Transitional sole swap?

[Chris Fierro]

Forgive me from wandering over from the turner forum.

I want to take a cheap wooden transitional plane, probably a #5 and replace the sole with a much longer piece. Basically I am looking at a way to get myself into a money cheap (I realize it will be time intensive) jointer plane.

Sound logic to replace the wooden sole, copying the throat angles, etc, with a much longer piece and a new iron?

What am I missing here? And is this an accepted way to get an inexpensive jointer plane?

Thanks everyone!

[Jim Koepke]

I bought a Sargent transitional Joiner recently and it was fairly inexpensive. I am not sure about the sizes of the transitional planes, but your idea should work.

Bob Smalser has a tutorial here about putting a new sole on a wood bodied plane. It may be of help.

If you check the listings on eBay, you may find it is easier to buy a joiner and rehab it.

just my 2¢,

jim

[Clint Jones]

http://www.sydnassloot.com/bbuckner/planes.htm#tj

Look at the transitional planes here.

[Johnny Kleso]

I just got an eMail from Brian yesterday :)

He makes it look easy to make infills but I think the transitional is not that hard to do..

[Bill Houghton]

unless I'd found a seller who knew his stuff. I owned a transitional jointer for a while, but never had occasion to plane anything with a seriously twisted edge - that's the finished state, mind. The plane was quite a bit in winding; if you plotted the angle of the sole from back to front, it would have looked like the flight path of those planes flying in formation in the WWII movies and then peeling off to go strafe the enemy.

If you had a seller whose measurements you trusted, it might be OK. Otherwise, I wouldn't buy one unless I could hold it in my hand and measure it (let's just say I was young and ignorant when I bought the plane; now I'm older, though I can still manage ignorant regularly).

[Jim Koepke]

unless I'd found a seller who knew his stuff. I owned a transitional jointer for a while, but never had occasion to plane anything with a seriously twisted edge - that's the finished state, mind. The plane was quite a bit in winding; if you plotted the angle of the sole from back to front, it would have looked like the flight path of those planes flying in formation in the WWII movies and then peeling off to go strafe the enemy.

If you had a seller whose measurements you trusted, it might be OK. Otherwise, I wouldn't buy one unless I could hold it in my hand and measure it (let's just say I was young and ignorant when I bought the plane; now I'm older, though I can still manage ignorant regularly).

Maybe yours was a coach maker's compass joiner plane? (LOL)

I may have gotten lucky, but I do ask a lot of questions and request more pictures. If the seller is uncooperative, there is always another seller.

jim

[Chris Fierro]

Unless I am missing something here, the wood on the ebay plane doesn't matter. I am looking at a cheap jack. I'll use a fresh piece of KD ash to entirely replace the wooden sole with a much longer version. So in the auction, I am really looking for just the metal "guts".

So my question should reflect that.

[Jim Koepke]

Unless I am missing something here, the wood on the ebay plane doesn't matter. I am looking at a cheap jack. I'll use a fresh piece of KD ash to entirely replace the wooden sole with a much longer version. So in the auction, I am really looking for just the metal "guts".

So my question should reflect that.

The question of whether the metal from one transitional should work on a different size hunk of wood is clear.

My thought is that it should work, though the work involved making a sole for a plane may be more work than just buying a transitional joiner to start with.

From the tutorial Bob Smalser posted, one could easily resole an old transitional without having to recut the whole thing. My opinion is that what one would learn from doing this would be a good step on the way to making a sole for an old plane.

jim

[Chris Fierro]

Thanks, Jim.

I resoled an old woodie smoother using Bob's tutorial. I also incorporated some of the ideas into my own Krenov style plane. I'll eventually buy a $15 transitional fore or jack and take it from there.

[Douglas Brummett]

I picked up a stanley 29 with intention of doing something of this nature. At under $10 you get the hardware, then just make a new sole. Mine wasn't even $5. A lamination is probably easiest way to get the relief and blade support angles, but with enough time you could also hog it out of a single board.

[Stephen Jackson]

Can someone point me in the right direction for Bob's tutorial? I'm sure that I have read it at some point in the past, but now I can't find it. :mad:
I've search and there without success. Thanks a million if someone can help.

[Douglas Brummett]

Can someone point me in the right direction for Bob's tutorial? I'm sure that I have read it at some point in the past, but now I can't find it. :mad:
I've search and there without success. Thanks a million if someone can help.

Here is atleast one
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=8351&highlight=rehabbing+woodies

[Jim Becker]

I'm actually considering making a whole new body for my #26 transitional because it's just not stable and jointing it has not kept it flat. I hadn't thought of up-sizing it to something closer to a jointer. However, that's an interesting idea.