Can a user made metal plane body be deconstructed...?

[rafezetter]

I picked up a shoulder plane at Richard A's charity do last year and only came to use it a week ago.. or try to anyway.... Andy T, I took the bullet on this one it's a dog.

Sides are not even close to flat, either top to bottom or end to end. One one side I'm guessing where the maker peined a fixing stud he went way too heavy and dented the side above right above the mouth.

The blade bed isn't particularly flat either, and the blade stem... double banana.

However... all that said it's made of stainless, large at 230mm x 67mm and pretty heavy.

So I was wondering how hard would it be to dismantle, make a new plane bed (he says...) bang out the worst of the wavy sides especially the dent, and pop it back together...

My biggest concern obviously is, can dovetailed sides and base be prised apart, then re assembled / peined?

If not.. any possible suggestions on how this plane may be retrieved?

I've considered drilling out the studs, then slipping the body onto my I beam "anvil" to see if it can be reduced by hitting the area around the dent, and I've also considered adding false sides from brass or something - I've got about 2mm extra clearance down the blade "throat" to fit a wider blade - as it needs a new one anyway, but I'm not sure how to deal with that dent as it would still show at the top.

Another option was to linish it - but don't have a flat enough bed to do that, tried by hand... got almost nowhere, and I'm not skilled enough to do it on my belt sander - I tried last night but found it very hard to keep it flat and level - plus with the depth of that dent, by the time it was out, it would have left the sidewall at that point very thin.

Or I could just slap some epoxy resin on the sides, then flat it on glass; at least it might be useable then, but that just feels like tool rape...

thoughts anyone? (apart from chuck it away - I'd like to at least have a go...)

 

[terrymck]

Sounds like hard work to me. Best resign it to the ornamental pile.

 

[rxh]

It doesn't seem like a very promising case but please can you post some photos?

 

[worn thumbs]

Done properly,you won't get a dovetail plane apart as the components are made slightly oversize and the projecting ends are peened to tighten them.This is how the sides and sole are locked in place and then the projections are filed down and drawfiled to give the almost invisible joints.Can you give numbers for the deviations from flatness?If only moderate the usual techniques of plane flattening will work,albeit slowly as stainless is not the easiest of materials to deal with.

 

[rafezetter]

Some dimensions:

Sidewall thickness 3.32mm
Dent at deepest point 1mm give or take - which is my greatest concern. Ground down will leave 2mm thick walls which doesn't sound like a lot to me.

The sides are also convex top to botttom, some of which I've already removed, at the top of the plane it's rounded in by about 1mm again, but I'm inclined to think that 50mm of flat side from base should be more than enough for all tasks and bringing the lower part flat is the matter of less than 0.5 mm

Hope this helps, camera's around somewhere - I'll dig it out for pics

 

[bridger]

You dont have to flatten to the bottom of the dent. For a decent user if 75% of the sidewalls are in plane, flat, parallel with the other side and square with the sole it should perform fine. It doesn't matter how deep the low points are as long as enough of the surface is flat.

 

[David C]

To answer one of your original questions, there is no chance whatever of re assembling the compound dovetails, if you got them apart !

David

 

[AndyT]

Have you actually sharpened the blade and tried it out? The only thing that matters is how well a plane performs. If the performance is off, start looking for causes, but don't start by assuming the worst.
As has been said, dents won't matter - think of corrugated planes!

 

[rafezetter]

I did try to use it with the blade good n sharp, that's when I noticed the stem was pretty wavy, but I hoped as long as the wedge keeps the tip firm that shouldn't matter, however making a new blade is pretty straightforward it seems.

The biggest problem is the sides, being convex I couldn't get to the corner of the rebate I was trying to clean, and because they are also not even flat along the length either I was only getting a couple of contact points to guide along.

I guess I'm being too picky as usual about the dent, although grinding so both sides are co-planer will be a real challenge with what I have to hand.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

 

[bridger]

As long as there is actually adequate material, the tools you need are a good straight edge, a square, an outside caliper and a file.

I did try to use it with the blade good n sharp, that's when I noticed the stem was pretty wavy, but I hoped as long as the wedge keeps the tip firm that shouldn't matter, however making a new blade is pretty straightforward it seems.

The biggest problem is the sides, being convex I couldn't get to the corner of the rebate I was trying to clean, and because they are also not even flat along the length either I was only getting a couple of contact points to guide along.

I guess I'm being too picky as usual about the dent, although grinding so both sides are co-planer will be a real challenge with what I have to hand.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

 

[jimi43]

Any pictures yet?

Jimi

 

[rafezetter]

Sorry Jimi here's the pics:

I've also now noticed that there is a small amount of very light rust developing from my fingerprints, so I guess it's not stainless after all; something I've not seen before, but it's odd that it's only now shown up as it's not the first time I've handled it, and it seems to be localised only on the fresh grinding done on the belt sander.

Hmm a thought... I ground some normal tool steel chisels with the same belt beforehand, I wonder if it's just transference of micropartical rust?

Just noticed the base of the wedge isn't flat either, it's crowned so it's not pushing down on the blade at the tip, A simple fix.

This thread is turning into a "what to look for and avoid when buying a shoulder plane", so I guess some good will come of it

Could anyone also recommend a faster type of abrasive for hand removal of metal as I've been using ordinary wet n dry, but looking about; some recommend emery paper or blue Zirconium belts? I ask as flatting the backs of chisels seems to take an age for me, yet some people post how a tune up from new takes very little time, even on chrome vanadium (the paul sellers lidl chisels vid for example) - what am I missing?

 

[jimi43]

Without seeing it in the flesh and just going by the photos...I'd say don't waste anymore time and abrasive...either get a file and rough it square or bin it.

Sorry

Jim

 

[bugbear]

I ask as flatting the backs of chisels seems to take an age for me, yet some people post how a tune up from new takes very little time, even on chrome vanadium (the paul sellers lidl chisels vid for example) - what am I missing?

Some of mr Sellers' demos raise question of credibility. His plane sole flattening is also "remarkably" fast. He also has
courses to sell

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

........I ask as flatting the backs of chisels seems to take an age for me, yet some people post how a tune up from new takes very little time, even on chrome vanadium (the paul sellers lidl chisels vid for example) - what am I missing?

Your mistake here is in following the pointless fashion for flattening chisel faces. It's completely unnecessary - a chisel is never so easy to sharpen ready for use, as when it is brand new.
I don't know who made up this ritual (it's fairly recent) but they seem to have induced a lot of people to waste their time and sometimes spoil some perfectly OK chisels!