Norris Bull Nose Refurbishment

Here was my most expensive purchase at the David Stanley auction (£225 all in), a steel soled gunmetal bull nose plane by Norris. This is a rare plane but from the look of you may think I've gone mad!!

The steel sole was heavily pitted and it was in a sorry state all-round. The iron looked original but everything had seized together.

First job was to deal with the sole. I have an old cast iron linnisher which is dead flat and works really well for such jobs. The danger it removing too much metal or from the wrong place. The toe didn't line up with the sole so it needed a good wack with a hammer to bring it in line and then everything came up well, with all the pitting removed. The other danger was creating a wide mouth so I kept checking this every few seconds. It widened a little but the mouth was so tight to start with I knew I had some leeway.

The next job was to clean up the gunmetal sides which was done with 320 wet and dry lubricated with white spirit (mineral oil) and Duraglit brass cleaner.

Once I had cleaned up the rusty blade I could see that all parts were original and all stamped 5.

To tone down the gunmetal I used a brass and copper patinating fluid which I adjusted with the Duraglit until I achieved the finish I required.

the wedge was in good condition and just required a light sanding back with 400 grit and refinishing with Lacquer. I was pleased and relieved with the final result and the whole thing took just 1 1/2 hours.

I used gun blue to tone down the steel sole and the job was done.