Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
wedges in or out?
Mike MacDonald
>I just got my first wooden bodied planes, a small coffin (that I think will be turned into a scrub) and a 30 inch jointer, when these planes are not in use should they be stored with the wedges tight or lose?
I rarely get more than a few hours a week in the shop, so they may go a couple of weeks between uses if that makes a difference.
They should be kept IN.
HC Sakman
>If they move, they should move in "user" mode, so the correction can be done in the same fashion.
Same as lapping metal planes. Blade and all are in and tight, but blade is retracted back a little.
Chico...
Re: wedges in or out?
Adam Cherubini, NJ
>I think he's asking about storage, Chico. Do you yank out your wedges after use?
FWIW, I leave my wedges in place if its a plane I'm going to use again soon (in a week or maybe more). I pull out the wedges and irons for long term storage.
If I may, I'd like to add:
1) If these planes are new to your environment, I'd pull the wedges and irons. If you decide to clean the body, be sure to carefully clean all exposed end grain (the coffin smoother is basically all endgrain).
The reason for this is that planes sometimes shrink around their irons and crack out their cheeks as a result. An English plane sent to Arizona would be a good candidate for this phenonemon. You'd think that after 100 years, it's done moving, but no such luck. Also, beech moves very quickly, so if you think this is an issue where you live, address it straight away.
2) Converting a smoother into a scrub is close to sacrilege. Regardless of its condition, the coffin shape isn't well suited for use as a scrub. My experience is that nearly any smoother can be ressurected. A mouth patch is an easy operation. If its so bad that its unusable and unfixable, it may be better to save it for parts (patches) than converting it into a scrub.
Now converting it to a compass plane....that's another story.
Best,
Adam
Re: wedges in or out?
R.J.Whelan
>Mike ... I always knock mine out at the end of the day and then put them back in just finger pressure tight so the iron won't slip out next time I take the plane out of the cabinet.
This is another of those cases where I do it this way cuz' grandpa did it that way and I don't really questions his wisdom.
rj