A Restored #8

[Jim Paulson]

Here are some before and after pictures of a #8 that I bought on ebay. I am happy with the way it turned out. I did everything from flatten the sole to strip off the old paint, and then I treated it to a new iron. The neatest thing of course is that feeling you get when after the fettling is done (is it ever done?) the shavings come like they are supposed to.

I don't plan to flatten a #8 again and repainting is not my preference, but it worked for me here.
I also learned something about purchasing planes on ebay. A #8 is bit tougher to see condition from pictures on ebay. In this case the condition was better than I had expected. Thanks for looking. I am excited by how well the new IBC A2 iron is doing on tiger maple too. It makes it all worth it. Thank God there is no tear out with a 15 degree back bevel.

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[john brenton]

Those IBC irons are so much more attractive than the Hocks. (No offense to Ron). I don't know why he leaves the top square.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Looks great! I keep telling myself one of these days I'll clean my vintage planes up to that level of niceness. It hasn't happened yet, but when I see planes like this, I get tempted again...

[Jim Koepke]

Nice restoration job. At one time my thoughts on a #8 were that it wasn't really needed since a #7 was already in my shop. Now that there is a #8 in the shop, it gets used more often than the #7.


Those IBC irons are so much more attractive than the Hocks. (No offense to Ron). I don't know why he leaves the top square.

Everyone has their own favored shapes. If someone sold a blade with a round top, there are likely some who would favor that blade.

jtk

[Chris Griggs]

Nice restoration job. At one time my thoughts on a #8 were that it wasn't really needed since a #7 was already in my shop. Now that there is a #8 in the shop, it gets used more often than the #7.



Everyone has their own favored shapes. If someone sold a blade with a round top, there are likely some who would favor that blade.

jtk

I haven't used an 8 all that much but when I did I really liked it a lot. I'm sorta of the feeling that at the point I'm going larger than a 6 I might as well skip the 7 and use an 8.

Great restoration. That will be a very valuable asset to you shop.

Thanks for sharing.

[Jim Koepke]

I haven't used an 8 all that much but when I did I really liked it a lot. I'm sorta of the feeling that at the point I'm going larger than a 6 I might as well skip the 7 and use an 8.

Don't let that feeling dissuade you from picking up a #7 for a good price at a yard sale. My #8 does the heavy work and then the #7 takes a few passes as a final finish.

jtk

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks for the kind words. I plan on using it quite a bit. I totally agree that switching between the #7 and #8 might be a possibility for me too. Not right away though because this #8 is now in far better shape than my #7. I didn't have the courage to try flattening the sole of a #7 before this #8 project. Working on the #7 is another future project I guess.

Jim

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks for the kind words. I plan on using it quite a bit. I totally agree that switching between the #7 and #8 might be a possibility for me too. Not right away though because this #8 is now in far better shape than my #7. I didn't have the courage to try flattening the sole of a #7 before this #8 project. Working on the #7 is another future project I guess.

Jim

Jim (Paulson), how did you flatten the sole by the way - must have been tough??

Jim (Koepke), I saw a video on youtube once that IIRC was you flattening a jointer plane sole I think on a giant piece of granite.

Curious if this Jim did anything differently, and what he used as a flat surface.

[Jim Paulson]

Chris,

Thanks for asking about the details. I flattened the sole on a 3 foot long by 6 inch wide piece of 3/8 inch thick float glass. I've had it for awhile. Earlier, I attempted to get a 1/2 inch thick piece and was unsuccessful, but 3/8 inch thickness was available and it has given me satisfactory flatness. It would have been better to have had 4 foot in length, but I made it work.

After much time on the 80 grit self sticking sandpaper (comes in rolls), I got the sole true within a few thousandths. The sole on my #8 was concave, therefore high at the toe and heal. It took some time and sandpaper to reduce the toe and heal so that the sole was straight and flat. Based on the advice of folks on the forum, I made frequent sandpaper changes whenever the cutting efficiency dropped a lot. I lost track of how many strips of 80 grit I used.

I also swear by the 24 inch straight edge that I bought from Rockler. When the 80 grit gave me sufficient results then I went to the 120 and 220 grits.

