Whilst serving in the RAF many years ago I used to be in charge of the woodwork club on a particular station I was serving at.
The job consisted of several responsibilities one which was holding the inventory of tools, many of which were hand tools and all were of good quality, when the station closed due to cut backs I had cause to return the tools to stores only to be told by the store-man that they were what was termed 'c class stores' therefore consumable items and would be disposed of after use.
In point of honesty he told me that they would be buried beneath the airfield ! and so if I had any need for them I could keep them.
As there were only 2 members of the club left on base we duly shared the tools between us, it was a bit like winning the lottery !. I had suddenly and unexpectedly inherited a good quality tool kit all at no expense.
The reason I am telling this story is because just the other day I came across a box of planes that I had forgotten in my workshop (some of the aforementioned tools I had inherited). As they had been stored for such a long time in not the best of conditions they were in desperate need of some TLC. So I decided to bring them back to life one by one.
And, this is it beforehand, I'm pretty sure it's called a smoothing plane and as you can see it's not in the best shape. Its a good idea if you have a digital camera to take a few snaps whilst you are taking the plane apart to record the different parts in their relative places. (if you've got the technology why not use it ) I'll do my best to name the parts as we deal with them.
I remember at College, many moons ago, that the first practical task we were set was to make a 1 metre long straight edge out of a wany piece of timber specially selected by the tutors. The only tool we were allowed to use was a Jack plane which we had to sharpen and sort out beforehand as part of the learning process.
I remember dismantling the plane many times during the task and enthusiastically hand sharpening the blade before patiently resetting it for each stage of the proceedings, The consequent reward being how well the plane would perform when in peak condition, it was for me an enjoyable experience and to this day I still enjoy sharpening and maintaining my hand tools, there is something special and rewarding from achieving a really precise,fine cut or a thin curl of timber from a tool that has been properly and personally prepared.
The aforementioned straight edge which has been used for many a task over the years and only re-planed once would you believe.
Here we have the plane stripped to it's basic components, from top to bottom we have :-
a. The cap iron.
b. The Iron (blade).
c. The Lever cap with knob (left) and Tote (right).
d. The body.
e. The frog with lateral adjustment lever.
I don't intend to go over the top with this clean up but just want to get the plane back into a decent working order, so in the main I will be concerned with getting a good cutting edge and a smooth bottom plate that will slide easily along the timber being planed. As for the rest we'll see what's required as we progress.
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