Fly Fishing Rick
Well-known member
For the past several days I've been slowly restoring a 1929-30 Stanley Bailey No. 5 bench plane that I got cheap and today I finally saw some real improvement that wasn't just cosmetic related. The most difficult part of this whole project was getting the iron flat and sharp again, and it's still not perfect but it's a whole lot closer than it was. The cutting edge of the iron still needs some work and some other things need some fine tuning, but I'm really pleased so far. I still need to lap the sides flat while making them 90° parallel to the bottom and it'll be fully complete with the exception of working on the cutting edge some more. The angle of the primary bevel is slightly askew, but that's because one side of my jig is slightly higher than the other. I'll take it over and mill it flat at my buddies house before I sharpen the iron again and I'll be able to get a perfect edge.






























