Anyone square up the sides of Stanley's

[Richard Hutchings]

Would it best to file or sand them square for shooting purposes or add some teflon tape to one side, or something else.

[Jim Koepke]

Would it best to file or sand them square for shooting purposes or add some teflon tape to one side, or something else.

How far off is this plane?

If very little the plane's lateral adjustment should be able to correct the error.

There are so many planes that are decent as is for shooting that trying to fix one that isn't could be more work than it's worth.

Another option if one is short on money and long on time is to tune the shooting board to the plane.

jtk (love all my shooting boards)

[Richard Hutchings]

How far off is this plane?
Old planes in general

If very little the plane's lateral adjustment should be able to correct the error.
I've done that in the past. I don't think it's the best idea, I could be wrong.

There are so many planes that are decent as is for shooting that trying to fix one that isn't could be more work than it's worth.
I've never owned an old plane that was square.

Another option if one is short on money and long on time is to tune the shooting board to the plane.
I like this idea!

jtk (love all my shooting boards)

Some day I'll get a new plane that's square. I had one but sold it because I needed the money. My preference right now is to not have a lot of money tied up in hand planes when I can make the old Stanley's work.

[Jim Koepke]

Some day I'll get a new plane that's square. I had one but sold it because I needed the money. My preference right now is to not have a lot of money tied up in hand planes when I can make the old Stanley's work.

Depending on how out of square the plane is a shooting board can often be trued with a layer of tape or two.

Often when a change in humidity has moved things and it is only one or two pieces a shaving folded over will do the trick.

Another thing to possibly make shooting more comfortable is a 'hot dog' for your plane:

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This was made from a piece of scrap. Derek Cohen posted on making one that is much nicer.

jtk

[Tom Trees]

Rob Cosman has mentioned that the Bedrock style and also the Bailey's have a tendency to tip when the narrow area of the sides of the plane
are in the middle of the shooting board.
He mentioning having a shim under the board which the plane rides on to ensure more contact with the middle area.
Never tired this, just wondering if anyone has tried this?
I am thinking that this might be true for a woodriver or other premium square sided plane, a non true Bailey, not so sure.

Tipping becomes more of an issue if your working thicker material, so I am interested to see if any benefit is to be had, from a slightly crowned base for the plane.

If your intending to lap the side of a plane, I suggest taking note that beyond polishing, lapping on a larger surface area than the item being worked on,
will make a convex surface, or belly on an item!
Combine this with the little surface area on the plane at the front and back, compared to the main cheek area of the side of a plane.
This means a huge tendency to make a rocking plane as it were, and a rock means you cannot get a true reading, nor the likelihood to be able to take off only where you want to.
A small error could take a lot off those tapered down sides of the plane.


The job really calls for only taking material off only where you want, and not everywhere, so a longer than the plane is lapping plate is only used for checking with one single rub on a blunt abrasive,
and no longer.
If you wish to get any humps or bumps out over the length, or want to concentrate on getting it square to a tolerable amount...
On a low spot of the plane you must ensure that you don't have any contact, especially the edge of the said low area.
These are your reference areas, and as low or possibly lower than what you might be happy with, in regards to the thickness of your casting.

Never done so to any of my Bailey's, as the more weight the better, aswell of the possibility of it surviving from a fall if as thick as possible.

Tom

[Charles Guest]

Some day I'll get a new plane that's square. I had one but sold it because I needed the money. My preference right now is to not have a lot of money tied up in hand planes when I can make the old Stanley's work.

Buy a wooden plane (used or new) to use in your shooting board. You can keep these nipped and tucked into perfect squareness for shooting for the rest of your working life. You're a woodworker, not a machinist. Stick with wood whenever you can.

[steven c newman]

Also run the risk of getting that one side too thin....as some of these old planes will taper towards the top of the casting....(saved Stanley a lot of cast iron...when spread out over a few million planes..)

[mike stenson]

Drawing on the lessons learned in metal shop, once upon a time... I filed a #5 side square once (no need for me to square the non-ride side I figured). Did it matter too much? Eh. Probably not. Will I do it again? Nope.

[Richard Hutchings]

Buy a wooden plane (used or new) to use in your shooting board. You can keep these nipped and tucked into perfect squareness for shooting for the rest of your working life. You're a woodworker, not a machinist. Stick with wood whenever you can.

