I had often heard, as you must all have, that coke was a good rust remover. So the other day I'm rummaging through my dad's tools, (not a rare occurence), and I come across this old Bailey No.5 hand-plane. Now note that I have seen this thing lying there for at least twenty years, but now with a new found interest in old school tools, it was like seeing it for the very first time.
Now this tool is old and rusted big time. The earliest patent date on it is 1910, and although I realize this is not necesarilly it's manufacturing date, it must be pretty old none the less. If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Bailey later founded Stanley tools.... But I'm wandering here. Back to the experiment.
I dismanteled the plane and placed it in an old plastic tool box. I then put about 3 litres of Coka-Cola Classic in there. I let it sit for five days. Last night I took it out. Cleaned it, added a touch of oil, and honed the iron. It now works like a charm. So much so, that it's now my number one plane.
I guess the moral is look for old planes at yard sales and flea markets and the like. With a bit of coca-cola, you can turn a rusty old tool into a most excellent one. Cheers.
