Stanley 71-1/2 - Dad hit a home run

[Doug Shepard]

My Dad does a fair amount of garage sailing and spotted this today. He wasn't real sure what it was but figured it looked like the kind of thing I might be interested in. So for a whopping $2 he took a chance. It's got a second wider cutter wired on to the adjustment post. Needs a good long soak in something to clean up the corrosion but doesn't appear to be pitted and the irons are in pretty good shape. Not quite as nice as my LV router plane but for $2 I think it's a keeper after a bit of work.
Stanlet 71 a.jpg

[john brenton]

I'll give you $4 for it!

[Bill Houghton]

Dang, that's a deal! I've paid as much as $35 for one, with only one cutter.

[Jim Koepke]

Great find.

jim

[Doug Shepard]

I'm going to try and find some Evapo-Rust this morning and get it soaking. I'll post some after pics with the results.
Dad mentioned last night that they originally had $3 marked on it before he talked them down a buck. I told him if he ever sees something marked Sauer & Steiner he can go as high as $20

[Doug Shepard]

OK. Here's the results of soaking in Evapo-Rust for 3 days with some light periodic wire brush work and some steel wool at the end. Still need to hone the cutters but this turned out pretty decent.
Stanlet 71 b.jpgStanlet 71 c.jpg

[Jonathan McCullough]

That one turned out really nice. I found a router like that and did it up with (and for) my son using naval jelly and some silver-colored spray paint; I'd do nickel plating if I had the supplies but I think it turned out all right and the paint keeps the rust off too. If I had to do it over again though I'd use black to emulate japanning; the binders in silver colored spray paint don't hold on to the silvery stuff enough, so you need to let it dry for a really really long time, then buff off a fine silvery outer layer. Here's a little pic of the one we did: