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Restoring Handplanes: Block Plane

Rollie Johnson shows how to fix up and restore a vintage block plane, converting a clunker into a classic hand tool.

By Roland Johnson Mar 03, 2021

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Rejuvenating an old Stanley Bailey plane is a great way to get started handplaning without breaking a slim woodworking budget. Tearing down a plane to its bare chassis and building it back to blueprint specs not only creates a great performing plane, but also gives you an insight into how these wonderful bench mates work. Rollie Johnson has rebuilt dozens of Bailey planes and given more than 100 seminars on the subject. In this video workshop he demonstrates his step-by-step approach to turning a clunker into a classic.

In this episode Rollie shows how to update and tune up a vintage block plane.

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Videos in the Series

Restoring Vintage Handplanes with Rollie Johnson: Introduction

January 27, 2021

Rejuvenating an old Stanley Bailey plane is a great way to get started handplaning without breaking a slim woodworking budget.
Restoring Handplanes: All About Stanley Planes

January 27, 2021

Rollie Johnson talks about the history of Stanley bench planes and explains what to look for when buying one.
Restoring Handplanes: The Parts of a Bench Plane

February 3, 2021

Learn about the anatomy of a bench plane and what each part does.
Restoring Handplanes: Cleaning and Repairing

February 10, 2021

Rollie Johnson demonstrates how to clean up an old handplane using something you might already have in your refrigerator: cola.
Restoring Handplanes: Tuning up Parts

February 17, 2021

Rollie Johnson gets his hands dirty in this episode, flattening the mating surfaces of the frog, and the sole of a vintage handplane.
Restoring Handplanes: Sharpening and Setup

February 25, 2021

Rollie Johnson shows his simple but effective method for sharpening a bench plane and then dials it in to get perfect shavings.
Restoring Handplanes: Block Plane

March 3, 2021

Rollie Johnson shows how to fix up and restore a vintage block plane, converting a clunker into a classic hand tool.
Tuning and Using the Stanley 82 Scraper

March 10, 2021

Rollie Johnson shows off one of his favorite hidden-gem hand tools: the Stanley 82 scraper.

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About This Video Workshop

You can get great results from a garage-sale find or an eBay purchase as long as you know what to do. Roland Johnson has rejuvenated dozens of Stanley Bailey planes and given more than 100 seminars on the subject. Here, he demonstrates how to tear down a plane to its bare chassis and rebuild it into a classic. In this video workshop, Rollie demonstrates how to restore: Bailey-style bench planes Block planes Stanley 82 scrapers… More about this Video Workshop

Comments

anonmt | Apr 18, 2021 04:42pm | #1
Many thanks to Rollie for the great instruction.
user-7136071 | Sep 07, 2021 09:20am | #2
Wonderful series! Rollie’s warning about leaning a blade on the sandpaper as you pick it up after removing the burr made me wonder why David Charlesworth’s “Ruler Trick” wouldn’t also round the edge and cause a problem.

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