The thing is the plane is now really sweet to use and performs far better than my #7 (I used the #7 without flattening it). Now I'm convinced that my time and money spent on sandpaper (perhaps $30) was well worth it. The new iron was a big help too. I was happy that I didn't have to use a file this time to the sole.

On the sides I used the same deal, but I didn't worry about them being square to the sole or completely flat since I don't plan to use it for shooting.

Hope that helps,

Jim

[Chris Griggs]

Cool. Thanks for sharing good thing it was concave - I imagine a hump would have been a lot harder to get rid of. Again, nice work - because of the work you put into it that's a tool you'll always love more than anything you can ever buy new.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Nice Job on the rehap. The plane looks great and from the sound of it, it performs great. Did you have to do any filing on the mouth for the new IBC blade to fit or is the new blades thickness compatible with the original frog\bed\mouth design?

[Andrew Teich]

Where did you get the sandpaper? I have searched the stores locally and only found sandpaper rolls available at Harbor Freight. They do not have the self adhesive back and while they should be adequate for a #4 or #5, they are too narrow for my #7.

Also if you wouldn't mind sharing some insight on how you got the lever cap looking so nice, or more details on the whole restore. I have read several threads but have yet to really get to work on my set of planes. Too many other projects to do before it gets cold out there.

[Jim Paulson]

Joe,

Thanks for commenting. I've enjoyed your posts. I don't rehab planes that much and when I do it is with the minimalist approach in mind. This is the first time I went so far as to strip the paint.

Regarding your question, yeah this rehab didn't require me to do any filing and the new IBC plane iron was accomodated by adjusting the frog. So far I haven't had to use a file to open up a mouth in any of my stanley bailey metal plane castings. I have gotten close to doing it already and I understand that it might be necessary depending on the iron thickness. Fortunately, it wasn't required here.


Andrew,


Whether you use self stick sandpaper or spray adhesive to hold the sanding belts it wouldn't matter. I have purchased sandpaper rolls from Klingspor already, but you may want to keep an eye out for deals to buy sandpaper belts in bulk on ebay or the internet.


I used a fine wire brush on my grinder to clean up surface rust on smaller parts like the lever cap and the chipbreaker. Screws were cleaned by wire brushing and evaporust. Overall my rehab was done mostly by using wire brushing, sandpaper, scotch pads and paint stripper. I also used tape a lot to keep the paint isolated to where I wanted it to go.

I was blessed to have only slight surface rust to deal with. I hope this helps.

Take care,
Jim

[Erik France]

That No. 8 turned out nicely. Luckily, my large plane buys from ebay didn't need much flattening.

Klingspor is a good source for paper. Have you tried their Sandflex blocks (http://www.woodworkingshop.com/cgi-bin/2210AE93/mac/additmdtl.mac/showItemDetail?item=SA99996&qtyA=0&phsO=N&desc=SET OF THREE SANDFLEX ABRASER BLOCKS&drpshp=N&alOrd=Y&iQty=.000&oQty=.000&initQty=1&assortParent=K&itemForSale=Y&styleName=&fixD=&face=.00&gftc=&stck=Y&prefS=&calledFrom=DS&ordInfo1=&ordInfo2=&ordInfo3=&ordMan1=N&ordMan2=N&ordMan3=N&persCode=&persReqd=&persLink= &shipRemaining=0&daysBetween=0&daysBetweenFix=0&monthsBetween=0)? I really like them for cleaning up iron parts. I use the fine one quite a bit for touch ups on my planes, especially if I put 'em to bed leaving fingerprints on them. I got my first set from Garrett Wade for twice the price. They sell as the 'Woderbar Rust Eraser'.

[Jim Paulson]

Thanks Erik,
I haven't tried the Sandflex blocks, but I'll certainly check them out.

Here is a picture of the #8 making shavings in the tiger maple. I've got 6-7 of these 13-14' wide boards to surface for two tables. I love the grain of this wood. This stock has more knots than I was hoping for, but I still think it will be nice for a colonial tavern table. Plus I got it for a good price. I'll be trimming off some of the knots along the edges.

