Vintage Cast iron surface plate, is it worth the effort?

[silence dogood]

Jeff, this is to be an opportunity to hone your scraping skills. I'd keep it, at least for now. Otherwise, someone out there would be willing to take it.

 

[Firstram]

Have it blanchard ground (or not) and use it with sandpaper as a lapping plate. The price was right and your granite surface plate will last longer!

 

[chips&more]

What a small world! Did the person that gave it to you say anything about how he got it? Maybe from the Concord flea market about 35 years ago?

 

[wachuko]

Hey all,
This 15” x 18” cast iron surface plate came to me free of charge!
The question is, should I try to scrape it in to a useable condition? It’s high in the center.
I have a 24” x 18” x 3”granite surface plate for a reference.


It would make a good winter project and it would shake the rust off my limited scraping skills.
I took Mr. Kings week long class back in 2019.

My concern is I would never use it.

Edit, this is my first print. The blue is too thick for one, the effort to get this off the granite just about wore me out.
This will not be easy!!

That is exactly like the one my dad had.

In my younger years (maybe 10 years old), I remember finding it in a corner of the hardware store… not knowing what it was and seeing it had rusted, I took a grinder and removed all the rust on the surface…

There are only a few times that I had seen my father cry…

That day I learned what that table was, what was used for…. He designed and made all the molds for his business at the time (ornamental concrete blocks) on that table…. He even had some blue dye and showed me how it was used…


The next day he took me to a place that sold used machinist equipment and gave me a lesson on what everything was for…. Of course I forgot most of it… but I remember that day.

So yeah, keep it!

 

[woodchucker]

Scrape it in and sell it?
On the other hand, it's small and would be easy to store.

And very heavy. I have one.. I use it for welding . I think it really depends on YOU..
The reason that the cast iron plates are not that useful is when the get a ding, they are out of true instantly.
A granite plate getting a ding just has a chip out, no raised area.

Since you got it free, and since they are not in high demand keep it and use it for whatever your needs are.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Hey all,
This 15” x 18” cast iron surface plate came to me free of charge!
The question is, should I try to scrape it in to a useable condition? It’s high in the center.
I have a 24” x 18” x 3”granite surface plate for a reference.


It would make a good winter project and it would shake the rust off my limited scraping skills.
I took Mr. Kings week long class back in 2019.

My concern is I would never use it.

Edit, this is my first print. The blue is too thick for one, the effort to get this off the granite just about wore me out.
This will not be easy!!

Last I saw one of those they had impregnated the surface with industrial diamond and were using it to lap granite surface plates.

 

[Janderso]

Have it blanchard ground (or not) and use it with sandpaper as a lapping plate. The price was right and your granite surface plate will last longer!

I was surprised to see the Blanchard grinder pattern on the surface. I assumed these were ground then surface ground but I guess not.

 

[Janderso]

I learned a lesson when I was scraping in a large angle plate at the scraping class.
I was chasing my tail as I am now.
Richard King called everyone over and asked, what’s the problem with this plate?
Nobody answered until I did. I said, I need to get it down to where the lows are the highs.
He looked at me with a smile and said, that‘s it! Exactly.
At this point, I am hinging properly at the thirds. This means I’m close but I need to run a complete pattern at 45 degree angles, both sides meaning 4:00 and 8:00.
I’m a bit sore and stiff this morning! Looks like I have a lot of hand work today.
John’s offer of borrowing his power scraper sounds very tempting at this point!!

 

[woodchucker]

take John up on his offer. that's a lot of scraping.

 

[Janderso]

take John up on his offer. that's a lot of scraping.

I think I’m close to completion. All puffed up, I feel like a weight lifter.