[Read!] Restoring a New Hand Plane to Accuracy

[Ulma Doctor]

Cool project... and I will bet that this will not only be the most accurate plane but possibly the most accurate anything ever to come out of a Harbor Freight store

I didn't want to boast too much and say that, but since you did....
I agree!
thanks for reading and commenting.
i really do appreciate the input!!!

 

[Baithog]

Interesting scraping practice. It looks pretty. I actually use planes to target +/- .0005” dimensions. I make long , equal lateral triangular strips of bamboo. 6 of the strips get glued together to form a hex profile fly rod. The tip ends of the strips get down to 0.025, flat to apex. That would form something like a 0.055 tip for a 3 weight. Makers better than I can fabricate 2 weight rods and I have seen claims of 1 weight rods. I prefer the Stanley 220, but most makers use the Stanley 9. I got back into working with metal to fabricate tooling for my bamboo hobby, but now I’m really enjoying getting back to carving metal.

So, enough chest beating, I just wanted you to know where I’m coming from with comments about “precision” planes. I think the current crop of Asian created planes have their sole flattened on a belt sander. High quality planes are available for a pretty price from Lei Nelson ($165), but most of us look for old American tools to refurbish. Block planes and small bench planes should have a flat sole, but larger bench planes often have a concavity running the length. This is to reduce friction and does not affect the planes function. Other larger bench planes have a corrugated sole for the same reason. Scraping a corrugated sole would add some interest to the process. I would say that most of us are flattening the sole by lapping against wet/dry paper on a granite block. The blade must be mounted and under normal tension when flattening. The blade would be retracted, of course. Mounting the blade will flex the sole. You should recheck your scraping job with plane assembled. I think you will find that you need to do additional work.

I stopped viewing the video when he started on about truing the sides. The only time that would be of value would be on a bench plane that was used for shooting. The scraped surface does look cool, but anything more than the sole and the bed is just window dressing… sorta like polishing up the headstock and bed of a lathe and having them chrome plated.



Three thumbs up on the work you’ve done.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Thank You Larry, You are way too kind though. I'm glad someone appreciates the work.

it's good to know there are others that use planes that need accuracy.
thank you for the tip about putting tension on the the blade, i agree other work will be necessary at that point.
what is be nice about the scraped surface is that it floats like glass on my surface plate, there is little friction anywhere
i agree scraping the sides is superfluous.
i'm attempting scraping an import hand plane to .0001" what could be more ridiculous in the first place???
doing the sides just puts the icing on the cake for me, to take it to the next level!

thanks for commenting, BTW i have been looking into Stanley planes.
Who knows, maybe another adventure awaits...

 

[Baithog]

Nothing crazy about using an import as a platform. The body is probably stable enough to keep its shape when done. The blade would need to be replaced, either its cutting portion or the whole thing. At least some of the old irons were two piece.

We do the final taper with the bamboo in a steel form and plane down to the steel. The scraped sole would be an advantage because there is a lot of sliding, metal on metal. I think we all lap the soles flat because it is low tech and reasonably fast. I doubt anyone has ever investigated scraping as an option.

 

[outsider347]

Hello Mike, Greetings from sunny ( -20F) Buffalo NY.

Great post!

wondering if you could suggest where I might learn some of the scraping skills that you displayed here?
Tks
Ed

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Hello Mike, Greetings from sunny ( -20F) Buffalo NY.

Great post!

wondering if you could suggest where I might learn some of the scraping skills that you displayed here?
Tks
Ed

Hi Ed,
thanks for reading.
I had the great fortune to go to Richard King's scraping class 2 years ago.
if you go to ebay, he made a video instruction DVD. that may be a place to start.
there are hours of video on youtube on both hand scraping metal and Biax(machine) Scraping metal and oil flaking metal.

you'll gain the most experience actually scraping though.
but, it's not as hard to do as some would expect.

 

[brav65]

Hey Doc nice work. You would make my grandfather proud. He thought me how to tune up a hand plane when I was in grade school. We used a thick piece of glass a sharpie and wet dry sand paper. I still have the little Stanley I tuned up. My grandfathers planes made shavings so thin you could see both sides at the same time, or so he claimed. Wood is sooo much easier than metal, and a lot cheaper too. The frog, iron and blade need attention too if you want the plane to cut correctly, otherwise the plane will catch and chatter. Using a well tuned wood plane is a wonderful experience. It feels like the wood wants to come off in precisely the right way with almost no effort.

Thanks for sharing

 

[Holescreek]

I've probably got more than a couple dozen old planes you can practice on.

Serious question though, why did the guy in the video start on the side instead of the bottom? Wouldn't it make more sense to start on the bottom then bring the sides in?

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Hey Doc nice work. You would make my grandfather proud. He thought me how to tune up a hand plane when I was in grade school. We used a thick piece of glass a sharpie and wet dry sand paper. I still have the little Stanley I tuned up. My grandfathers planes made shavings so thin you could see both sides at the same time, or so he claimed. Wood is sooo much easier than metal, and a lot cheaper too. The frog, iron and blade need attention too if you want the plane to cut correctly, otherwise the plane will catch and chatter. Using a well tuned wood plane is a wonderful experience. It feels like the wood wants to come off in precisely the right way with almost no effort.

Thanks for sharing

Thank you Brooks, i hope to make us all proud!
It is amazing what the old timers did and the stuff they produced without fancy stuff like we got today. they were the real masters.

the pleasure of sharing this is really mine Brooks, You are very welcome.
i'm at ease when scraping, i'm not buddhist but. i liken it to my personal state of Zen
i'll have lot's of fun truing this unit up.

Maybe i can send it you you for final inspection, if you'd take it when i'm done.

 

[brav65]

Thank you I would be honored to give it a work out and let you know how it performs. I will have to come up with a project in wood equal to your efforts!