I might not be able to bend yet, but I can still do jobs where I can stand!
Last week, I picked up a second hand No.5 Hand Plane, it says it is a Stanley, but I can guarantee it isn\’t, it\’s a cheap Chinese copy, or had a Stanley lever cap inserted, by the previous owner, however that doesn\’t make it a bad plane.
The body itself didn\’t need much work, just a clean.
I therefore used the my bench grinder to carefully grinder the blade back beyond the blue, which meant removing just over 1/8\”. I then roughly put a new bevel on the blade, after which I moved to my oil stone, and spent an hour sharpening the blade by hand, using plenty of oil on the stone.
You can see that it is a near perfect 90° to the cap iron, sharp and ready for use!!
What I like about it, cheap or not, is that the handles are wood not plastic…
An Englishman in Colombia 