Hand plane’s tale: Crash and rebirth

 Awhile back, I had won a Diamond Edge #6c handplane.    It was kind of rusty, front knob was cracked, everything was in one piece, though..    However, when the box arrived at my front door….something didn't look quite right.  The front of the part came out of this box, followed by the rest of the plane..Not quite what I thought I bought.    While waiting on a refund, I did a little more "shopping".     I also started to take what parts I could save and clean them up.   Front knob?  Pattern for a new one on the lathe.    It's bolt?  Snapped off in the base,still had some threads left, clean and set aside.    That Union style frog?    PB Blaster to loosen the bolts, clean and polish the frog and the bolts.  Rear tote?    It came off in three pieces, and two rusty bolts.   Toss the rubber tote into the trash can.   New tote was on the way.    I had swapped a #3 lever cap for a Cherry #5 tote.      Which left the lever cap, the chip breaker, and the iron itself.   Funny part about it, the iron was narrower than the chip breaker.      It also had a Stanley logo stamp, with a patent date.  Iron SHOULD have been @ 2-3/8"  wide, it was actually @ 2-1/4" wide.    I still had to CLEAN all the rust off of these, but I was swapping parts as well.     swapped the Stanley iron to a fellow who needed an iron for a Stanley #5-1/2.      I got an iron in return (along with a few of his other parts) that was made in sweden, by Berg.   A look at the rusty stuff…Ugly, ain't they?    They will clean up though.     As for my shopping trip back to the Ebay?    I won a base for a stanley/bailey #6c.    I told the shipper to pack it like it was eggs, unless he wanted to do a refund.  Base showed up, almost like new!   Very little rust, not much fun clean up wise.     A look at  how things were coming together..Had to file the holes so that the bolts would fit, seems that the Union frog was a hair wider then the Stanley holes.   A new front knob, a nicely sharpened iron, and a new Cherry tote…A little finish on the tote and knob, then a test drive.. and NOW I have a Stanley/Bailey/Union/ Berg #6c, with hand made handles.   took about a week of working here and there on it, as I had a second large handplane getting a refurbishing at the same time.     But, that another story.     I wasn't about to give up on this plane, since there was some good parts in it.    Stubborn, I guess.

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