Mouth too tight on wooden smoother

[Warren Mickley]

I have maintained my plane soles with planing for nearly 50 years. I always plane with the grain.

I can't imagine that sandpaper or or planing across the grain will yield the fine surface that I demand.

[Tony Wilkins]

I have maintained my plane soles with planing for nearly 50 years. I always plane with the grain.

I can't imagine that sandpaper or or planing across the grain will yield the fine surface that I demand.

Do you do it the way the I showed in the picture or some other way?

[Derek Cohen]

Tony, you do not have the experience to do it as Warren would. Do not go there. Stick to lapping the sole on sandpaper. Warren's comment about not achieving a fine surface off sandpaper is irrelevant - when a woodie is used, the surface of the sole becomes burnished, and it takes no time at all for the wood to be polished. It is easier for you to control a plane on sandpaper, which will cut as finely as you wish - just use the appropriate sandpaper. I would start with 120 grit, even 180 grit if you are not confident. Mark the sole with pencil and watch where the surface is being removed.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Rafael Herrera]

One has to try to learn.
How you got chatter with a metal plane like that one is puzzling. I don't have one of those, so I can't reproduce. Perhaps you're not able to hold the coffin smoother firmly enough. Another thing that occurred to me was that the iron is not sharp enough or the shavings not set thin enough.

If you go the other way, hold the smoother in the vise, you may achieve more control. Holding it securely is difficult due to its shape.

If you use sandpaper, follow Steve's recommendations. Hold the plane so that you press down only where you want to remove material, don't just push the plane back and forth. Do one pass at a time and check, repeat until you level the sole.

[chris carter]

I mostly use wood bottom planes. I used to true the soles with another plane. What a pain in the butt, relatively slow, constant checking to not screw it up. Then I wizened up and switched to sandpaper. And I would go through grits, which was dumb and pointless because after a dozen passes on a piece of wood the sole will be burnished and smoother than a baby’s bottom anyway.

So what I eventually settled on is I went to Home Depot and bought a 36" engineered stone threshold that is dead flat. It cost me $14 I think. And I bought a role of 80 grit (yes, EIGHTY GRIT) sticky back sandpaper. Years later I’m still on that first piece I stuck down on the piece of stone. No need to go any lower. I used to do that and it was pointless.

Usually the amount needed to true a sole is microscopic. A smoother on that thing can be done in two or three passes. My 26” jointer takes a lot more because I have to do little strokes. But regardless, it is so much faster, and absolutely dead accurate without even trying, vs. using a plane to do the job.

BTW – I’ve also noticed that if I wax the sole once every other day I use a particular plane, the sole doesn’t wear as much. Wear is caused by friction and wax reduces friction. You don’t need to wax every 5 seconds like a metal plane as it holds the wax. But every couple of days makes a difference. This is particularly handy with the jointer as I’m typically just wearing out the center of the sole on edges and a bit of wax helps to avoid running a groove down the middle of the plane.

[David Carroll]

I have found the same thing. If I wax the sole regularly the wooden planes don't seem to wear (or require flattening) so much. I keep a cake of beeswax on my bench and apply it to plane soles and saw blades as required, what a difference it makes.

Only trouble is it's pretty expensive, I use it a lot, so I bought a cake of it and after only 30 years it was all used up! I'm on my second now...

DC

[Mel Fulks]

David, Good job on great Public Service Announcement. Bees wax seems gummy …but it makes stuff slick as a magic trick !

[Tony Wilkins]

IMG_8743.jpg

sole is flat now. Still couldn’t get a shaving but I (and my brain) was really too tired today to do much more.