Scratching of hand plane soles

[ian maybury]

Pardon the typo in the heading which can't be edited - 'scratching'

Having been polishing up the soles of some planes I'm now turned all sensitive ;) about the scratches which experience suggests occur very easily. Especially if you touch anything like ply.

It's not a functional issue, and the answer is probably no - but has anybody found a way to avoid this sort of marking?

[Jim Koepke]

The only way that comes to mind is using beater planes to prep before using one's nicer planes.

Then again, my planes almost never come in contact with plywood.

jtk

P.S. I think if you want to edit the heading you have to use the 'Go Advanced' function.

jtk

[David Weaver]

but has anybody found a way to avoid this sort of marking?

I've noticed a lot of the planes I've purchased used didn't have any marks on them because nobody was using them.

That's about the only way.

[Mel Fulks]

Guy I worked with long time ago told me to buy used planes but avoid the ones with scratches that had been used to "plane sagging screen doors that had picked up grit". Unlikely you will use a plane for that purpose but planing anything
that is dirty or has been sanded can scratch them.

[Judson Green]

Just think of the scratchs as micro corrugations. :D

[Malcolm Schweizer]

A scratched surface should have less friction than a glass smooth one, as long as the scratches are not burred, i.e. No metal sticking out. The scratches add up to less surface area. I don't polish a plane bottom too much.

[ian maybury]

Ta guys. Thought that might be the case - i'll get over it in a few days anyway.

Go advanced doesn't seem to be working Jim - the button is dead. I've a feeling it may be because the site is undergoing maintenance - it was slow a while ago.

[Pedro Reyes]

A scratched surface should have less friction than a glass smooth one, as long as the scratches are not burred, i.e. No metal sticking out. The scratches add up to less surface area. I don't polish a plane bottom too much.

I really don't want to get into the friction argument, but area does not play a part, according to formulas.

Friction is really determined empirically, that said, unless the scratches are always perfectly inline with your path of motion I would say that scratches increase your coefficient of friction, making a scratched plane present more resistance.

Pedro

[Judson Green]

In Buttheads voice "Yeah but it'll suck less"