I'm in the process of building a woodie and im hoping it will be good enough for shooting.

[Charles Guest]

I'm sure it'll be fine. Good luck.

[Richard Hutchings]

If I can only find the Dunlop irons I set aside for it. I think it must have fallen into the trash can at the end of my bench. I looked everywhere. That can is going to find a new home.

[steven c newman]

How wide do you need...

[Richard Hutchings]

I was planning on a 2" Jack, but I have 2 3/8 from a large woodie I could use also. I'm on my way to a sellers house right now to see what he has. Everything could change, or not :-)

[Richard Hutchings]

Well, I came home with a Crafstman #7 for $60. I paid too much but my search is over.

[steven c newman]

I'm having enough trouble, trying to flatten a #5's sole.....since the original owner did not braze it back together properly...
440671
and...
440672
On this side, he left a clump on the inside...
440673
No longer a banana sole....other than right on the ends, sole is now flat...

[mike stenson]

Ouch. How long did it take to lap the sole? Or, rather.. how out was it?

[steven c newman]

1/8" out at both ends....80 grit beltsander...45 minutes....not counting doing both sides, too...

Was badly done braze job....not even close to what Dave over at Chisel & Forge can do....

[Richard Hutchings]

If I can only find the Dunlop irons I set aside for it. I think it must have fallen into the trash can at the end of my bench. I looked everywhere. That can is going to find a new home.

You're gonna love this. I had put it into my wooden jointer. I wondered why it seemed too narrow. Duh!

Anyway, here's the new Craftsman #7 with corrugated bottom and sides. I have a lot of cleaning to do and any help would be appreciated.
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[Jim Koepke]

You're gonna love this. I had put it into my wooden jointer. I wondered why it seemed too narrow. Duh!

Anyway, here's the new Craftsman #7 with corrugated bottom and sides. I have a lot of cleaning to do and any help would be appreciated.


Richard, take a look in the Neanderthal Wisdom/FAQs > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?103805 < there are a few posts archived there about cleaning and rehabilitating old planes.

Here is one of mine that involved a #7 > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?114373

jtk

[Robert Hazelwood]

It's probably not necessary. But you can square up the sides with lapping. I've done it on a #3. It's tricky and more difficult than lapping the sole.

The first thing to understand is that if you just lap the side like you would the sole, with even pressure, the top of the rounded part will lose more thickness than the base of the casting due to there being less material towards the top. So normal lapping will increase the angle between the sole and the side.

If you want to lap the side without increasing that angle, you need to place almost all of the pressure on the bottom of the side (i.e. towards the sole) and not at the rounded top. Bias the pressure until the plane feels like its just about to tip over onto the sole. Check for square frequently.

If you need to decrease the angle between the sole and the side (i.e. remove more material at the bottom), biasing pressure did not seem to work for me. It takes maximum bias towards the sole just to keep it from removing too much material at the rounded top. So pretty much the only way to do it is to set up the lap so that there is some open space next to a straight strip of sandpaper. Place the plane on the strip of paper with the rounded top hanging off the edge, so that it is not getting sanded. Carefully use your fingers or rig up some kind of fence so that you can lap only the bottom portion of the side. You can move up the side progressively, say lapping a 1/2" strip at the bottom first, then 3/4", then 1", etc. Check your work constantly. Once you have it pretty square you can lap it flat (biasing the pressure as described above) to blend in the lapping marks.

I usually recommend 80 grit PSA for lapping soles, but I think I would suggest 220 grit PSA for doing the sides, at least until you get a feel for it. It really is very easy to remove more material than you want from the rounded top part of the sole.

[Richard Hutchings]

That sounds like a real good method. Thanks for sharing that Robert.

[Tom Stenzel]

My Stanley 78 rabbet plane came with the business side out of square. Luckily it wascut at an acute angle so it could be used but it was irritating.

I clamped it to a square block of steel so the bottom of the plane was perpendicular to table and then used sandpaper to square up the bottom 1/2" of the cheek. For my use the 1/2" was enough to register on the side of the rabbet.

As far as a shooting board goes I cheated and adjusted the board to suit my extremely out of square plane. And thanks to Jim Koepke I feel good about it.;)

-Tom