[OP]
Contributor
Hi all,
I have a #8 plane with a hump right behind the mouth and I am looking for someone that can grind it flat for me. Ken Hatch told me there was someone here on '
the creek that did that but I couldn't find him. I must not be inputting the right search words and after doing that for an hour I said no mas. Anyone here have a better memory for this then me?
thanx
ralph
Member
Tom Bussey is the person you are looking for.
https://sawmillcreek.org/member.php?105561-Tom-Bussey
[OP]
Contributor
thanx, I had searched for him previously but I spelled his name wrong. I sent him a PM to see if he still does it.
Contributor
Ralph -
- Have you considered sandpaper on a flat surface as a means to lap the hump out? I have a #7 that I did that with. I took a 150 grit sanding belt, cut it open, and laid it out on my table saw. It made short work of flattening the plane bottom. I followed up with some finer grits and it's smooth as a baby's bottom now.
Sharp solves all manner of problems.
Contributor
Yes, I am starting to grind again on a very very limited basis. Maybe this winter.
But After working with metal as a Tool and Die Maker for 50 plus years I can honestly say that 99% of the current population do not have the hand skills or the resources to lap in a hand plane. In all truthfulness all you are doing is scratching the bottom. Old iron is harder than the newer stuff. You have a 100% better chance of lapping a 1/2 inch chisel flat than a plane. I have had people send me planes after they spent a lot of time on them and I can tell it they are right or left handed and measure the amount of damage they did. Yes I know everyone knows how to do it and that it doesn't take long but a few hundred years ago every one Also knew the world was flat and if you sailed to far you would fall off.
If a person puts some fine sand paper on their electric sander and sands the bottom, they will get a shiny bottom that will slide easier than t dirty bottom. Some past wax like Johnson's floor wax or tree wax it will slide even easier. To be honest the best money spent as far as planning goes is sharpening supplies. Actually all shop tools benefit for being sharp. Wooden hand plane have been used for thousands of years and I doubt they were flat.
The real truth is:
A sharp plane works
If iron sanded well they wouldn't have needed to design and build milling machines and surface grinders.
Save yourself time, aggravation, and money and don't bother trying lapping the bottom.
Shine the bottom, wax it, and get on with your life. 1 or two sheets of 180-220 paper on a random orbit sander should do the trick and don't try to reuse the paper on wood.
There are some good new plane manufacturers out there and quality is long remembered after a cheap price is forgotten.
If man was supposed to fly then God would have given him wings rates right up there with I bought a plane at a garage sale and it must be flattened before I can use it.
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?
Tom
Contributor
Get a good flat 10-12" mill file if it needs alot removed or a #2 if not so much removed. a good straight edge, and file it flat and straight yourself. By good file, I mean a flat straight file.
It is not hard to do with a little common sense, and probably only needs little metal removed.
Contributor
I should say, If you can use a hand plane to flatten a piece of wood, then you can flatten a plane with a file. Very similar.
[OP]
Contributor
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.
Member
I can attest to the fact that filing is a skill. Back in the late '70's and 80's I builkt a lot of muzzle loading rifles - from scratch, meaning lock, stock and barrel. That entails a LOT of filing. The most challenging was draw filing the flats on octagonal barrels. I also draw filed planing forms for planing the taper on bamboo for making bamboo fly rods - lots of work.
Advice: First, buy GOOD files; it makes the chore easier, despite the price. Second, slow down and constantly check your work.
Contributor
This is an important step, especially when removing metal. It is also important to know if and/or what metal one needs to remove.Second, slow down and constantly check your work.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Member
I read somewhere from a man that said, "filing should be a 1 year apprentiship at least." The things that can be done with files and rifflers are amazing ( in the right hands) I have always remembere that. I wish I could find it again.Originally Posted by Ralph Boumenot
Then listen to Mr. Bussey
Last edited by Don Kingston; 10-07-2019 at 9:23 AM.
Member
To refine this a little: a surface plate, blue layout fluid, and a carbide scraper, will do this job quite quickly, if you go _slowly_ and check your work often. That said, a slightly high point right at the front of the mouth is the least of your potential problems here. I personally would not do this. It's an easy way to ruin an otherwise usable plane. If it worked before, it should work now.
Contributor
Ralph, This depends on you and your confidence in tackling this by yourself. If you feel reluctant to work on the sole yourself, then it is fortunate that Tom Bussey may be accepting new customers.
It is possible to totally mess up the sole of a plane by rubbing it on abrasive sheets. By that reasoning, it is possible to also remove metal in a planned manner and improve a plane's performance.
Tom's reasoning:
Maybe this puts me in the category of 1% able to lap in a hand plane. Maybe it puts me in a larger percentage that can perform enhancements to the sole of a plane to make it work better. My goal isn't to flatten a plane's sole to within a few thousandths of an inch. This could mean my skills and resources are not up to 'properly' lap the sole of a hand plane. My goal is to make a plane function reliably consistently, for this my skills and resources are adequate.But After working with metal as a Tool and Die Maker for 50 plus years I can honestly say that 99% of the current population do not have the hand skills or the resources to lap in a hand plane.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
Tom is accurate in my estimation, technically you need a lapping plate larger than the sole of the plane. That’s a big plate for a #8.
A plane sole doesn’t need to be perfectly flat but a hump behind the mouth will certainly cause issue. Certain shapes are no problem, and certain shapes are a problem.
Twist would be a problem, a hump behind the mouth would be a problem. A smooth curve with the mouth being the highest point (point contacting the wood) should not be a problem unless it's curved a lot. A curve where the ends are the highest point may present a problem unless the plane flattens out from its own weight.
Last edited by Brian Holcombe; 08-03-2019 at 3:41 PM.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Member
This all depends on what the meaning of the word "behind" is. The OP should clarify whether the "hump" (never specified what size) is towards the front or the back of the plane, adjacent to the mouth. If the hump was to the _rear_ of the mouth, the plane would never have worked at all. But if the plane had ever actually been _used_ (and not immediately hurled against the wall,) it would have to be at the _front_ of the mouth.
BTW, a thick piece of float glass would do in a pinch.
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