u/robotdinofight

Hello r/axecraft ! I am no stranger to vintage tools as I routinely refinish vintage hand planes and chisels and such over on r/handtools , but this is my first time with an axe head. I found this guy at an antique mall over the weekend. It seems to be valuable, so I know enough not to clean it, but do you have any other tips? I will probably sell it but I’m wondering if I should try to wipe with oil or anything else? Does it look legit? Based on what I’ve been reading, it’s an early pre-1930ish model in a Connecticut pattern. Does that sound right? Any good links for reading up on the history? Thoughts on what I should list it for on eBay? I buy and sell a lot of handtools already over there so I’m comfortable with the percentage eBay takes. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Stanley 10 1/2 type 15 for $12! I’m so pumped.

I made my split top roubo about a year and a half ago. I love having an end vise on the right for lots of miscellaneous tasks. My kids often use that vise when they’re out in the shop with me and I use it for plane restorations and basically anything that might tear up my normal leg vise. But I also don’t use it for planing like I thought I would because I have to clamp the board so far to the right, I don’t have any room to start planing that far over. So I started dreaming of tail /wagon vises. Enter Andy Klein’s convertible tail vise kit. I’ve been thinking about buying it for a while, but had a lot of trouble committing to cutting up my bench. I just kind of shelved the project for a few months. A few nights ago I built a kind of plywood jig so I could plane like I wanted to and just thought about it more. I had a magswitch lying around which is the underlying structure of Klein’s kit. I started tinkering with mechanisms to slide without having much play. I tested a drawer slide I had lying around but it had a ton of play side to side. I tested a small sliding dovetail which seemed to be promising. Scaled it up into some 2x4s and it seemed to work great. So decided to just do it. Made the cross cut with a hand saw, long rip cut with my track saw (with a super dull blade apparently), and finished off with a handsaw. Planed everything flat. Drilled a big hole in the jaw of the end vise for the mag switch. Added a big washer inset in the suede for the magnet to grab onto. I cut the sliding dovetails on the table saw. It’s a simple device but brilliant from Andy Klein. Now I can use the end vise as normal, then twist the switch and it becomes a sliding tail vise. I might make a fancy knob to slide over the magswitch eventually. Thanks for looking.

If you’re on instagram I made a highlight reel with timelapses of the build viewable here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcWAhXcO5Yb/?igsi=eXN0dWU5ZHlwZTk1

Just finished up a batch of Stanley plane totes. I had to replace the horns on most of these. I used cocobolo on the no. 2 sized tote, and different shades of Bolivian rosewood for the rest. I hand sand up to 180 grit, then apply 2 light coats of shellac, then 2 coats of paste wax with 0000 steel wool. Hand buffed with a cotton cloth.

Got this little guy for a decent deal but it needed some work. Used some maroon scotch brite pads, fine sandblocks, and some metal polish for the bronze and steel. Had to remake the horn and reglue the tote in multiple spots. Sanded the tote and knob up to 220 grit, 2 light coats of shellac, then 2 coats of paste wax. Works great now and is really cute.

Made a video of some hand cut dovetail practice tonight.

Been lusting after one of these for a while. Finally found a good later user model for a good price. This one has has a steel depth adjustment wheel and a BB iron stamped from the 3rd quarter of 1941. Making it a ww2 plane and one of the last 113s that Stanley produced. The last photo is how I received it, the other photos are after a cleaning and a bath in the backyard ballistics rust remover. I might take the whole thing apart and re-Japan, but I’m not sure yet. It works really well, though this is more of a display piece as there aren’t too many uses for it in my work.

I made some stories for instagram on how I repair missing horns on plane totes on planes I fix up. I figured I’d post it here if it helps anyone. Let me know if you have any questions!