Been doing some rust hunting lately...

[deathwish]

...and have got some great tools, but one has me a wonderin' . . .

How short is too short on a Bailey-style plane iron?

One of the irons on a Stanley #4 is sharpened within a half=inch-of-its-life.

So the question . . . at what point do you retire them? I fear the 'flexibility' of this one, and want to know if it's worth cleaning up and honing . . . or if it will be prone to chattering like a pair of wind-up teeth!




Better shot of what is left of the blade:



Incidentally, the #4 (pics above) is a really solid looking type 13 (Sweetheart-era) with a later (non-sweetheart, badly worn) blade on board. I bought it with a #3 (also a type 13 with a correct SW blade, though brazed (nicely) back together at the mouth and a broken tote), and a Stanley #70 box scraper with a slop of yellow paint and a blade dating it to WWI era . . . and a big triangular file . . . all for one Andrew Jackson. And that was just one buy of three in the last few weeks! ;D

[TDHofstetter]

Oowa Owwa, that IS GETTING DOWN there, isn't it?

I don't think I'd worry awfully about chatter yet, though - not till it gets down to about the last 1/8" before you hit bevel. You're CLOSE, but not quite there yet. No matter what, I think it's worth cleaning & sharpening & trying out, even if it only gets used successfully one time before it hits the skids.

[deathwish]

Thanks Tim . . . yeah . . . it's closer than anything I've ever tinkered with, so I wasn't sure about it. I'll give it a go, and keep my eyes out for a better blade for it . . . at the price I've got this at, I can't justify a Hock or and Ives iron.

[sawduster]

Before I did any heavy duty cleanup and sharpening, I'd check the temper with a file. Personally, though, I'd chitcan the blade and replace it.

[deathwish]

May 26, 2010 9:02:37 GMT -6 sawduster said:

Before I did any heavy duty cleanup and sharpening, I'd check the temper with a file. Personally, though, I'd chitcan the blade and replace it.

Ahh, good call, it may not be tempered all the way up to where it's at.

I do have more than one #5, and could 'borrow' a blade from one of those later models. Ideally, I'd like to find one that is period correct . . . not for collector's sake, but that I know the Sweetheart blades are good, as I've had good experience with them on other planes, in particular my go-to block, a 9-1/2.

Also, Jerry . . . do you know anything about Tyzack saws? All I can really find online is that they don't make them anymore. I don't know if they are good users or if they are simply collectible. I ask because I got a brass back #120 tenon saw . . . the handle is kind of 'cheap' looking (cheap as in it looks real plain and isn't 'shaped', kind of machine-made looking, like something from a modern import Big Box saw, and it's just like the one linked below), but the blade looks real nice, and a test cut on pine did just fine, but I've used a 'good' back saw, so I'm a poor judge. Looks to have never been sharpened, and it isn't dull either. It's from 1978, as it has a medallion around the nut commemorating Woodcraft's 50th anniversary. It looks just like this one, but no cardboard sleeve:
cgi.ebay.com/Tyzack-Tenon-Saw-Nonpareil-No120-Sheffield-Steel-Blade-/270575082962

[sawduster]

Other than having heard of them, I don't know about them. Before I spent $90 on one, I'd look around at stuff locally available that I could hold in my hand or one that comes highly recommended by hand tool fanatics.

[deathwish]

May 26, 2010 12:11:32 GMT -6 sawduster said:

Other than having heard of them, I don't know about them. Before I spent $90 on one, I'd look around at stuff locally available that I could hold in my hand or one that comes highly recommended by hand tool fanatics.

That's a beautiful thing . . . I got one, and I got it for $12.

But if they are not up to the level of a good Disston, and they are more of a collector thing . . . I'd gladly sell at a profit to a collector and go buy a known entity in a 'user-grade' vintage Disston.

Like I said, it cuts really nice . . . but I have nothing 'high-end' to compare it to . . . my present user is a later-model (I'd guess 70's) Disston that I did electrolysis and chased the teeth on with a saw file.