Plane fettling

[Tony Zaffuto]

I’m puzzled by the opinion that a laser flat sole is the meal ticket to fine work. Wouldn’t skill building count for something? I would also bet that novices many times do more damage than good to plane soles.

opinions?

 

[Adam W.]

It takes years to develop skills, but only hours to flatten a plane.

 

[Jacob]

It takes years to develop skills,

The hope is that there may be shortcuts which you can buy, or crafty new wheezes from dodgy gurus.

but only hours to flatten a plane.

Hours? Surely not!
Actually it doesn't take long if you use 80grit wet n dry, very wet, laid in a wet puddle on a flat surface.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

February the second.

 

[Blackswanwood]

February the second.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the forum …

 

[raffo]

Instead of opinions I'd suggest picking up a plane, say a #5 or above and use it as a jointer. Measure its flatness, where is it flat, and how close to 0.0015" (the LN spec?) it is. Then use the plane to joint two boards. Can you get a seamless joint? Is it a long process, short, do you create a hollow?

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

I would bet more that think they got to flatten screw things up more than fix them.

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

Damn Tube-you’res.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

While I agree that the flatness of the sole is not likely to be an ultimate issue, I am of the opinion that, the flatter the sole around the mouth area, and along with a coplanar toe/heel, the thinner the shavings can be. This is important when - naturally - just wanting to take the finest, thinnest shavings when either fine tuning or finish planing.

I find it interesting that I can take the finest, even shavings with a Veritas BU Smoother (62 degree cutting angle), and other BU smoothers, more reliably than with a Veritas Custom #4 smoother, and all other BD smoothers, with a closed up chipbreaker. Note that I probably use the BD planes a whole lot more, for almost everything, but when the finest shaving needs to be taken, and the money is on the table, I am more likely to pull out the BU smoother.

I have never placed a straight edge on a new plane's sole.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Adam W.]

The hope is that there may be shortcuts which you can buy, or crafty new wheezes from dodgy gurus.

Hours? Surely not!
Actually it doesn't take long if you use 80grit wet n dry, very wet, laid in a wet puddle on a flat surface.

Oh, hello!

Fancy seeing you here.

 

[Jacob]

Instead of opinions I'd suggest picking up a plane, say a #5 or above and use it as a jointer. Measure its flatness, where is it flat, and how close to 0.0015" (the LN spec?) it is. Then use the plane to joint two boards. Can you get a seamless joint? Is it a long process, short, do you create a hollow?

View attachment 160264

The first new plane I bought was a UK Stanley 7. I'd read somewhere that it was all you needed. I had it for a long time and it was fine for the simple stuff I was doing, until it came to edge jointing long boards which I found difficult. I eventually worked out that it was concave, by about 2mm in the middle.
It was well before the modern flattening obsession had kicked in so there was nothing in the magazines or books.
Moved on to a new Record 5 1/2 which was brilliant, and I started doing a lot of woodwork, full time, from 1982. "Skill building" I like to think!
Years later I discovered how easy it is to flatten a long plane - 2 sheets of wet n dry, wet, etc. and rectified the 7.
I've done the same since but more just cleaning up old planes and I've never had one quite so out of true. It doesn't seem to be a common problem. But then I've never checked with feeler gauges and have no intention of starting now!
At the beginning I believed the stuff I was reading about flattening "bellied" chisels etc but it took me some time to realise that it was largely nonsense, especially the idea of flattening slightly concave chisels - which is how they all seem to arrive new, and it makes them very easy to sharpen.

 

[Jacob]

I would bet more that think they got to flatten screw things up more than fix them.

Yup. More time rectifying the screw-ups than solving the imaginary problem!

 

[thetyreman]

flatter sole will give you finer shavings and more accurate/flatter surfaces on wood, it's not a bad thing.

 

[Jacob]

flatter sole will give you finer shavings and more accurate/flatter surfaces on wood, it's not a bad thing.

Obviously not a bad thing in itself, but perhaps not the big issue it's cracked up to be nowadays.

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

flatter sole will give you finer shavings and more accurate/flatter surfaces on wood, it's not a bad thing.

I’m not saying it is a bad thing, but in the greater scheme of things, there are other skills of much more importance.

To me, many look for things like flattening a plane sole as another step in things they must do before actually working wood. Unfortunately the list keeps growing.

 

[pgrbff]

The setup of the dai or wooden plane body in a Japanese plane for kanna is critical and constantly adjusted depending on the type of planing. It starts off flat but the area in contact with the workpiece varies according the work. Ideally a smoothing plane should make contact with the wood at two points, one point immediately ahead of the mouth and the other at the immediate rear of the plane.

 

[cowtown_eric]

raffo said...."

Measure its flatness, where is it flat, and how close to 0.0015"

Does anyone know of any reference to any user whom has credibly actually done that?

None of my oldtool plane user friends have related any kind of actual measurements, but lots of "heresay", so if you know of one, I'd like to get a messate/link etc.

Eric in the colonies

 

[raffo]

How much of a guru does one need to be to able to measure flatness in the 1.5 thousands neighborhood and be believed?

0.0015" is the flatness and squareness specified by Lie Nielsen (LN) on their planes. If they output them with that spec, the least one can do to compare against them is to match their flatness.

 

[Jacob]

How much of a guru does one need to be to able to measure flatness in the 1.5 thousands neighborhood and be believed?

0.0015" is the flatness and squareness specified by Lie Nielsen (LN) on their planes. If they output them with that spec, the least one can do to compare against them is to match their flatness.

The usual way to assess flatness is just to look at the thing and squint along the length.
Or if you want to be fussy to lay a straight edge along/across it.
You check your DIY straight edge by making three of them and checking that they are each straight against the other, by looking at them.
You don't actually have to measure anything.

 

[raffo]

Is that how you asses the flatness of your plane for fitness?

If you recall, the question was regarding flatness of plane soles.