I was gluing up some construction timber to make spacers for my basement steps and used Kreg pocket holes to secure the joints while the glue dried. After removing all of the screws, or so I thought, I used my fresh out of the box Lie Nielsen 4-1/2 smoothing plane to make the surfaces flatter. I wasn't concerned about the final finish, but wanted to even out the worst of the twist so the spacers would be uniform on the stair treads.
As I was almost finished, I took a few additional passes on one joint and heard a very unpleasant sound. I had missed removing one of the Kreg screws and the plane made contact with the tip. It made a deep gouge in the sole of the plane and put an ugly nick in the iron. I didn't take any photos of the iron, but the nick was just as bad as the ravine in the sole.
I contacted Lie Nielsen to confess and see what options I had. Elizabeth was quick to reply and told me I could send the plane back to them and they would fix it for free if it could be done by hand, or I could pay $35 if it had to be machine ground. My other option was to do this myself using my granite surface and sandpaper. I was tempted to send it back, but decided to do it myself as a learning experience. If there is a next time, I'll send it back.
After five hours of grinding away on the granite surface using 80, 180, and 220 grit paper, and I had all but two little spots removed. I can live with this...for now, but I might send it back later if I see any issues with smoothing. I checked continuously to make sure the sole was square the sides and there was no cupping laterally or longitudinally during the process. Repairing the iron was much faster and took less than 30 minutes from start to crazy sharp.
I learned my lesson!
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Originally Posted by Pat Barry
