Hand plane sole flatness?

[Sawdust=manglitter]

I'm just in the middle of tuning up a Record 4 1/2 smoother plane so i'm flattening the sole. I've spent around 30mins on 800grit lapping film so far, but how much more flattening should i do on this?

Should i be getting it as flat as possible all the way across the rear of the mouth?

 

[D_W]

Are you intending to take smoother shavings with it or joint Edges? If so, I'd drop down to a coarser grit and get most of the rest of it out.

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

I'd like to take smoother shavings, so i guess i'll drop grits and carry on through to get the sole completely smooth then is it?

 

[custard]

800 grit?

:shock:

Life's too short! Start around 120 grit and watch your productivity rocket!

 

[JohnPW]

800 grit?

Knock off a zero from that!

 

[skipdiver]

My word, flattening that with 800 would be mind numbingly tedious. Did one with 120 grit recently and that was bad enough. Kudos for getting that far with it.

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Bought a roll of the Hermes self adhesive lapping film from Axminster in 800, 1200 and 2500... so i take it that 800 is nowhere near course enough for the bulk of the work then :?

I'm glad you've said what you have though, i thought it was taking a while!! Who needs the gym when you've got 800 grit :lol:

 

[nabs]

in case it is useful, having experimented with a number of abrasives when flattening soles I found these rolls to be a good balance between cost and the amount of time you can use them before they clog/wear out/rip.
https://www.workshopheaven.com/material ... rolls.html

If you have access to a long reasonably flat surface (e.g a bit of old marble fireplace) then it speeds things up enormously since you can clamp a long stretch down in one go. You can use 3m spray-on repositionable adhesive to stop the paper riding up (or if you are a cheapskate like me you can use a pritt-stick which works surprisingly well!).

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Thanks Nick, I'm already using a 750mm long piece of float glass which has come in very handy

 

[bugbear]

Bought a roll of the Hermes self adhesive lapping film from Axminster in 800, 1200 and 2500... so i take it that 800 is nowhere near course enough for the bulk of the work then :?

I'm glad you've said what you have though, i thought it was taking a while!! Who needs the gym when you've got 800 grit :lol:

If I could get 40 grit I'd use it! 60 or 80 would be a good start. You do ALL THE WORK on the first grit. The subsequent grits only have to remove the scratches of the grit before them, but the first grit has to make the sole flat.

BugBear

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have a 5 1/2 Marples that was so far out I used a 120 flapwheel on it to start with. It's perfect now.

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

I've taken heed of the advice everyone's given and jumped straight down to some decent quality 80grit, and needless to say it made a huge difference

 

[custard]

It's just a personal view, but 80 grit might be a bit too coarse. You don't want to remove more metal than necessary, and looking at that sole there's a chance the first pass on 80 grit might see a deep scratch pattern go right into the hollows. In the ideal situation you're putting faint scratches into the hollows only after several strokes, when that happens stop and move up a grit. That way you've minimised the work that you'll then have to do to remove those scratches with finer grits.

Personally I go 120/180/240 grit. If I was feeling enthusiastic I might go to 300 grit and then use some wire wool with Autosol, but I doubt it's really necessary.

Good luck!

 

[AJB Temple]

OK, heresy here. If I have a lot of flattening to do, I clamp up and use a belt sander, or with small planes I use the Sorby linisher. Just do the finishing by hand (and may use a polishing mop with some polish paste at the end). I am however rather lazy.

 

[David C]

I stop at blunt 240 grit and follow with wire wool and metal polish (Autosol).

This last step reduces friction significantly.

Wax comes next.

David Charlesworth

 

[Hot stuff]

Big Axminster linisher for me too. For everything, chisels, plane blades, soles, if it'll fit on then that's the first step.
You just have to watch you don't heat the steel up too much.

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Well that was a workout! Thanks for the advice. It's not perfect, but i thinks its pretty much flat now. And can take some nice shavings now too.

I had a question though, what lapping fluid do others recommend? I've been using workshop heaven's HoneRite when using the scary sharp system and its nearly finished now, but I'd like to find something just as good but more cost effective.

 

[custard]

Good result Manglitter!

Doubly so, as working spalted stuff is a tough test for any tool. Having harder and softer fibres bunched up next to each other in a single board like that, well it shows what a good job you've done.

=D>

 

[G S Haydon]

Great result, good on you for sticking with it. 60 grit is now my preferred choice, once it looses it's bite I move to a fresh piece. When the plane is flat just use the dull paper for a bit longer to reduce the scratches.

 

[AndyT]

Re fluid for scary sharp - discussed before with plenty of choices.
Jacob suggested single malt whisky, as cheaper than Honerite.
Some people like spray window cleaner.

You can use the papers or film abrasive dry, but I think a liquid helps; I just use plain water in a spray bottle.