[Read!] Restoring a New Hand Plane to Accuracy

[Ulma Doctor]

I watched an awesome video last night about a man who transformed an old Stanley Woodworker's Hand Plane into an instrument of accuracy.
heres a link to the long, but extremely visually informative, video.

After viewing this video, i thought i'd put my emerging scraping skills to the test.
This project i'm about to embark upon is meant to prove that a man can do anything he sets his mind to,
even against probability.


I went to HF and purchased a #33 Hand Plane-


the PP was $9.99 less my 20% off Super Coupon brought it down to $7.99.
i also got a 4" magnetic bowl ,for hex nuts or other iron bearing materials,thrown in free with a coupon!!
it normally sells for 2.99 regularly!
less than 10 bucks 2 items

I have no interest in wood working, it's way too aggravating for me.
I break and/or splinter the mightiest of woods. Even Apitong fears me...
I'm a metal guy through and through. i'm way too heavy handed to work with stuff i can't weld back together.

I got the plane to test my skills as a scraper, and because it was a really cheap scraping victim.
i knew the plane would be less than precision upon removal from the box, but that really was the intention.
i wanted the plane to require some work, to test my learned skills- a hill to climb as it were.
as you can see i was not disappointed in the challenge that i asked for-

after a rubbing on my surface plate, it was woefully apparent that this plane was only touching on 3 1/2 points.
(sorry for the poor quality/inverted picture- i hadn't planned the photography out very well)


An initial scraping provided instant contact on 4 points
there is an estimated .004" hollow running down the center of the plane.
i didn't think to grab feeler gages from my shop toolbox- [DUH](I'm working in the home shop)

a few more scraping cycles lead to...

at last contact on the nose and a smudge rubbed onto the heel of the plane!!!

A few more cycles,
greater contact of heel and nose,


Now we are getting somewhere.
there are contact points emerging all across the planes face.
the plane is starting to sound differently as i rub my hands on it.
almost like low volume nails on a chalkboard, but not in the teeth clinching way

Scraped metal has a different sound about it, it slides & feels differently than ground or extruded metals.
if you have ever laid your hands on a scraped item, i believe you'd agree.

a few more scraping cycles produced:
contact for about 65% of the surface that needs to have contact.
there is still a low spot just a bit south of where the planer blade protrudes.
there was great improvement in support points.
I have a few more cycles to get it to where i find it to be acceptable.
this hand plane is almost flat to .0001", the accuracy of my surface plate.
i'll post more pictures as the task continues...

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Back at the salt mine......

I got back to do some scraping today on the plane.
i left off with improving contact across the face of the plane.
after completing a few more good cycles i snapped a few pictures


as you can see the project is moving along well.
i still have about a nickle sized low spot below the blade port that is just starting to get some blue into it.
it is vividly apparent in the second picture of this post entry, my ink was a little thick but it really accentuated the low for easy discrimination.
when finished it should be around 25 PPI contact
thanks for reading,
there is more to come soon!

 

[Uglydog]

This is a great idea.
Cheap cast for practice.
If you also do the sides you get to practice 90degree scraping.
I wonder if could cut the it in some way and end up with little miniature angle blocks or a straight edge with very little investment.

Daryl
MN

 

[Ulma Doctor]

This is a great idea.
Cheap cast for practice.
If you also do the sides you get to practice 90degree scraping.
I wonder if could cut the it in some way and end up with little miniature angle blocks or a straight edge with very little investment.

Daryl
MN

Hi Daryl,
always good to hear from you,
I'll be doing the sides as well
technically, i could use the plane as a master for transferring blue to another piece ,that is smaller than the plane, on a piece of equipment that might not be able to be rubbed on a surface plate. then scrape that way.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

I got some more scraping time in, some pictures for the interested...




i then decided to take a look at what i could do on the sides....


capturing the plane in a vise was no real challenge.
i simply propped the plane up on a parallel and used a 1" ball bearing to apply ample force to the strange slope that otherwise would have been more difficult to grab without damage to the workpiece.
here's another view, zoomed out, showing the pinching force of the ball against the jaw and work!
believe it or not, even slightly cantilevered, the set up was rock solid!!!



the left side was only touching on a couple points...a few low and 1 high barely visible near the studs.


and the right side,


ditto, very few contact points..
looks like some more scraping time for me!!!!!

thanks for reading and commenting

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Hey Guys A Wonderful Thought Occurred to Me,

I would like to give the tricked out plane to someone who would actually use a .0001" accurate hand plane.

the hand plane is like a cat and a mouse type of thing for me.
metaphorically, the cat plays with the mouse until it's dead and then goes onto other mice, or rats if he's lucky.

i'd like to see a deserving member get it, at no cost to them.

you may post a reply here or start a conversation with me

 

[Uglydog]

This is really cool!
I was wondering how you were going to capture the "strange slop".
The ball bearing is a great idea.
Are you planning on scraping the frog and cap iron as well?
As a plane bolts together it would seem subject to compounding errors, it might be interesting study to learn if you can make the entire plane accurate.
I wonder if the casting content is stable enough to hold the .0001 you attained?

Daryl
MN

 

[Ulma Doctor]

I don't think the casting is stable enough to keep the .0001" but even if it holds .001" it would still be one of the most accurate plane that ever came from HF!!!!

 

[Ulma Doctor]

I'll get to every space i can scrape!!!

 

[Andre]

Great thread

I went to scrape my Dunlap #6 fore plane, upon the first scrape it was apparent the cast iron was hardened. On the second pass I gave up, not having a carbide scraper I was just chicken scratching.
I think now that you've gone to the trouble of scraping it to tenths, you should blueprint the entire thing. Where the frog meets the sole (both frog and sole, maybe even scrape them) and flatten where the iron rests on the frog. Square the sole opening and adjust the frog accordingly.

Did you do a before test to see how it cut out of the box and sharpened?