A different sort of plane sole flatness problem.

Re: A different sort of plane sole flatness proble

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Might be worth an email to Terry Gordon. Among other things, I'm sure he'd like to know from a quality control viewpoint.

Pam

a different sort of fix...

John Truxell-Svenson (jvs)

>If you haven't already pulled out the abrasives and started, there is another, potentially faster way. This is just a variation of the iron plane scraping technique Bugbear, Jeff Gorman, et. al. talk about; works very well with my Gordons. Careful, light passes are the key here.

To determine the shape of the sole once a straightedge has shown a problem, I put a fresh coat of wax on a surface plate, buff it a little, and gently move the plane (iron slightly retracted and wedge tight) over it. High spots will show up shiny. At that point, I take a sharp #8 iron, invert the plane and scrape away the shiny spots from front to back, with the iron at an 80 to just under 90� angle, held at 15-30� alternate angles from the direction of scraping. When you get to the wear plate, you have to be very careful, especially of the mouth edge itself, but a very sharp iron will cut the brass as easily as the wood. This trashes the #8 irons (even A2 Hocks) fairly quickly, but I have a small pile of them to go through and just swap them out when the edge starts to go.

I have no real read on the "evils of abrasive flattening" camp, but this works well and fast enough that it is the only technique that I use anymore.

My smoother took a ~10 minute tweak to true a month after I got it, and has been pretty much dead stable ever since. I say pretty much, because as long as it is ejecting wispy shavings straight out like a toaster, I don't remeasure. It is the most stable wooden plane I own. My try plane moves a little more like the rest of my woodies, but a short session every 3-6 months keeps them all in tune.

Finally, seconded on the above--it sounds like this has been a little frustrating, but I'm sure Terry would be more than happy to help you get the plane working properly. They are wonderful and amazing tools.




/jvs

Re: a different sort of fix...

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>Thanks for your advice. Hadn't thought of that method. Just use wax instead of Prussian Blue :-)

I will take Pam's and your suggestion and also send a brief e-mail to Terry to see what suggestions he has. This has been driving me nuts for so long another couple of days wont hurt.

I have a very sharp No 7 Stanley but I'm still not sure how it will go with Ironwood. This sure has some curly grain.

Re: a different sort of fix...

John Truxell-Svenson (jvs)

>Yea, it's really not much wax, either; the sheen may just be coming from polishing on the granite. It just occurred to me that the iron that came with the plane would work, too, maybe just a tad easier with one that is wider, and the original is probably harder that the alternative. Good luck with it!




/jvs