'Fettling' a plane

[paulc]

I have bought a stanley bench plane and block plane , do their soles need to be fettled ? Is carborundum on glass a better method than emery paper on glass ? What is carborundum , is it available in hardware stores ? What is emery paper , is it available in hardare stores ? Any info appreciated , cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Paul

Yes, the soles probably require a little attention although it may not be much.

A plane will never cut properly unless the sole is dead flat - especially around the mouth area. Check flatness with the edge of a steel ruler held against the sole with the plane held up in front of a nice bright light source

You could use emery cloth which is basically a sandpaper made specifically for use on metal or wet and dry paper which uses the same cutting compund and has more-or-less replaced emery cloth over the past 10 years

Stick some wet and dry onto a flat surface - float glass, surface plate, outfeed table or a planer or a tablesaw or even a piece of flat 19mmm MDF. Wet the paper with a solution of water and washing up liquid (10 parts water to 1 part washing up liquid) and run the plane back and forth until the entire sole is a dead flat grey colour and has minute scratches all over it.

I use 120 grit paper only these days and I find the finish from that is fine for all of my planes

Have fun

 

[Alf]

Crumbs, Paul. Emery paper and carborundum?! What ancient tome have you been reading? A whole host of information on tuning planes to be found here. The tendency these days is for people to start flattening soles and so forth as a matter of course, but I favour trying the plane first. Could be it works just fine as it is (well you never know). Oh, and be aware, if they're modern Stanleys or Records you'll have to assume they'll move again and check them accordingly.

Cheers, Alf

 

[paulc]

Cheers Tony , got 120 grit black sandpaper which hardware clerk said was wet & dry( though no mention on packet) , it broke up after a few passes , is this normal ? Have some sheets of emery as well , do you wet emery paper or use it dry ?
Alf , extensive links as always, niceone , they seem to suggest that plain old sandpaper is fine , certainly would be alot less messy so why bother with the wet wet and dry paper, is it better? So many methods so little time!

 

[Possumpoint]

Cheers Tony , got 120 grit black sandpaper which hardware clerk said was wet & dry( though no mention on packet) , it broke up after a few passes , is this normal ? Have some sheets of emery as well , do you wet emery paper or use it dry ?
Alf , extensive links as always, niceone , they seem to suggest that plain old sandpaper is fine , certainly would be alot less messy so why bother with the wet wet and dry paper, is it better? So many methods so little time!

The Emery Cloth I've used here has water soluble glue for the grit. Learned real quick to use it dry. I've never had a problem with wet/dry sand paper breaking up so it sounds like the salesman who sold it to you was wrong. Of course, you have to take into consideration that I live on the other side of the pond and things here may be different.

 

[Aragorn]

Welcome to the forum Possumpoint!

 

[Possumpoint]

Welcome to the forum Possumpoint!

Thanks Aragorn! I appreciate the greetings!

 

[Charley]

Possumpoint, welcome to UKW

 

[Possumpoint]

Possumpoint, welcome to UKW

Thanks Charley, I apprecialte the greetings!

 

[Alf]

they seem to suggest that plain old sandpaper is fine , certainly would be alot less messy so why bother with the wet wet and dry paper, is it better?

Abrasives are very much tailored to do certain jobs as efficiently as possible, so yes, it's better. There's no reason why you have to use Wet 'n' dry wet though; I agree the mess is a PITA. Dunno if you got as far as "QuickLap", but for initial removal over a large area the Zirconium belts are very effective (Screwfix sell them now, btw).

Welcome, Possumpoint.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Tony , got 120 grit black sandpaper which hardware clerk said was wet & dry( though no mention on packet) , it broke up after a few passes , is this normal ? Have some sheets of emery as well , do you wet emery paper or use it dry ?

Absolutely NOT. Wet and dry paper will never break up with water on it - that is the way it should be used. If you buy some more, you will usually find it has wet 'n' dry or similar printed on the back

Emery cloth is not designed to use wet and I suspect that you will lose the grit really quickly. Emery cloth usually has a blue 'material' like backing (usually vaguely looks like denim) and wet and dry paper has a paper backing that is a sort of brownish-grey colour

Good luck

I buy my wet and dry in packs of 50 sheets and save loads that wat from here

http://rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/browse/...ID=ukie&3288769612=3288769612&stockNo=4845908


But B&Q sell it in packs of 3 sheets for about £1.80 as well as most car accessory places

 

[paulc]

Thanks Tony , I was assured that any sandpaper that was black was wet and dry but obviously not , i'll check out the link , cheers

 

[bugbear]

There are other ways to flatten plane soles

BugBear (feeling vaguely cryptic)

 

[Possumpoint]

Thanks ALF, I appreciate the greetings.