Vintage Tools: Millers Falls No 8

Following my last post and to continue on the same subject, I got a Millers Falls #8 for a reasonable price, and I definitively wanted one to satisfy my insatiable appetite for Millers Falls planes.
That No 8 came in its original box, no doubt the box was original, it clearly shows the offense of time:

That box is a bit tired.

The plane itself was in ok condition, knob and tote were good and clean except for a drop of paint on the knob, but sole was dirty and blade was dented.

Left body side shows Millers Falls No 8...
and a fingerprint from previous owner.

As usually the first step is to dismantle the plane in pieces so to be able to clean everything.

Main pieces of the plane.

The lateral adjustment lever as well as some hardware are showing some surface rust so they deserve their own green slime bath.

Lever and hardware bathing in the green slime.

While these lucky pieces are bathing in peace, let's take care of the plane body. First step is the sole, I traced some lines with a sharpie pen before starting to rub the sole on the marble plate.

Some line marked with a sharpie.

After few strokes on 120 grit paper came the first result. The sole shows a light cupping behind the mouth and will require some more strokes.

The sole shows a light cupping behind the mouth.

After enjoying some more strokes on coarse paper I switched to finer ones, stepping up to 2000 grit. The sole shows no more cupping.

A flat sole.

I cleaned the sole from residue using the polishing paste and got a shiny clean sole.

A clean sole shining under the light of my workshop.

The body sides were dirty too so they also received some care and rubbing.

Dirty body side...

... that looks better after some care.

Last step was to clean the japanning from dust and dirt and the sole was ready.
The lever cap was is in the same condition as the body side, dirty and oxidized and needed some love too.

The lever cap received its beauty mask...

... and few minutes later it is shining in the light.

Time now to look at the blade assembly. The cap iron is also oxidized and a bit dirty so needs to be cleaned.

Tarnished cap iron.

After rubbing it I noticed that the bottom lips of the cap iron has a kind of wedge.

The cap iron shows a wedge at its end.

This was nothing some strokes with a good file cannot resolve. Few minutes later the cap iron was clean and in good shape.

A cap iron ready to be back on its blade.

Let's take a look to the blade now.

This is not what I would call a sharp blade...

Using the marble plate and coarse paper, then the water stones up to 8000 grit, the leather strop, and finally polishing paste for final cleaning, I got the blade back in proper order.

That is better now.

It is time to switch back to the bathing parts before they are totally dissolved in the slime. A gentle rubbing and a water shower and the parts were good to go after a thin coat of light oil.

A clean lateral adjustment lever...

... and the remaining pieces of hardware.

Now that everything is clean, it is time to put everything back together. After some tweaking it was time to give it a try.

A nice addition to my toolbox.

I now have a nice and shiny Millers Falls No 8 in my toolbox, the next one will be a No 14 that I received last week.