What a treat the Sandusky plough (plow US) turned out to be.
I spent a couple of hours cleaning but beyond that and oiling or waxing moving parts there wasn’t much that needed to happen to get it working. Degrunging the surfaces was just a steel wool exercise with some solvent and then waxing with furniture polish.
Threads in wood and steel and brass needed cleaning only and a nylon brush and solvent took care of that. My excitement builds as I spin the boxwood nuts onto the wooden threads and with a flick of the thumb the nut travels two inches.
I sanded the steel parts to get the surface rust off. The screws were seated hard but furniture wax helped them back in.
I love the way the wooden threads look now. There’s something about the order they depict. The skate looks nice too.
Now to the real fun. This Sandusky plow plane is set up in the same way as any wooden plane where the cutting iron is fixed by wedging. I sharpened one of the cutting irons, the 1/4″, and installed it in the plane. Everything on the plane was intact so it was only a question of reassembly after cleaning.
The plane really works and removes stock superfast. In pine and oak and mahogany it left me with a crispness that tells much about those that once relied on them. It was a harder push in the hardwoods, but still easy to work.
5 Comments
Very nice! Just finding a wooden plough with all its irons is a major accomplishment. Most I see just have the one iron that was left in it when it was last put on a shelf decades ago, the rest of the set being lost in the mists of time.
I have a Sandusky Tool #120 with a single iron and a little chipping in the threads. The maker’s mark is much simpler, just straight text without the scroll.
Paul – What sort of solvent did you use to “degrunge”?
There are many solvents available, some harmful, some not. Vinegar and boiled linseed oil mixed in equal parts makes the least invasive for hand tools like wood planes. I use 0000 (extra fine) steel wool for wooden planes in general. This is like an oil-and-water mix so shake the bottle and you get parts of each on your cloth, pad or steel wool. For really grungy planes I sometimes use a degreaser with a scotchbrite pad first and then follow up with the steel wool.
Do you know a reference that explains the differences in the number designations for the Sandusky plough planes? I have a 132 and a 137. I have seen other 132’s in different woods and with different nuts and different moldings on the fence, so I assume the number designates body styles.
I am sorry, I don’t know this one. Perhaps someone out there can help?
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Very nice! Just finding a wooden plough with all its irons is a major accomplishment. Most I see just have the one iron that was left in it when it was last put on a shelf decades ago, the rest of the set being lost in the mists of time.
I have a Sandusky Tool #120 with a single iron and a little chipping in the threads. The maker’s mark is much simpler, just straight text without the scroll.
Paul – What sort of solvent did you use to “degrunge”?
There are many solvents available, some harmful, some not. Vinegar and boiled linseed oil mixed in equal parts makes the least invasive for hand tools like wood planes. I use 0000 (extra fine) steel wool for wooden planes in general. This is like an oil-and-water mix so shake the bottle and you get parts of each on your cloth, pad or steel wool. For really grungy planes I sometimes use a degreaser with a scotchbrite pad first and then follow up with the steel wool.
Do you know a reference that explains the differences in the number designations for the Sandusky plough planes? I have a 132 and a 137. I have seen other 132’s in different woods and with different nuts and different moldings on the fence, so I assume the number designates body styles.
I am sorry, I don’t know this one. Perhaps someone out there can help?