Setting Up A Plane

[Paul Holtom]

Still quite new to all this woodwork but enjoying every minute. Purchased a secondhand #4.5 plane off the bay a few weeks ago but cannot get it working correctly. Can someone give me a few pointers as to the correct way to set a plane up.

 

[engineer one]

boy is this going to be fun to follow :lol:

first thought is to find for instance David Charlesworth's DVD or books.

might be useful to see what condition the plane is in.

paul :wink:

 

[Philly]

Paul
Step one is to sharpen the iron - what do you use to sharpen?
Philly

 

[newt]

I think the advice on a book or DVD is sound. But if your impatient like me there are a few things you could do. As Philly said is the blade sharp if not it should normaly have a 25 degree primary bevel then finally honed at 30 degrees, if you do not understand this say so. You also need to check the condition of the chip breaker/cap iron this looks like another blade and is attached to the cutting blade with a screw. The edge of the cap iron should be set back from the blade edge say about one and half mm to start with. There should be no gap between the cap iron and the blade where the cap iron makes contact, this is to stop shavings getting trapped between the blade and cap iron. Then check the condition of the sole of the plane, it should be flat over its length and width, you will need a quality straight edge to check this and you will almost certainly find they will not be flat. If you do a search on this forum there are many posts on blade sharpening, sole flattening, mouth adjustment, blade polishing, de-rusting, almost anything you can think of and more. I should stress again read a book on the subject there is quite a bit to learn, but you will soon get hooked on the subject. Do not be afraid to ask about any aspect. Welcome.

 

[ByronBlack]

Easy answer: Buy a Veritas or lie-Nielsen plane - ready to use out of the box.

Involved answer: what newt and philly said. Unless you have some sharpening kit, you can get youself some various grits of wet&dry and use this to sharpen the blade, it's called the scary sharp system (I apologise if you already know all of this).

Here's a link to get you started:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00003.asp?

It features various sharpening methods, but the scary-sharp method is lower down the page.

Other than that, a good dismantle and clean up can work wonders, a lot of the grit and grime that accumulates over the years can get in the way of various threads, knobs, catches etc..

D.Charlesworth's DVD's & Books are an excellent resource and can often be found on ebay, but are not too expensive to buy from new.

Good luck!

 

[Pete W]

Paul,

Try this page to begin with:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_jo ... 73861.html

It covers the basics of plane setup and use.

For further information (much, much further ) try this one:
http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/ ... How_To.htm

When you have some specific questions, just ask.

Pete

 

[woodbloke]

Agree with what others have said, some excellent advice given - Rob

 

[bugbear]

Still quite new to all this woodwork but enjoying every minute. Purchased a secondhand #4.5 plane off the bay a few weeks ago but cannot get it working correctly. Can someone give me a few pointers as to the correct way to set a plane up.

1) ensure the blade is sharp, and that the cap iron fits.

2) do a full disassemble, clean the "obvious" rubbish off, (white spirits, a rag, and/or swarfega can help here), and re-assemble.

3) start tweaking.

Stop after step 1 is fine. Instructions on all 3 steps can be found in many places, including my site:

http://www.geocities.com/plybench/plane.html

BugBear

 

[Smudger]

When I first started (last month almost) the two things I was doing wrong were:

1 - cutter nowhere near sharp enough. I was instructed by an experienced craftsman and now I have higher expectations. I use oilstones and a strop - good enough for grandad! If you are using a secondhand cutter it is worth regrinding it as a matter of principle.

2 - I had the cutter set too coarsely, too much blade showing. When I calmed that down a bit and began to realise just how little I should advance the cutter as I started planing it became a lot easier.

And start practising on easy wood. Starting using a scrub plane on seasoned oak - nah.

