Tuning up a wooden smoother?

[Brander Roullett]

I'm somewhat new to the neander world, but I'm slowly acquiring skills and tools from a variety of sources including ebay.

I got this smoother for a decent price recently, and I wanted to know what I need to do to tune it up for use?

The body is solid. I think the sole might need a little flattening.

The iron has a fairly robust camber on it. For a smoother, shouldn't it be flat? or not very cambered at least?

Blade looks to be in ok shape other than a little light rust.

Overall seems pretty good for $6.50 + $10 shipping. Not sure what the circular cut out is all about, but doesn't affect the work potential.

I grabbed the auction photos and posted them as attachments. I need to take some shots in better light for my blog anyway, but that has to wait till the weekend.

comments? suggestions? I'm a little curious if it's really a smoother because of the blade camber, but that could just be someone sharpening it wrong. Hrm.

badger

[Robert Rozaieski]

First, sharpen it and try it. You may be amazed as these planes frequently need very little tuning since there are so few parts. If it works, don't do anything else to it. If it doesn't work, check the following and only correct one thing at a time, testing it after each correction you make, until it does work:

Check to make sure the iron is sharp.
Check the bed for good iron contact/support near the mouth and correct it if necessary.
Check to make sure the iron is sharp.
Check the cap iron to make sure it makes good contact with the iron.
Check to make sure the iron is sharp.
Check the wedge for a good fit to make sure it holds the iron securely and isn't trapping shavings in the mouth.
Check to make sure the iron is sharp.
Lap the sole LIGHTLY on some 220 grit attached to a flat surface. Use pencil lines to gauge your progress and don't over do it.
Oh, and check to make sure the iron is sharp.
As for the arched cutout in the back, my bet is that this plane started its life as a longer, toted plane like a jack or jointer and someone cut it down and turned it into a smoother. How wide is the iron and how long is the body? That may give some clues.

[James Taglienti]

Is that cutout about 13/16-1" wide? Kinda like a handle went there? It could have been a jack plane that someone cut down to use as a smoother or sell as a smoother. Looks patinated, maybe it happened long ago...

[James Scheffler]

I haven't looked carefully at a lot of old wooden planes, but the lower end of the wedge looks unusual to me. The ones I have seen have been cut off straight except for the "ears" that stick out from the edge. This one has a curve there. Is that a common design feature?

Jim S.

[David Weaver]

>Is that a common design feature?<

Not that I've seen. Wedges usually are hollowed out in the middle with the outside going all the way down in the abutment to provide support to the iron close as close to the cutting edge as possible.

Sometimes, conjured designs work reasonably well for some things, especially if the iron is heavy and otherwise well-fitted.

If the wedge doesn't work well, another one can always be fitted, but it takes some reasonably accurate work to get the fingers of the wedge to fit tightly in the abutment everywhere chips might go. If there are any gaps, especially if they're close to the cutting edge, shavings find their way into them quickly and make the plane very undesirable to use.

I agree with what bob said. I always true the bottom of smoothers and wax them with paste wax no matter what, but other than sharpening the iron, I don't do anything else first - there's no reason to spend tons of time fidgeting a $5 plane if it works well already.

[john brenton]

I do have a woodie or two that don't have the dracula fang wedge, but rather the half moon type he has on his plane. As far as I can tell they were made like that...the fit is right.

The wedge here looks like it was definitely modified though. In pic #1 you see that it doesn't go down far enough in the throat to really support the iron.

[Tom Vanzant]

The cutout in the heel might have been for a strike plate, now missing. Is that a scribed line that nicks the cutout?

[Andrew Gibson]

It looks to me like the abutments in the lower mouth have been chiseled away. This would explain the modified wedge. Most likely someone tried to fix a choking problem.

At least that is what I would guess. As for the cut out in the back, my first guess would be some attempt at a tote or a strike block. if the plane performs well with the wedge setup, I would fit a block into the mortise and use it, otherwise I would set it on a shelf and enjoy the look and design of the plane.

The cambered iron may indicate that someone used it as a small scrub type plane, or more likely to add a slight texture to a surface. It's hard to tell for sure..

[john brenton]

Nobody's mentioned the size of the mouth yet. I personally would keep this as a small scrub and would not inlay the mouth, but if you were to use it a smoother you would most likely have to do that.

I'm sure that I saw one of Bob Smalser's articles on woodies somewhere around here. I don't think he touched on inlays, but it was about epoxying a new thin sole onto a woodie. Either way it would be interesting to check it out.

[Brander Roullett]

Thanks for all the replies!

I test fit the wedge last night, and took some test cuts. The blade had a decent edge on it, and took some decent shavings with no wiggle in the wedge.

John brings up a good point on the size of the mouth, I was wondering about that.

So, I guess what I have is not really a "smoother" by any definition other than size and similarity of shape really.

What makes a smoother a smoother really? Is it blade angle? blade shape? size of mouth opening?

Thanks guys, very interesting stuff.

badger

[David Weaver]

It's still a smoother. It's just not one with a tight mouth. If you have interest in changing that, you can cut away some of the front end of the saw and attach a replacement piece back far enough that the mouth is tight.

Not all smoothers have tight mouths. in the era of double irons, no difference between a smoother and a jack that I'm aware of other than plane size and how you set up the iron.

I would imagine all of the compromises you'll deal with (that are minor for most things where you can avoid tearout) are what makes the difference between a flea market ohio tool brand more recent smoother and a fine no-compromises plane like a clark and williams.

If nothing else, this plane will teach you what you want in the next one you get or build.

[george wilson]

James,I think you are right: This is a smooth plane made out of a longer plane. The shape is not very well designed,and I don't think it is a shape that came out of a factory.

The wedge is also not correctly shaped on the end. It will probably have to be re-cut to keep the shavings from piling up in the mouth.

[Terry Beadle]

The arc on a smoother blade should not be more than a couple thou. This plane seems to be set up to be a handy small jack plane rather than a true smoother.

You can remove most of the arc as you sharpen it over time or do a regrind and start with fresh steel. That's up to you.

If you want to use this plane as a true smoother, I would recommend you follow the advice above about putting a plate in front of the blade that leaves about 3 thou clearance. I'd also reset the blade curve to the 1 or 2 thou as recommended by Charlesworth.

I have a $15 smoother I bought on a trip to Oregon years ago. It really was in the pits but a little work and it takes 1 thou shavings no problem. I tightened the mouth with some lignum viete' and then trued the sole with some 100 grit on the tablesaw top. Then finished with 320 grit and added some lubricant to the sole. I think these old smoothers are a real bargain as the cast steel wedged blade really takes a great edge. The blade alone is worth $15 for sure.

Enjoy your plane !

[Brander Roullett]

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one. The body of the plane is narrow in my hands, and I like the feel of a slightly larger smoother like I've picked up at tool shows. I have one smoother plane that I got from a box of tools I picked up, but the side is split out where the wedge pushed against it. Useless, but it feels good in the hand. If I can ever find that much time I might use it as a pattern to make my own someday with slightly thicker sidewalls, but that is kind of advanced for my current skill set.

It was inexpensive enough for me to not worry so much about it. I might just leave it as a scrub plane since I don't have one of those, and it works well as is.

badger