Plane fettling

[George_N]

Hi all. I'm in the process of fettling an old Stanley #4 1/2, bought cheap through Ebay. I've been using it as a learning project to build up my skill level in setting up and using hand planes (the skill level can really only go in one direction at the moment, and that's up). I've had a go at re-grinding and honing the blade with some success in that I managed to get a full length shaving off a 3' length of 3/4" oak flooring. The next step, from all that I've read, is to flatten the sole of the plane. I set up my sheet of glass that I used in the "Scary Sharp" honing of my blade, with a strip of 120 g wet 'n dry and started lapping the sole. The 120 g didn't make much impression on the cast iron but it did show that the sole of the plane is definitely not flat. I moved down to 80 g aluminium oxide paper. It is obviously more abrasive and, judging by the amount of black dust produced, it was removing metal. However, there was no obvious change in the look of the sole after a couple of hours of this treatment. I was on the verge of giving up on the whole process when I remembered that I had bought some engine valve grinding paste from Halfords with a view to using it to improve the frog contact points. Anyway I thought ...flat glass...grinding paste...it might just work. I spread some of the paste on the glass and thinned it down with a spray of GT85 and started lapping. The initial crunching noise, as the grit bit into the glass, sounded awful but it soon settled down. The coarse grinding paste cut very quickly and after a couple of minutes the sole of the plane was a uniform dull gray except for down the outside edges, around the mouth and immediately under the tote attachment point. I guess these areas are where the metal is thickest in the casting. How flat does the sole need to be? I didn't want to carry on grinding for too long because I'm obviously grinding away glass as well as metal and I could just introduce more errors by lapping on glass that is no longer flat. My intention is to follow the coarse grinding paste with the fine one and then go back to the wet and dry to polish the sole. Anyone else tried this sort of approach? I vaguely remember reading about someone who used carborundum powder (same thing I suppose) to do the job. As I said, this was a cheap plane (£1.24 + P&P through Ebay) so I don't mind experimenting and I would welcome any other suggestions.

cheers (and apologies for the long post)

George

 

[GEPPETTO]

....Anyone else tried this sort of approach? I vaguely remember reading about someone who used carborundum powder (same thing I suppose) to do the job. As I said, this was a cheap plane (£1.24 + P&P through Ebay) so I don't mind experimenting and I would welcome any other suggestions.

cheers (and apologies for the long post)

George

Hi George,
could he be me :shock: ? I said, time ago, I tried to flatten my plane sole with carbide powder on a sheet of glass,too . As you say, I saw that the entire process is more quick that with carbide paper, too. Surely the glass will become hollow, but if you utilize all the surface I think you could maintain it in a narrow tollerance :? . Solution could be You put a sheet of (how Alf Said) Mylar,which I can't translate but with Google's search I found it's like a rigid sheet of transparent plastic, spry-glued on the glass. The powder clogs into the "plastic" and acts as a sandpaper. Glass doesn't wear.
I don't still have tried this but I hope to do soon ( I have some planes sto refurbish).

Cheers; Gabriele

 

[Midnight]

George.. nothing realy to add to Gabriele's post other than to ensure that as you're flattening the sole, be sure to have the plane set up exactly as you would if you were using it, i.e. fully assembled, lever cap at normal working pressure but with the blade retraced well out of harm's way..

 

[George_N]

I saw this kit on the Axminster site. The plate is too small for plane flattening though. I think I'll persevere with the glass, I think the Mylar option might not be any better than the silicon carbide papers.

cheers

George

 

[George_N]

George.. nothing realy to add to Gabriele's post other than to ensure that as you're flattening the sole, be sure to have the plane set up exactly as you would if you were using it, i.e. fully assembled, lever cap at normal working pressure but with the blade retraced well out of harm's way..

Thanks Mike, yes I had the plane fully set up with the blade retracted.
Should I carry on flattening until at least the centre section of the blade appears flat. I think I will have to take a lot of metal off to get it flat reght out to the edges.

cheers

George

 

[George_N]

I've also just found this kit from Veritas which includes laminate sheets. I might try using some acetate sheets we have lying about the office (transparent overhead projector sheets).

cheers

George

 

[Anonymous]

George

I would go back to 80 grade paper now until the mouth area is flat. It is nice to have the of the sole completely flat but not as essential as the mouth area. Typically on long planes, I use the 80 grit until the area in front of the mouth and the mouth itself are flat and then maybe move up to 120 grit. As long as most of the metal behind the mouth is touching the paper, you'll be OK at this

I don't bother going any finer than 120 as there is no benefit in use.

