After cleaning and removing most of the surface rust (soaked the plane in vinegar for a day) the plane has now been reassembled. The blade was also sharpened using a set of DMT Duosharp diamond bench stones which took a while as I needed to flatten the back of the blade. The primary bevel of this plane blade is 25° with a 30° secondary bevel. I also put on a slight curve to the blade, following these instructions from Matt Estlea. In future I’ll only need to sharpen the secondary bevel, unless it’s gets as large as the primary bevel in which case I’ll re-grind the primary.
You’ll notice the handles are now a different color, which I put down to differing types of woods. Previously the handles were finished in a dark reddish lacquer but as this was flaking off I sanded them both down to bare wood, applied a few coats of linseed oil followed by some hard wax polish. Before final assembly I sprayed all the metal parts with Boeshield T-9 which leaves a protective waxy film.
I included one of the before pictures so you can compare and contrast and as you can see the plane cuts pretty well.
PS this is the previous plane entry.
Dad would be proud.
Thanks Ian and yes I think he’d be very pleased that’s it’s back in use and not languishing in a shed