Just Plane Abuse

[stephen thomas]

Between laying the floor and deciding on the tile product, the specs changed from 1/4" thick to 10mm thickness.
Where it would have been easy to match the heights flush (but there were concerns about tile thickness in large format); now every 1/16" counts.
I think just knocking the high areas and ridgelines down flat saved more than 1/16", probably 3/32".

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"Mommy, what does obsessive mean?"

[Tom M King]

Been there. I don't do varying height floors, thresholds in doorways, nor curbs for showers. At least wood is easier than concrete. This was to replace a fiberglass shower in a 1974 tiled bathroom with a tile shower with new floor meeting old tile floor perfectly flush. Hand tools were 20 pound sledge hammer, and carbide tipped stonework chisels with two pound hammer.

[Eric Brown]

Just think how difficult it would have been if you didn't have the hand tools. Lot of work but worth it. Looking good so far.

[Richard Coers]

Stanley #74 would have been the answer, my knees and back ache just thinking about hand planing a floor.

[Kevin Jenness]

My back hurts just seeing the pictures. Nice job though!

[Jim Koepke]

You're a younger man than I Mr. Thomas.

Great looking workout and work.

jtk

[Tom M King]

I didn't see knee pads in the picture. I expect they were on the photographer.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I didn't see knee pads in the picture. I expect they were on the photographer.

Had the same thought. I hope there is some Advil or Tylenol close by too. That is an impressive project!

[stephen thomas]

Thank you for the supportive and nice comments, guys!

Stanley #74 would have been the answer,

Always wanted one of them with the handles!
Used to scour Old Tool Journal when it came in the mail, and see if there were any on the auction. Several turned up over the course of most years. In that crowd, though, there was always a floor to the market & none ever went for what i could afford. Martin Donnelly's annual extravaganza used to have all kinds of deals on all kinds of planes at live auction. Saw many things you never see in the wild, often cheap Unfortunately AFAICR, no #74's ever turned up there.

I've actually had to plane (& scrape) a couple floors after repairing them. Sanding not allowed.
And the scraping was not the modern travesty of gouging and scarring. It was scrape (or plane) smooth, handsanding, even ROS ok to blend.

You're a younger man than I Mr. Thomas.

You are probably right, but possibly not by much.

smt

[David Carroll]

NIce work!

I once had to flatten a particle board underlayment in a living room that crowned up along the center joist by about 1/4-inch to 3/8-inch prior to laying a click lock vinyl floor, that couldn't accommodate more than 1/8-inch deviation in 10-feet. So I laid out beams an inch thick on the the center high spot and shimmed the ends level. Then I ran a circular saw sitting on the beams that cut flush with the floor at the ends and cut in 1/4-3/8 deep at the center crown. I cut these about 3-inches apart the length of the room (21-feet). Then out came the jack plane and cut away until the cut line disappeared. I had to stop every few lines and sharpen the blade. A coarse grit sanding disc smoothed out the jack plane tracks well enough. It took the better part of a weekend and was among the more painful woodworking experiences I ever had that didn't involve falling off a ladder.

It came out great and the finished floor looks good! By now I've pretty well put the experience out of my mind and forgotten just how awful an experience it was!

Until I read your post...

Thanks! ;-)

DC