. On the tool table is this hunk of rust, and a $25 price tag. I was indignantly telling my friend what a rip-off high price that was for such a dismal little sad rescue prospect when I looked a little closer and .....it's a Bedrock! Hmmm. And it's a 4 1/2 c, too. So it followed me home. I'll see what can be done with it. It's pretty severely rusted and the tote is busted at the top, needless to say the japanning is gone, and the blade and cap iron are in pretty bad shape. However when I took it apart (not easy), it appeared that the plane was not worn hardly at all. Somebody left it in very inappropriate conditions, though, for a really long time. The parts are sitting in a bath of evaporust at the moment. From the online aids it appears it might be a type 2 or 3.

[Mike Holbrook]

Nice find!

Evapo-Rust is great. Should make your Bedrock look like a new old plane in 12-24 hours. Then you find out how much pitting you have. I am guessing not too much. Handles are available on ebay and from several guys who make them, or you can make your own, Actually the wood does not look too bad either if you can live with the top of the handle missing. I see so many like that I am guessing a fair number of owners removed a little off the top to make the blade skew work a little easier.

Hope to see the after pictures soon.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice find and a great price. My #4-1/2 was in better condition, but it cost $5 more. Besides, it isn't a Bedrock.

A break on the tote like that isn't too difficult to repair.

jtk

[Sydney Smith]

After several hours in Evaporust. Now that the markings are clearer, it seems to be a type 4. When repairing the tote...is there a preferred adhesive for the wooden patch?

[Jim Koepke]

That looks very nice.

When repairing the tote...is there a preferred adhesive for the wooden patch?

I have used epoxy. Mostly because sawdust from the wood being used can be mixed in with the epoxy to help hide the repair.

Rosewood can be quite resinous. It can help to clean the surfaces to be glued with some lacquer thinner or acetone just before gluing.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

Good for you! That'll be sweet when you clean it and tune it up.

New Duck!

[Harold Burrell]

I am not liking you very much right now.

[Sydney Smith]

Update. The plane is now fixed up, as much as I'm going to anyway. The old broken tote was wrong...it must be from a later model plane. When I patched it and reinstalled it, the lateral adjustment lever collided with the top of the horn perfectly. A little more research was in order. I found out that the earlier Stanley planes had a tote with a different shape. The Lee Valley tote template pattern will not work on these planes, at least not on this one. So I made a new handle from a scrap of maple, a borrowed properly shaped tote, and the instructions from the Sawmill Creek pinned thread. It's finished with several coats of Tru-oil, as is the front knob. I wonder if somebody broke the original tote, replaced it with a random (more recent) one, then broke off the horn when they tried to use the lateral adjuster (which was also pretty much detached from the frog). Then abandoned the plane in a leaky old barn or somewhere similar and forgot it. Whatever! I replaced the blade with a laminated Japanese one from Japan Woodworker...which was on sale...and a Hock chipbreaker is on its way. I originally tried a Veritas blade and chipbreaker, but the blade is too thick and I don't want to file on the mouth of this plane to make it fit. The plane now works really well, it's a keeper, I think. All in all, a fun and rewarding thing to find and clean up.

[Jim Koepke]

We should look as good when we are that old.

Looks like it is going to be a good user. The round sided Bedrocks are the only ones that tempt me into keeping them. If one comes my way in this or any other uncommon size I just might keep it.

jtk