Flattening the sole on an HNT Gordon Plane
Skip in Falls Church
>A while back there was some brief discussion in one of the threads about flattening the sole on HNT Gordon planes. The question came up as to if they were flattened the normal way, what about the brass mouth insert. The suggestion was made that it would probably be best that the manufacturer be contacted for instructions. That was an excellent suggestion, BTW, who ever made it, thanks.
As it turns out, I have an HNT Gordon smoother that was giving me a little trouble - but then I didn't use it that much. I finally got around to checking the sole and it turned out to be less than flat. Keeping the above suggestion in mind, I emailed them.
Terry was really great - he returned my emails promptly and gave me great support - even though I made it clear that I had bought the plane second hand. For anyone that needs to flatten the sole of one of these planes, you do it the same as any wooden plane - put it on something flat and sand the sole flat. The process did open the mouth of mine a little - from 0.003" to 0.006", but it works great now. Terry did say that if the process opend the mouth too much there were some further things that could be done - but I'm happy with it the way it is.
Skip