How to counter shrinkage in old wooden planes?

[Dan Duperron]

I have two vintage wooden planes that I acquired and would like to rehab. One is an old French smoother, see this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?226011-Old-European-Plane-What-can-you-tell-me-about-it&highlight=

The other is an Ohio Tool screw-arm plough.

On the smoother, the cormier wood body has shrunk so that the iron doesn't fit. It was really stuck, and this is the driest time of year (indoors) here in VA.

On the plough, the wedge is so tight it is impossible to seat it properly - at least without applying far too much force.

I'm new to rehabbing wooden planes so I'm looking for advice. I assume I can simply sand the tight wedge on the plough and all will be well, right? But what about the smoother, should I grind a little off the sides of the iron, or try to widen the aperture in the plane body with files (which I have) or floats (which I don't have)?

My goal is to make these into good functional users, but I'd like to minimize the number of dumb mistakes I make along the way. Thanks for any advice from those more experienced.

[John Vernier]

I have used both methods to fit an iron in a tight plane mouth - ground the sides of the blade, and shaved the mouth. Grinding the blade wrecks the patina on the steel blade edges, and that is unsightly and can be hard to touch up convincingly. Trimming the wood is less obtrusive, and on the French plane you have a lot of meat to work with. If you don't have an edge float you could use a file, but be careful not to cut into the bed or especially the wedge abutments, since that will affect the fit of the wedge. I have an old flat bastard-cut file which I sanded the face teeth off of with a belt sander, so that only the edges cut, and it's perfect for this sort of work. I have also done this work with a sharp narrow chisel, and I find it works well in old beech, which is generally a treat to work with. I haven't ever worked with cormier.

I would be very careful to take off as little wood as possible. Ideally you want the blade to fit the mouth without room for play, but it should have more room higher up; and also you want the wedge to fit without side-to-side play. If the blade is slightly tapered side-to-side, that will make it easier to fit at the mouth, but I can't really tell from your photos if the blade is tapered.

[Robert Norman]

I did the same recently and used the LV Japanese float here:
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=69096&cat=1,42524

Only took a couple passes each side, check your progress as you go!

As to the wedge, you could plane off a little at a time with a block or smoother mounted in the vise and pass the wedge over the iron. Again, check your progress often.

[Noah Wagener]

I believe George soaks them in oil to help prevent them from moving with changes in atmosphere.

[Bill White]

Noah beat me to it. Before any adjustment, try refreshing the oiling (BLO) of the body. Let the wood "rest" for a while, then make any physical adjustments. Just remember that takin' wood off when moisture levels are low is irreversible.
Bill

[Dan Duperron]

Hmmm. Thanks Bill and Noah for responding. Hadn't thought of oiling. But wouldn't oiling make the wood swell, if anything, making things even tighter?

Perhaps falsely, I was thinking things should be looser when the air is dry, not tighter, and thus that these planes would completely seize up when the humidity climbs.

But now with your responses I'm questioning my assumption - which is good.

In the smoother the iron isn't going to move, just the wood body, but in the plough both the wedge and stock will move with changes in humidity. Now I'm good and confused, but that's often a step on the way to knowledge.

Or perhaps you are simply saying that a good oiling will help prevent future movement once I get them dialed in?

[Jim Koepke]

But wouldn't oiling make the wood swell, if anything, making things even tighter?

As the wood expands, so does any opening in the wood.

jtk

[Dan Duperron]

Some of you fair readers are probably shaking your heads thinking "he didn't know that??"

Thanks Jim. I'll do some oiling and wait a little bit to see what happens.