how do you treat your plane?

[Paul Kierstead]

Isn't there a minimum number of posts before you can ask that question?

Does it make a difference if the plane is bevel up or bevel down?

 

[Frank D.]

Usually on shavings, otherwise A.

 

[Philly]

Guess this makes me C............ :lol:

Philly

 

[woodbloke]

Smudger wrote:

Beaten into me by my old woodwork teacher and never forgotten...

Been there, done it :shock: ........not any more tho' - Rob

 

[Anonymous]

Several people including smudger and Woodbloke seem to think that placing the plane the plane on the bench will somehow blunt or damage the blade? Does it not cut wood every time it is used?

How exactly?

All of mine are A2 steel and protrude only a few thousandths o an inch form the mouth.

The idea that the blade might get blunted seems to me (after 15 years or so of handplane use) an old wife's tale or urban myth - or the result of careless treatment.

I'm not saying that one shouldn't take care or course and if a piece of wood is lying around, I use it.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Several people including smudger and Woodbloke seem to think that placing the plane the plane on the bench will somehow blunt or damage the blade?

There's also the issue of damaging the bench top, Tony, particularly if you use scrub-type planes which have the blade projecting a fair way.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Tony - the reason I use the stick method is that I find planes much easier to pick up again if they're put down on a little stick. On their side I find it more difficult as you have to twist your hand to pick them up. I keep an old Treky mug on my bench:

like this with sorts of bits and pieces in it....sticks, pencils, thin Bic biro for dovetail marking, brushes, acrylic glue 'taker-offer' so it's now just routine to put a stick on the bench as soon as I pick up a plane or chisel. I never use the shavings method as my bench top is always clear when I work. Shavings get brushed onto the floor pretty much as soon as they're produced. I would never intentionally put a plane down on its sole either, for me, it's bad workshop practice and after shouting and bawling at youth for 20 odd years in workshops various around the country I'm hardly likely to do the same thing :wink: - Rob

 

[bugbear]

in between uses do you...

A) lay it on its side, to protect the blade

B) prop it up from the front on a little stick, to protect the blade

C) put it sole down on you bench, blade extended

I ask because i am in the 'C' camp and cant see how doing that could be any worse for the blade than actually using it.

Tom

B and C (little stick, on the bench)

My storage shelf also has a lip, at the rear, to avoid condensation getting in between the shelf and the sole.

BugBear

 

[Smudger]

We weren't told not to do it (C) because of blunting the cutter, but because over time it might alter the setting.

Woodbloke - were you giving or receiving the beatings? I was once slippered for injuring myself on a lathe (forgot to take the chuck key out...).

 

[woodbloke]

Smudger wrote -

Woodbloke - were you giving or receiving the beatings

These were verbal assaults on 'youff' eardrums. I never actually hit anyone tho' came close a few times...we were always advised to keep hands in the pockets of workshop coats. At the time I was teaching striking the opposition physically had all but died out and I suspect now-a-days even raising your voice a few db's at the little darlings would promote an adverse reaction - Rob

 

[Mittlefehldt]

For what it's worth I recall being at a woodshow at Rob Cosman's booth and him chuckling a bit to another woodworker about the fact that he routinely gets some grief from the old uns about putting his planes down flat on his bench, he does C.

I personally do C as well, as to damaging the workbench top, it isn't a dining room table, and while I do not set out to deliberately damage it I don't get overly concenred about the odd nick or scratch either. I doubt however that even a scrub plane would do much damage unless you actually pushed it along before picking it up.

I have seen a number of old benches and I would say the old guys were not that concerned with damaging their bench tops either if the current state is any indication.

 

[tnimble]

To me C, never bother to do B, A always found it to be stupid and even dangerous to do.

With A you don't nick your bench (unless you push in instead of picking it up). The blade can't get blunt, if that was true the blade would also be blunt even before you finish the first stroke while planing. The blade doesn't loose its setting over a long time unless maybe you leave it on your bench for a few a few decades. If it would move the blade even the slighest within at most the few hours it sets on the bench it would move even more when planing.

