How to restore hand planes

Most of us have one or more old bench planes sitting on shelves gathering everything but sawdust. Recently, WOOD's hand-tool expert John Olson took it upon himself to rehab one such plane—a turn-of-the-century knock-off of a Stanley No. 5 jack plane. Its design makes a nice compromise between a smoother and a jointer, and a great starter bench plane. And the No. 5 remains one of the best-selling models in history, making parts easy to find. Even if your plane isn't identical to ours, these steps improve many planes -- including new-in-the-box models.