 

[engineer one]

interesting though it all is, i do think we are in danger of frightening our new friend off :lol:

so a couple of thoughts. the first thing is to get the plane actually cutting wood, so.

start by striping the thing down, if necessary take a couple of polaroids or even digital photos to ensure you know where the bits go.

clean up the blade and the chip breaker, and make sure they sit together properly with no gaps. then sharpen the blade. aim for initially a good edge straight across. to do this you need to make the bit without the bevel smooth too, and the charlesworth method of the ruler trick makes that easier. however you do need a sharpening medium. start out with sandpaper or wet and dry attached to a piece of thick mdf, and work through the grades down until you have a narrow strip of clean smooth looking surface. a 6in ch metal ruler at the edge of the board and the blade front about 3-4 inches in front will mean you are not spending hours getting this bit flat and smooth.
next either buy a cheap hilka or similar guide, under 10 quid, or make your own, and start sharpening the bevel side to 30 degrees. again work through the grades until you have a smooth almost polished shape which is constant across. then you have to find an old leather belt, and remove the curly bit on the flat side, and then use for instance autosol to polish/hone the bevel.

now you should have a blade which is better than the one you started with.
now re-assemble the blade and chip breaker.place the whole plane on the bench flat, and slide the blade down until it touches the surface, and tighten it to the frog.

now you should have a plane with no projection of the blade.
now pick it up, and then turn it over, and place the whole over a piece of white paper. looking from the front down to the paper you are now trying to get so you can see, just, the blade. you do this by rotating the wheel at the back, what you are trying to do is to push the blade down to adjust
and minimise the backlash, or movement between the wheel gears.

when you can see the blade, stop. now try cutting a bit of wood with it.
it might also be your technique, and you could try cutting across the grain as well as along with the grain.

if you can get this far, then you are ready to start the real fettling process.

good luck

paul :wink:

 

[Evergreen]

Paul

Lots of good advice here already but..... following on from Smudger's post, what wood is it that you're trying to plane? If you're using softwood suppied by the DIY sheds, it can be more difficult to plane than some hardwoods. No, really! It can be wickedly inconsistent and contain flint-hard knots and swirly grain that make you swear. At the very last Axminster show (ah, happy memories - will it never come back again?), I watched the expert Japanese demonstrator carefully reducing the height of any knots with a chisel before planing over the area with his razor sharp smoothing plane. I suspect most of us don't take the trouble to do that....

So it might sound a bit extravagant but I'd recommend a bit of beech for planing practice. It's fine grained, consistent, effectively knot-free and not too hard. A truly lovely wood.

Regards.

 

[Vormulac]

Lots of good advice already given here, but I would have to throw in another vote for purchasing David Charlesworth's DVD on the subject. I had done lots of research on the subject, but watching the DVD highlighted in spades the truth that a picture is worth a thousand words and video is 25 pictures a second It's worth every penny.

 

[David C]

Many thanks to those who suggested my dvds.

It did take many years to fathom out a coherent precision planing strategy, as well as a sharpening method which can be mastered in a few days.

Oddly, I am just viewing the rough cut of the Bailey Plane Tuning dvd which was shot in my workshop last September.

I believe this will be the most comprehensive guide to this subject ever published and am generally very pleased with it. The photography was beautifully and expertly done done by David Baille who is more used to shooting (filming) polar bears from helicopters..........

Unfortunately I do not expect it to be published till next year.

Best wishes,
David Charlesworth

 

[bugbear]

I believe this will be the most comprehensive guide to this subject ever published...

Web included? That's fightin' talk!! :twisted:

BugBear

 

[David C]

BB,

Well one has to believe the thing is worth doing well !

Afraid you will have to wait a while to see if I have succeeded.

best wishes,
David

 

[edwood bear]

A 1 week course with David Charlesworth was the best money I have ever spent on woodworking. I was trained as a wooden boatbuilder but although I was a professional woodworker I learned a lot about plane set up and sharpening. I could not quite believe the difference all david's tweaks made. I had his first two books which are excellent but there is no substitute for direct teaching. A fantastic break as well, lovely B&B next door and a beautiful location. Professional or hobbyist we should never think we know it all.