 

[kygaloot]

George,

You might want to do some filing before lapping with sandpaper. See the bit on filing on Bugbear's sole flattening page.

http://www.geocities.com/plybench/flatten.html

 

[Midnight]

George.. as Tony says' absolute flatness isn't essential... so long as the toe, heel, either side of the mouth and preferably the full length of the outer edges are at the same level you can get away with some hollows (so long as they're not excessive)..

 

[bugbear]

You might want to do some filing before lapping with sandpaper.

I'd say instead of

BugBear

 

[kygaloot]

I'd say instead of

Hey, I'm with you there. However, some folks won't be aesthetically satisfied with the surface finish of the finest file. I don't think there is too much danger in some light lapping afterwards.

 

[Midnight]

ky... a little bit of texture on the sole isn't really a bad thing... if you rub wax on the sole for lube, that texture gives it something to key into... saves smearing the lot off in the first couple o passes...

That's not to say you want it looking like a pebble-dash wall mind you... just a wee bit...yea...??

 

[bugbear]

I'd say instead of

Hey, I'm with you there. However, some folks won't be aesthetically satisfied with the surface finish of the finest file. I don't think there is too much danger in some light lapping afterwards.

I did some experiments (now added to the page as a footnote) using small (1" square) sanding blocks. I made 3, varying from more or less flat, to severely convex.

This allowed me to move from general flattening in the early stages, to more localised metal removal as accuracy increased.

I cut 1" wide strips of AlZi paper and wrapper them around the block. As the blue clogged the paper (rapidly) I used a brass sudes brush to clear the paper. As the paper wore, I simply rotated the strip by 1" to bring in fresh abrasive. I started with 80 grit, and stopped at 320. The finer grits give a little more accuracy, but also better cosmetics. Don't change grit too early, or the process will be slow.

You need to be extremely careful around edges (e.g. the mouth!) when using this approach, but it works, and leaves a more cosmetic result than filing. I did have numb fingers for a week though, from hold the small blocks...

It may be of interest to consider that this approach could be tried with minimal overhead in setup; for a #4 or #5, 8 or 10mm flat glass should be flat enough. I would recommend resting the glass of router mat (or similar), to provide distributed support (minimising distortion) and to keep it in place.

(sidebar; one of the benefits of the print-remove approach is that the plane and reference are under low distorting forces when the print is made, greatly increasing accuracy compared with lapping, which is a high-force operation.)

Note that my approach only needs a reference as big as the plane, where the lapping technique needs a much bigger reference (Dunbar's recommends 3 times the plane's length).

BugBear

 

[nonidentity]

Hi there,

having followed / chased / traced many logs on this topic the most definitive I found - and straightforward is at

http://www.shavings.net/SCARY.HTM

I will be trying this myself as soon as my "jig" arrives. :shock:

Cheers.

 

[bugbear]

Hi there,

having followed / chased / traced many logs on this topic the most definitive I found - and straightforward is at

http://www.shavings.net/SCARY.HTM

I will be trying this myself as soon as my "jig" arrives. :shock:

Cheers.

That's blade sharpening, not sole flattening. Good info though.

BugBear

 

[kygaloot]

I did some experiments (now added to the page as a footnote) using small (1" square) sanding blocks. I made 3, varying from more or less flat, to severely convex.

Thanks for the update, Bugbear.

 

[Rob Lee]

(snip)

That's blade sharpening, not sole flattening. Good info though.

BugBear

Of course - one could always lap a sole this way....

http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/lds.jpg

:shock: :shock: 8)

 

[Chris Knight]

Rob,
Well mine is certainly flat and our buddy probably lapped it that way!

 

[bugbear]

Of course - one could always lap a sole this way....

http://www.leevalley.com/home/temprl/lds.jpg

:shock: :shock: 8)

wassa matter Rob - yer' surface grinders all wore up?? :lol:

BugBear

 

[Alf]

It's the new material being used for the infill that amuses me. Heck, it's probably got some garolyte on there someplace too... :wink:

Cheers, Alf