So with A you risk losing your knuckles and lateral adjustment setting, risk nicking the blade with another tool and risk knocking the plane over because its a lot less stable on its side.

 

[Smudger]

I think my planes are a lot MORE stable on their sides!

I was just working (lap jointing 2 small boards together to make a toolbox base) and I used a block plane, a bullnose and a 78 Rebater. At one point I looked at the bench and thought 'A' - all on their sides - completely unconscious reaction now. I can't see myself catching a cutter with my fingers, and if the cutter set can't be damaged by C, how come the lateral adjustment can?

This has the makings of a bigenders and littlenders war - where is Lemuel Gulliver when you need him?

 

[newt]

B most of the time

 

[newt]

While we are on the subject of Planes and their welfare, who lifts the plane at the end of each stroke and who just slides it back over the piece. I was told to lift the plane, remove shavings then return to start another cut. A certain video from a dovetail expert shows that he justs moves back and forth at high speed without lifting.

 

[dchenard]

While we are on the subject of Planes and their welfare, who lifts the plane at the end of each stroke and who just slides it back over the piece. I was told to lift the plane, remove shavings then return to start another cut. A certain video from a dovetail expert shows that he justs moves back and forth at high speed without lifting.

I do both, oftentimes when going back and forth a shaving gets pulled back under the plane then it won't cut on the next stroke so I have to lift and clean anyway. I do lift at every stroke when doing the last finishing passes.

DC

 

[tnimble]

I think my planes are a lot MORE stable on their sides!

I was just working (lap jointing 2 small boards together to make a toolbox base) and I used a block plane, a bullnose and a 78 Rebater. At one point I looked at the bench and thought 'A' - all on their sides - completely unconscious reaction now. I can't see myself catching a cutter with my fingers.

Of cause there al always exceptions to the rule. There is no way no put a no 45, 50, 55, 78 etc stable on its sole. But most used planes are the bench planes and block planes. The most of them including a few with the same body profile as a bench plane like the no 10 are more stable set on their sole.

, and if the cutter set can't be damaged by C, how come the lateral adjustment can?

Because the blade is securely fixed but the lever is only slightly hold is place by some friction. Esp on the bench planes the lever shifts with little effort. Unless your plane is not well maintained and the lever is stuck in rust and and other mug.

 

[andy king]

How do you treat your plane?

Well, I usually take them to the zoo, followed by a MacDonald's or an ice cream :lol:
Seriously though, I was taught both at school and college to put them on their sides, but I do also put them down on a block to keep the iron off the bench.
At school it was because the bench was full of nails and the iron was guaranteed to be damaged, although after we tried taking a few shavings off the bench top when the teacher wasn't looking,the iron was like a saw blade!

Andy

 

[tnimble]

While we are on the subject of Planes and their welfare, who lifts the plane at the end of each stroke and who just slides it back over the piece. I was told to lift the plane, remove shavings then return to start another cut. A certain video from a dovetail expert shows that he justs moves back and forth at high speed without lifting.

Both. it depends on the plane and the job.

For instance when attempting to flatten a board a stroke, pull up and do the next stroke. (If you need to pull out shavings you either did not go all the length of the board, have a problem with the chip breaker of a very difficult wood). Or for things as trimming a shoulder or cleaning up a dado with a router plane its mostly handier do go back and forth at high gaer.

 

[engineer one]

having re-learnt the skill recently i have also had to consider another thing, if i get cut it takes bloody ages to stop bleeding, and i seem to have developed the skill of just rubbing a knuckle or something along the blade without knowing it is there :?

mind you i could do with making the bench less full of cr*p so i had more room, but somehow whenever i make things tools seem to accumulate just round the job and almost nowhere else?

i would think the shavings part is best way to go.

paul :wink: