My first real Curls

[Mike Olson]

So, i had a sears plane banging around in an old tool box for about 20 years and i have finally gotten around to sharpening it and trying to use it. I don't know what type it is or model. but it's about 10" long with a plastic handle full grip on the back and a plastic ball on the front.

I also picked up a block plane from Home Depot earlier this week.
And lastly, i picked up the Sand paper/Glass Plate sharpening system from Rockler. I spent about an hour sharpening & honing the Sears iron and just a few minutes on the Home Depot iron.
I also flattened the sole of both planes on some 100 grit sand paper on that glass plate also.

Here is a photo of two curls i made from the edge of some 3/4" Scrap Maple i had laying around. the bottom is from the Home depot block plane. the top one is from the Sears plane.

I tried to make them thinner but they are just so finickey... i have to unlock the hold down in order to use the fine adjustment and then it messess with it once i lock it back down...:mad:

[Michael Schwartz]

I have been through the ordeal of tuning a number of planes. Some take very little work, while others have taken me upwards of 5 hours just to flatten the sole.

The sears and home depot plane are probably not very good quality, but they should provide a good learning experience. Its possible to make these planes work ok, but usually the irons (blade) are of poor quality, and the mouth is too large.

I will admit my first two hand-planes were a 2" mini block plane from ace hardware, and a buck brothers block plane from home depot.

Not to discourage you in any way though keep trying, and you will get it!

I would recommend reading the Hand Plane Book by Garret Hack if you can get a copy, as well as searching this forum, and others for information on hand plane tuning, as there are many other factors that can contribute other than a sharp iron, and flat sole.

As far as your planes I would take them apart and scrape off any paint/japanning from any machined mating surfaces, and insure they mate perfectly with no play, you might need to get creative here to file the surfaces if you need if there are any high spots. This applies specifically to the mating surface between the frog and sole for the most part.

I would also put the frog (ramp for the blade) in a vice and file it flat as well. When you flatten the sole of a plane make sure you have the iron, chip breaker, and lever cap installed and tightened as the casting should be under tension when you flatten it.

As far as the blade, you should also on a bench plane flatten out and sharpen the edge of the chip breaker so it mates with the iron perfectly. Otherwise it won't provide full support to the cutting edge and you will get shavings lodged up between the chip breaker and blade. Its also good practice to polish the very face of it as well so that shavings have less resistance, when passing over it.

This is only a brief description of plane tuning, because if I keep going this could end up as a book, and there is plenty out there already on this topic.

Information I described above is for a bench plane, but the same theories apply to a block plane for the most part as well.

My best advice of course if you want to get into the endless downward spiral of hand planes do yourself a favor and look for some old pre war Stanley's.

The definitive source for information on old Stanley's can be found at this link.

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html

[Jim Koepke]

I tried to make them thinner but they are just so finickey... i have to unlock the hold down in order to use the fine adjustment and then it messess with it once i lock it back down...

On a bench plane, the screw holding the lever cap should not be so tight as to prevent adjustment. The lateral lever should be able to be moved with the push of the thumb while your hand is holding the tote. This should also allow for the adjustment of the depth while the plane is moving on wood. My method is to have the blade set to not cut, then while moving it on a piece of wood to slowly turn the depth adjuster until shavings start to form. Then check the lateral adjustment to insure the shaving is the same from side to side.

Others do a similar technique with the plane turned sole up and a small block of wood.

jim