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Thread: plane sole grinding

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    Hi Brian
    you hit on the two things I am most concerned about - twist and humps. Once I get it ground I can do the rest without any fear of causing any other problems.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    Hi Rob
    my current method of sanding my planes is to lay sandpaper down on a 36" long marble threshold. That works very well for planes up to a #6. The #6 is a stretch but I did manage to do 3 of them on it. The #8 and the #7 are too long and there isn't enough of a runway to effectively sand them.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    Hi Tom
    I don't trust my skill or ability to sand this sole flat and remove the hump. That is why I am willing to pay someone to do that part of the rehab for me correctly. There is absolutely no machine shop in my immediate area that will do it. I have asked 15 and 15 no replies tells me that they aren't interested.
    I really want the sole flat, not within +/- 2 atoms, but flat and shiny. I'll take the rest of the rehabbing from there. I have done about 20-30 of them so far but the #7 and #8 is too large for the 36" marble threshold I use to sand my plane bottoms.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
    Posts
    346
    I tend to be a bit anal about these things. If Tom can't do it this winter then I will attack it with a file and live with it.

  5. #20
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    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    I have done my share of plane rehabs but the #8 is the largest one I will have attempted to do. I need a bit of help with it.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Longview WA
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    27,347
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    Rhetorical question if it was so easy to flatten a plane by hand then why didn't the factory do it in the first place?
    1. It is not greatly difficult but it does take time, often an hour or more.
    2. The person doing the lapping has to pay close attention to the work being done. This requires frequent checking.
    3. Stanley likely didn't check every plane's sole before it left the factory. If they did, they did a terrible job of it or their acceptable tolerance was to tolerant.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    This is why I am seeking help with the sole of the #8 Tom. I have done a lot of rehabs but this one is a bit beyond me. All of my planes are sanded and shined up to 600 grit and then I autosol them. I do this for two reasons, the first is I like a shiny plane and two it helps with the planing because I don't like applying wax to the sole. Yes it gets slippery and it is easier to push but I lose 99% of the feedback I get from an unwaxed sole.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
    Posts
    346
    Hand filing is a skill that takes practice and time. I don't want to practice on my #8 and I don't have the time to dilly dally rehabbing it either.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    I found the hump with a 12" precision flat bar. I have a 36" marble threshold that I use for plane rehabs but a #8 is 24" long so that makes for a 12" sanding stoke which is useless. The plate would have to be a minimum of 48" and I couldn't find a 48" threshold. As for it working before I got it I don't know that. It is/was filthy dirty and had black gummy substance under the frog but no wood shavings. It is in very good shape and I would like very much to rehab it and put it back to work.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    I am interested in flat and not some insane plus or minus a billionth of a point. I don't think it is something that I can do by hand even though I have done a lot of other planes. But they were all a wee bit smaller and lighter that this #8.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    Tom I really want to return this #8 back to working wood again. I have done what you wrote on other planes but this is bigger than any other one I have done. I PM'ed you about using you services and I'm willing to wait and I think the cost is more than reasonable.

  12. #27
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    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    In my opinion, Stanley planes weren't manufactured to a high standard. I have found frog faces that were twisted, humped, concave, and looked like crap. There was almost no filing of the casting judging by the roughness of them and even the frog seats on the Baileys are not anything to write home about. In spite of all of this I love the Old Stanley planes from type 10 on down. I get a lot of satisfaction rehabbing a tool that was made in the 19th/20th century and having it make shavings again.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Yorktown, VA
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    2,754
    I'll bet there are more of us than just Ralph that would be willing to pay $$$ to have a plane ground flat and square. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that give people reasons to pay for what others think is an unnecessary service. I'm glad Tom is getting back in the business.

  14. #29
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    Sep 2011
    Location
    Warwick, Rhode Island
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    346
    Ted I don't care about square as I don't use the plane in that manner. Flat is all I am really interested it.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    2,534
    Ralph; the following is an article written by Chuck Bender that you may find of interest;

    Whether your plane is hand or power, you really only need to know a few things. For a hand plane, three points need to be in the same plane: the toe, the area right behind the mouth and somewhere toward the back of the plane. Honestly, you really can get away with two of those. The only one that has to remain is the spot right behind the mouth. It means you may have to learn how to apply pressure differently as you use the plane but it will still work. Sharp is far more important than flat. I don’t care what method you use to sharpen. Just pick the one that makes the most sense to you
    https://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/plane-facts/


    Last edited by Stewie Simpson; 08-04-2019 at 7:59 PM.

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