Wooden Vice Cheeks

[CraigyCraigo]

The plane iron? Or the jaws?

 

[carlb40]

The plane iron? Or the jaws?

The jaws.
If you look at pictures of oak with black marks on them. That is caused by the tannin in the oak reacting to iron/steel. A couple coats of varnish will stop that

 

[CraigyCraigo]

Iron and oak is not a good combo. The oak will soon show black stains and the iron will start to corrode. Not an instant rust scenario, but, be warned!

Thanks for the responces guys. It has had multi coats of wax on the faces that see the iron and in the screw holes, but they are brass anyway.

Mike,

You say that cutting oak promotes corrosion on the irons??? i obviously don't want that or pitting anywhere near the cutting edge or sole... how do i need to treat the iron and sole to stop that. i store it in the original oil paper and a bag full of shavings...... hence there should be no moisture in there but the residual acid from the oak may be a problem..... lucky i wouldn't have thought any real stress corrosion cracking could occur in the service life of a plane but obviously general corrosion can..... is it a case of removing the iron and wiping that and the sole down well and giving it a wax maybe? or do i need to use alchol or something alone those lines?

 

[Jacob]

...... how do i need to treat the iron and sole to stop that. ....

Just keep it clean and dry. Oak can't react with iron without water. Basically no prob with dry wood in a dry workshop. No prob with wet oak either - as long as you keep everything clean and don't leave it hanging about for long in contact with the steel

 

[CraigyCraigo]

Thanks!

 

[adzeman]

Trying to remember what we used to stop the circular saw blade going blue when we ripped oak? Someone knows?

 

[bugbear]

I've certainly cleaned black "stuff" off a blade subsequent to planing oak.

And I've had several steel screws shear off due to corrosion damage when removing them from old oak pieces.

No timber is truly dry, so tannin corrosion will always happen, sometimes slowly, sometime quickly.

BugBear

 

[adzeman]

On the outskirts of our village there used to be a tannery and the tanning was was made from oak bark. To shift the bark sludge they had large wood barrows which we made and repaired. Every item of the barrow was wood. The wheel had a vulcanised tyre but everything else was made from elm. When we delivered them usually three or four a time we would have a barrow race. First to the tannery one five shillings. The gate house security would ring the shop to tell the boss who had won. Because of the tanning the tanners wore wood clogs because of the effect on the nails of boots. The Tannery was about a mile and a half away and all down hill. If you won you didnt mind the slow drag back.

 

[Mister S]

Mike
thanks for your post - I love stories like that. I'm guessing that modern H&S issues would stop just about every part of your story from happening nowadays.

Steve