flattening plane sole

[Billy Trinh]

Hi,
I'm in the process of restoring some old handplanes for the first time and have a question on how much is enough for flattening plane sole. For this plane, most of the sole surface are flattened except about 1/16(longest point) front of the mouth. I read from various sources that the front of the mouth must be flat, but this 1/16 is painfully slow:mad:. So question is, would you call it done?
Will it have noticable performance affect when planing? These will be my first handplanes.

Thanks!
Billy
197792
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.png

[Chris Fournier]

Looks like you had the blade in the plane and I hope that the lever cap was tensioned as it would be in use. If this is the case I'd say that you're ready to go. Looks like a very nice job indeed!

[David Weaver]

Billy, with as much work as there is left to run enough metal off to get a tight clean mouth on that plane, I would try it out before I would go to the work.

I've had several that had a lot of wear around the mouth and I left them like that and they work fine.

I've also been on the other side of the coin with "made" planes, where I've made a plane with a mouth of a hundredth or so and then with 3 to 4 thousandths and the tighter mouthed plane will let you get away with more when you're smoothing.

That said, I think the mouth worn like that still does provide a good bit of functional breaking of chips, much more so than it would were it wide open.

So try it and see how you like it before you go to the trouble of chasing perfection.

[Tony Shea]

As was stated, as long as you had the plane tensioned while lapping I would consider it done. At that point you will have to lapp a ton of metal to get that small area level with the rest of the sole. But if you run into issues while planing such as chipout or blade adjustment issues then you know what the potential cause is. But honestly most are not using older Stanley's with that flat of a sole. You've done more work than most would for sure, and that includes myself.

[Jim Koepke]

My 2¢, just try it before going any further.

It will likely be fine. Most of my planes do not get lapped unless they are showing a good reason for needing some work.

If you buy a thick after market blade and need to open the mouth on that plane, you know where to start.

jtk

[Billy Trinh]

Thanks guys. I took your advice and tried it out. The best I can plane a piece of 2x4 doug fir edge is .0002 with any consitency, lower than that the shaving just shread and thicker needs extra effort from my tired arms atm. What shaving thickness should I shoot for as normal planing? I have no reference as i'm new at this. I think i'm done with the sole on this one :cheers:

Thanks again197805

[Jim Koepke]

The best I can plane a piece of 2x4 doug fir edge is .0002 with any consitency

You had me turning green with envy there until I took a closer look at the picture.

My guess is this is a #4. With a sharper blade and depending on the wood you may be able to take a finer shaving.

Occasionally one of my #4s gets used to take shavings in the area of 0.005" though not too often.

Thicker shavings take more effort. For that, a bigger plane comes in handy. If I want to hog off a lot of wood, a #5 or 6 comes in handy.

jtk

[Billy Trinh]

you are right Jim, it's a craftsman size of a #4 with plastic knobs but heavier than a stanley #4(to be reconditioned as well).
197806

[Jim Koepke]

you are right Jim, it's a craftsman size of a #4 with plastic knobs but heavier than a stanley #4(to be reconditioned as well).
197806

That has the look of a Millers Falls made plane.

jtk

[Johnny Kleso]

Thanks guys. I took your advice and tried it out. The best I can plane a piece of 2x4 doug fir edge is .0002 with any consitency, lower than that the shaving just shread and thicker needs extra effort from my tired arms atm. What shaving thickness should I shoot for as normal planing? I have no reference as i'm new at this. I think i'm done with the sole on this one :cheers:

Thanks again197805

Thats .002 not .0002 as gauge is reading 0.002

I would not gauge your shaving but take big fat shaving till you get your board to size..
Then take fine shaving .002-.004 so till you get a smooth finish and not worry about thickness so much.

All woods have a different texture some with lots of holes in the shaving some like its sheets of paper..