Plane Sole Gets Hot

[Michael Peet]

My main user is a rough old Stanley #4. After maybe 10 minutes of use, I notice the sole is pretty hot to the touch. Is that normal? Is it bad for the plane? Is it symptomatic of something else wrong with it?

Just curious. Thanks for any thoughts!

Mike

[harry strasil]

Friction, rub your hands together hard or feel a saw blade right after use. I use mostly transitional or woody planes, but I have a few metal specialty planes. I use beeswax or a paraffin candle for a lubricant, old timers cut the bottom off a small diameter glass bottle, bored a hole in a chunk of wood and placed the bottom in that then rolled up felt and placed in the bottle bottom and saturated it with Linseed oil, every so often on the back stroke they pulled the plane bottom over the felt to lube it.

[Sam Takeuchi]

It's normal. I use that opportunity to rub wax as well as giving a moment to cool down a bit. Plane sole getting hot doesn't concern me much, but saw blade does. Saw blade gets really hot and I let it cool down often. You can get burned with that thing. Not sure if it messes with temper, though.

[glenn bradley]

Yep, wax 'em when they're warm. Buff when cooler and continue.

[Michael Peet]

Great, thanks guys ;)

[Brian Ashton]

When it catches on fire it's recomended that you back on the red Bull intake and instead use it as a coolant on the sole of the place :D

[bridger berdel]

card scrapers can get pretty hot too. of course, your fingers are right near the edge, so you feel it sooner. they're thin so they cool off pretty quick too.

[Jim Koepke]

Maybe you could get one of those commuter mugs attached and use it to keep your coffee warm.:o

jim

[Frank Drew]

Is it bad for the plane?

No; it's not possible for you to get it too hot through hand use on wood (barring Brian's thought about Red bull overdose :D.)