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My next restoration project, an 80+ year old Winchester Rabbet Plane...

My next restoration project, an 80+ year old Winchester Rabbet Plane...

My next restoration project, an 80+ year old Winchester Rabbet Plane...

(OP)
This will probably be the last restoration project for a while (as I've run out of really old stuff). It's a Winchester #3060, 1/4 inch wide Rabbet Plane. It was my fathers but I have no idea of exactly from where or when he acquired it. It's possible that he could have gotten it from his father as he did work for a short time in a furniture factory but that's pure speculation. Anyway, this Rabbet Plane was manufactured by the Winchester Tool Company, which was a division of the Winchester Arms Company, formed after WWI as part of a diversification effort. They produced a wide range of very high quality hand-tools including a large variety of woodworking hand-planes. Here's what it currently looks like:





It's in surprisingly good condition. Nothing seems to be missing and except for some light rust, it's almost like new. Even the blade is there and it's still very sharp.

Now I've estimated the age of the tool by the fact that the Winchester Tool Company was formed in 1920 and was closed when the Great Depression hit, so that makes it at least 80 and perhaps as much as 90 year old. Now I mention that these were considered very high quality tools and you can see from the pictures that there is very fine detail and the fittings (thumb screws, knobs) are very well finished. And this is also borne-out in what Winchester hand-tools go for on today's antique market. I've seen some of larger hand planes, some of which are real works of art, selling for several hundred dollars on eBay. While I haven't found any of this specific model Rabbet Plane on auction sites, I did find a #3061 (1/2 inch) and a #3062 (3/4 inch) Rabbet Planes selling for $250 and $300 respectively. They also made a model #3063 (1 inch) Rabbet Plane but I haven't seen yet what they're going for to collectors. It seems that there's a really big market for antique woodworking tools out there.

As I make progress on this I keep all of you up-to-date.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

RE: My next restoration project, an 80+ year old Winchester Rabbet Plane...

Thank you for sharing John.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

RE: My next restoration project, an 80+ year old Winchester Rabbet Plane...

(OP)
I'm just doing it for the sake of the art. I never got into the whole woodworking scene. I was more into soldering irons and old radios when I was younger and while I've still got a really nice General Coverage Short Wave receiver set-up in my garage, I spend most of my time with my cameras and my coin collection.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

RE: My next restoration project, an 80+ year old Winchester Rabbet Plane...

(OP)
Well I've finished my little project. It took longer than I thought it would take but I've been distracted with some other issues, including teaching our granddaughter how to drive (which will be a story for another time).

Here's the final results:





Similar to my other 'restoration' projects, I first cleaned and polished the non-painted parts, and then stripped and repainted the three cast iron parts.

Anyway, that's the last of my current restoration projects (I guess I need to spend some time at garage sales to see what else I might find out there).

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

RE: My next restoration project, an 80+ year old Winchester Rabbet Plane...

JohnRBaker, the plane looks great.

Ted

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