Restoring A Hand Plane - vintage Stanley No. 4

In this video I restore a vintage Stanley Number 4 hand plane which I purchased on eBay.

This handplane dates from 1948-1961 which is a really old model.  I used this website to check the age of the plane.

There was some rust to deal with, a loose handle, and the plane needed a set up as the frog was set too far forward.  The blade was also in need of a thorough sharpening.

I started by dissambling the handles and frog from the plane and I cleaned up all the rust from the bear metal parts with 80 grit sand paper.  I also oiled the bear metal parts once they were clean.

I could then re-fit the frog further back from where it was originally.

I used a knife blade to scrape off the old lacquer from the handles, and then sanded them with 80 grit abrasive paper.

I used Teak Oil to finish both handles.

I needed to shorten the bolt which held the rear handle in place so I used the grinder for that.  The bolt then sinched down the handle nicely, and I only needed to remove a couple of milimetres.

Next I flattened the sole of the plane.  I used a Sharpie to mark up the base of the plane, and some 80 grit paper on a flat surface (piece of melamine.  The sole had a big hollow in the centre, so it took quite a bit of sanding to get flat.

I also sanded the sides of the plane in the same way, and eased over the sharp edges to make it more comfortable in the hands.

I then cleaned up the cap iron and cutting iron, again with 80 grit abrasive paper and again adding oil to the bear metal parts to prevent them from rusting.

I then used my usual sharpening technique to bring the cutting iron edge to a mirror finish using the products listed below:

Draper Honing Guide: http://amzn.to/2rIhK9h (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2reUdvx (Amazon US)

Taidea 360/600 grit diamond plates http://amzn.to/2toED25 (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2rIolkm (Amazon US)

King Japanese 1000/6000 Whetstone: http://amzn.to/2shn7cH (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2qEpTaE (Amazon US)

Green Polishing Compound: http://amzn.to/2ro1do1 (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2qEzvCq (Amazon US)

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After re-installing everything and a quick set up of the frog and cutting iron alignment, I tested the plane out and it works brilliantly.  This is already my favourite hand plane to use, it has surpassed my expectations. Previously my "go to" hand plane was my Record no.;5 buton this one the cutting seems to hold a better edge and the plane feels great in the hand.  I LOVE IT!