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[Chris Griggs]

That looks like a potential nasty piece of wood in terms of planing, not just because of the curl, but also the knots. Very cool looking though and will make a nice piece, knots and all.

Can't ask for much more from a plane than to be able to flatten that with minimal tearout. Nice Work!

[Jim Koepke]

Andrew,

Lie-Nielsen has adhesive backed rolls of sandpaper listed under "Sharpening."

Supergrit.com has wider rolls and is where mine was purchased.

jtk

[Andrew Teich]

Jim and Jim, thanks for the heads up on sandpaper sources. I only hope my planes end up working as well and looking as nice as your #8.

[george wilson]

Agreed about square top irons.

[Kevin Foley]

Beautiful job. It's always a good feeling at the end of the process when you put your hard work to wood and it makes the shaving you hoped it would. Congratulations. Use my No. 8 more than I use my No.7. If I had to push a plane around all day I might appreciate a No.7 but that never happens (unfortunately).

I've uglied up a few if my planes with squared-off Hock blades and have been happy with the results. I hope to ugly up a few more.

[Gary Kman]

Thank God there is no tear out with a 15 degree back bevel.



Just so I understand, are you putting a 15* bevel on the flat side of the iron? If you are, I'm lost on your comment on tear out. The wood has already been severed by the time it gets past the cutting edge. If anything, I would think a low clearance angle behind the blade would prevent the wood from splitting ahead of the cutting edge and causing tear out.

[Glen Butler]

And I was worried about the state my recent purchase which is considerably more favorable than what you started with. Nice work! Puts me at ease.

[Sam Takeuchi]

Just so I understand, are you putting a 15* bevel on the flat side of the iron? If you are, I'm lost on your comment on tear out. The wood has already been severed by the time it gets past the cutting edge. If anything, I would think a low clearance angle behind the blade would prevent the wood from splitting ahead of the cutting edge and causing tear out.

Angle behind the blade has nothing to do with tear out. Adding back bevel (that is bevel on the flat side) changes the cutting angle and it changes characteristic how a plane perform on a given wood. Hence there are many planes, low angle to high angle planes, it's all about providing range and wider range of cutting angle in order to tackle variety of wood. Normally on a difficult grain and tear out prone wood, high angle planes are preferred (scraper, bench plane with back bevel or bevel up plane with high angle blade). Higher angle adds scraping action to the plane's function, incidentally it is less likely to cause tear out. It doesn't try to dig in and lift the wood ahead of the cutting edge then.

For soft wood, it's the opposite. If the material is soft and/or well behaving and straight grained, low cutting angle should provide cleaner cut. In this case as well, clearance angle has nothing to do with tear out or how plane behaves. Normally planes commercially available today already has plenty enough clearance angle to begin with, unless you are going way past reasonable setup, you are not going to gain or lose any performance by changing clearance angle. So forget that.

[Jim Paulson]

Great to have you join us Sam and thanks for offering many good points as usual.

Gary,

I might add that the back bevels I referred to on the IBC irons were added to have the effect of an increased bed angle. Stanley bailey planes feature a 45 degree frog and I'm a recent convert to using back bevels on the flat side of the iron to achieve the effect of a higher bed angle. Rather than purchase new bevel down planes with high angle frogs or a low angle jointer with a 50 degree bevel on the bevel up iron, I opted for a cheaper solution of grinding a 15 degree back bevel on the new irons for my #7 and #8 stanley bailey planes. I also use a LN 4 1/2 with a 55 degree frog and a LV Low Angle Jack with a 50 degree bevel on the iron. Collectively, taking shallow cuts and paying attention to the approach angle have given me great results on planing a fairly difficult, but quite beautiful wood. I am using all three planes right now to surface fairly hard tiger maple which features difficult grain and plenty of opportunities for tear out. Like Sam says back bevels aren't needed when working softer woods with more predictable grain.

Here is a great reference for using back bevels from one of the champions, Ron Hock, of using back bevels on plane irons. Ron has some great illustrations here.
http://hocktools.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/back-bevels-and-plane-geometry/

Take care,
Jim