I got amazed again today ---- the corrugated triplets

[Dave Beauchesne]

Here on the left coast, we are a bit starved tool wise. Not enough years of occupation- amazed myself today. I haven't seen a # 8 in the wild let alone two. A Stanley type 12 or 13, busted tote and chipped lever cap, but otherwise decent. The 5-1/2 is a type 11 with a busted tote and totalled lever cap, but, again, decent and fixable. Last is an Ohio Tool Co. #8, lateral adjuster, busted tote, crappy knob, and chipped lever cap. Other than that, it shows promise, EXCEPT, I have no clue about parts or age. Any info is appreciated.

[John Vernier]

My Ohio Tool No.7 has handles of some nondescript hardwood with simple faux graining in black - so don't waste your rosewood making new totes for that one. They also used tapered irons which they claimed were superior to the thin Bailey type blades - and they are, in some ways, although I find the adjuster action is much heavier going due to the wedging action of the tapered iron.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Dave,

Been there on an Ohio Tool company plane. Mine is a #04, and it belonged to my grandfather, so I went to a lot of trouble to get parts to restore it. In fact, I used it today for the first time on a project, worked great. I had tested mine after the restoration was finished, but hadn't used it for anything real until today. Like John mentioned above, however, the iron is tapered, which makes it more of a pain to adjust the iron, and at least in my case it made it more of a pain to sharpen.

The Ohio Tool company ceased to be in business about 1920 or a year or two after that. (I have may have seen, more than one date on that, I think, and was thinking I may have also seen 1922, but do not remember for certain.) So your plane can't be newer than about 1920 or so.

The bad news is that in my case, parts were hard to come by. I watched on Ebay for an Ohio plane that matched mine for 2 to 4 months, if I remember correctly, and I only saw two #04s over that time period. I had hoped for a broken plane which had good parts, at least good parts of the type I needed. The bad news, was that I had to buy a good plane and cannibalize it. I didn't want to have to use parts off a good plane to repair mine, but ended up having no choice. I saw so few #04 Ohio planes that I had to take what I could get. I think there will be even less #8s out there.

The good news is that, at least in my case, the plane I bought wasn't high dollar. However, you may have to look for quite a while to find parts.

A second piece of good news is that some of the early Keen Kutter planes were mad e by Ohio Tool company, and the Keen Kutters are easier to find than the Ohio Tool company planes. A word of caution on this, though, you have to have pictures of the disassembled Keen Kutter plane to make sure is matches yours, because another company made the Keen Kutter planes after Ohio Tool Company quit. If the Ohio/Keen Kutter planes are like the Stanley planes, a tote from a #5, #6, or #7 will also fit the #8, but I don't know. The Ohio planes have a fairly distinctive looking toe to the tote, so this may also be a clue as to whether the Keen Kutter you are looking at was made by Ohio Tool Company.

The Keen Kutter planes made by Ohio Tool Company were "KK" models, whereas the "K" models were made by Stanley, and were basically an early Bedrock model. Again, however, the later "KK" model Keen Kutter planes were not made by Ohio Tool Company.

Regards,

Stew

[Dave Beauchesne]

Stew:

Thanks for all the info.

I am a tool hog, and given the rarity, may keep it and perhaps stumble on parts along the way.

It doesn't have BR type frog, I haven't looked at the blade yet, but it is marked Ohio Tool -

Great summary- thanks again.

Dave B

[steven c newman]

test drive.jpg
How long before it takes a test drive? This is my 0-7. Iron has a Globe logo stamped into it.
IMAG0068.jpg
Parts is parts

[Jim Koepke]

Finding a lever cap for the 5-1/2 may also be a challenge. They were an odd size at 2-1/4" until 1939.

Not sure is a 2-3/8" lever cap could be ground a bit to fit.

jtk

[Dave Beauchesne]

Finding a lever cap for the 5-1/2 may also be a challenge. They were an odd size at 2-1/4" until 1939.

Not sure is a 2-3/8" lever cap could be ground a bit to fit.

jtk

Good call Jim - it is indeed 2.25 inches. I have a really nice 5 and a half type 8 or 9 I found a few years ago, which, of course, is the smaller width of 5.25 inches.

Stew:

The Iron is indeed tapered - no other marks on the plane body, but the iron is pretty good from a quick look. Another interesting project.

Thanks for the info -

Dave B

[Jim Koepke]

The Iron is indeed tapered - no other marks on the plane body, but the iron is pretty good from a quick look.

I purchased a half of a #4 size plane at a yard sale. It was just the back half. The plane looked like an Ohio Tools plane. The blade was tapered and marked Stanley. I do not recall which type of Stanley logo it had. Not sure where it is at present.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Jim and Dave,

I don't think grinding down the lever cap from a #6 or #7 would be a good idea. While I believe it could be ground to fit, I think that would leave the ribs along the sides of the lever cap pretty thin. Still, if memory serves me correctly, a while back I was fiddling with parts to some of my planes, and trying to put the correct parts with the correct planes. (Don't do as I do and have 3 or 4 similarly sized Stanley planes torn apart and none of the parts labelled.) At any rate, if I remember correctly the #6 lever cap just barely is too wide for the #5 1/2. So, Jim's idea might work. I still would be a bit leery of such until I became desperate for a part though.

If you look on that auction site long enough, sometimes a separate 5 1/2 lever cap will show up. There are two there now, but they want $27+ dollars for them....pretty rich for my blood. Still, if you have almost nothing invested in the plane maybe a $27 lever cap will get you in business, so if that is the case it is something to think about. Sometimes a broken plane shows up, and will sell for less. That way you can get a lever cap, iron, and chip breaker for about the price of the lever cap alone, but sometimes even the broken planes go for way too much.

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

Stew,

My mention of grinding a larger lever cap came from something I read about #3 lever caps often being ground down to fit a #2, a much more expensive lever cap to find in the wild.

My plane hasn't been checked to see how much would have to be removed to fit between the cheeks of the plane needing a replacement cap.

Thus my comment was: "Not sure is a 2-3/8" lever cap could be ground a bit to fit."

It is up to the individual to determine for themselves if this is an acceptable way to replace a lever cap.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Thus my comment was: "Not sure is a 2-3/8" lever cap could be ground a bit to fit."

Out of curiosity an experiment was done to see how this might work.

The results are here:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...66#post2598266

jtk

[steven c newman]

Another source would be to find a plane made by Union. Would date to about the same time. Both tried to compete with Stanley, before Stanley bought bot of them out.