Today, I got done with work kind of early and figured it was a fine time to get to work. Yesterday afternoon, I’d picked up some vinegar, some sandpaper, and some mineral spirits. It was time to get to doing some work.
Before I can do anything, I have to take the rust off of the tools, though. What’s a Barbarian Woodworker without usable tools, right?
So that’s where I started.
I started off small, with my 1/2″ socket chisel. You may remember it from this photo a few days ago.

The long one with the light-colored handle.
As you can see, it looks pretty damn rough here. So, while I had one of the planes in the vinegar, I worked on this one with mineral spirits and sandpaper. I’ve had good luck with his method before, and I had it again.
As you may be able to see, it’s a socket chisel from Shapleigh’s Hardware. I’ve been collecting odd tools from Shapleigh’s for a while. In fact, I hope to someday put today a complete woodworking kit from Shapleigh’s.
This chisel is one of those items. Now I need to put together some more chisels from them, especially since this one is looking so nice.
While I was working on this, I then went to work on this saw.
Yeah, it’s ugly. You might remember it.
Well, I plopped it down in the vinegar after taking off the handle and let it soak. I also tried to clean up the handle just a bit.
The handle still needs some work, but I think it looks much better now.
This is my tenon saw, and while this side didn’t look as horrible as the other one, now they both look like this.
A bit more work on the handle and this will be a beautiful tool again.
Next, I worked on my planes. I didn’t get a before pic specifically, but it’s the middle plane in this photo:
Oh, it was ugly. It was easily in the worst shape of all the planes, with the other jack plane coming in a fairly close second.
Well, a soak in the vinegar for a couple of hours, a brush with a wire brush, and boom.
Now, the handle thing was me. I was trying to clean it up and I’m not happy with how it was shaping up, so I just stopped for right now. I’ll revisit that soon enough.
With that bit of success, I had time to get one more plane up and running, and it’s my Norvell Shapleigh’s Diamond Edge #5 jack plane.
It wasn’t pretty.
Yes, it looks like a Stanley. There’s a reason for that.
My understanding is that Stanley made these for Shapleigh’s back in the day. The big tell is a logo for the hardware chain on the blade and a diamond logo in the front.
It got the same treatment and now I’ve got this:
Now, the downside here is that the japanning on the plane is in horrid shape. After I picked the oldest up from school, I ran up to Home Depot and picked up some black spray paint to try and fix that.
I didn’t have a chance to get on it before light started to give out, so I decided to call it a day.
Frankly, I needed to call it a day, because I’m exhausted. Still, I’ve got a few tools looking much more presentable. That doesn’t mean they’re usable just yet, but they’re much closer.
Next, I need to sharpen everything.
After I get done cleaning the rust.
Luckily, I’ve got a pair of really nice looking jack planes. I’m not really sure how I want to set either of these up as, but I do know that I can’t wait to get them sharp and working.