Plane soles

Re: Plane soles

Richard A.Gillespie, Jr.

>Adam,

In answer to your question, yes to both. I polish my soles to 280 grit. Many others go higher grits than that. I use Johnson past wax on the soles. I have other waxes also, but Johnson's is the fastest application. One swipe with a pad and I'm ready to go.

Shiny soles

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>I polish mine up with 400 grit silicon carbide paper and then wax with J-wax. It is amazing how much friction can be generated with just a brown stain rust. Shiny soles push much better.

Re: Plane soles

Norman (Metcalfe, Ont.)

>Adam,

You mention "metal-soled wooden smoother". Is that a hybrid plane?

I had one like that with a metal sole on a all-wood plane ( circa early 1900's). The sole was in bad shape. I removed the metal sole, glued a hardwood beech 1/4 in. sole on,flattened and tuned it and it's great now.

I use both metal planes and wooden planes here in my shop...

On metal-soled planes I notice wax makes a big difference. I use either a dab of paste wax I smear along the bottom, or I use a stick of parrafin wax I use to scribble onto the sole with. The plane almost runs away from you after a wax application. Metal planes typically have extra mass which should "theoretically" make the plane easier to glide across, but need a little more effort in the initial push.

Norman

Re: Plane soles

Dean J in MN

>

Do you metal plane guys wax your soles? Would polishing the sole help?

I wax the sole, but that said, it still isn't the same feeling that a wooden plane gives. Pushes much eaiser after the wax however.

-Dean

Re: Plane soles

Denis Chénard, Orléans, Ont.

>A couple months ago I "upgraded" my Record #4 with a LV replacement blade and the Clifton two piece cap iron. I have had this plane for like 10 years and had never cared to tune it, as I was not using it much until recently, and it worked OK for what little I was asking of it. It was the "you have to own a bench plane" thing... Since I've inherited a number of old planes this year, and purchased the LV LA jack (wonderful plane!), I finally went through the "big tuneup session"...

I flattened the #4 up to 600 SiC paper and waxed the sole. I can now easily see my reflection in it. Clamped a 5/4 piece of maple at the bench, adjusted the plane for a light cut, and went at it...

Based on past experience with this plane I put the amount of effort in pushing that I was used to. The plane almost flew off my hands! It was so effortless compared to before, I sat there for a couple minutes in pure awe...

I guess the new blade and cap iron helped, but polishing and waxing the blade did wonders to the ease of use.

Now we have one of our "plane gurus" in our local association who "spreads the gospel" of doing as little as possible to the sole, in order to remove the least material possible. On an old plane he usually stops flattening the sole when the toe, the mouth and the heel are flat, and doesn't care much about cleaning the rest. He stops at 120 grit (any higher, he says, and it will get scratched up quickly in use), but he does wax the sole. He's happy with his setup, but I do like seeing myself in the sole...

HTH,

DC

Re: Plane soles

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I think you've already got your answers, but I'll chime in too. Out on a job site, I wax the sole with an old candle stub, because it takes up a lot less space and is easier to maintain, even if it doesn't do as good a job. In the shop, I use Johnson's paste wax. Like other flat metal surfaces, if I get a bit of rust, it is easy to take off with a dark grey ScotchBrite pad (000 steel wool equivalent) that I use to apply the wax, keeping the pad away from the blade, of course.

IIRC, it was Garrett Hack who showed a quicker, easier method to apply the wax. He installed a wick in a shallow, lidded round box. The wick, which is some sort of wound up cloth, so the edges of the cloth are facing up out of the top of the box, is charged with paste wax. It sits on the bench top when he is planing, so every so often on the return stroke, he can drag the plane back across the wick, applying more wax. The lid keeps the wick clean and the wax from drying out when not in use. Turning one of these is still on my round-tuit list.

A corrugated plane bottom sure wastes a lot of wax.

my 2 cents worth

wayne anderson

>Sure, waxing the sole helps. A good clean and shiny sole with a quick swipe of paste wax, or even candle wax on it glides with very little friction from the sole at all. It makes a huge difference.

Here's a pile of "black and tan" shavings I made this weekend. The plane just needs a bit of finish work, then it's ready to go.

Wayne

An unrelated question

Denis Chénard, Orléans, Ont.

>If I may...

When you build your planes, how do you deal with seasonal movement of the wood? And how can you keep the infill tight?

I'm ready to try my hand at making some infill planes, and that part has got me puzzled...

TIA,

DC

Re: Plane soles

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>I've found that it helps to lubricate the plane soles. I use TopCote and it seems to work fine.

However, I have noticed some of my planes need little if any lubrication while some others seem to benefit more. I don't know if it's related to the level of polishing on the sole. When I super-tuned my Record 05, I did not use high grits on the sole. I used the lapping kit from LV and the sole is a dark flat gray. However, it performs quite well.

Re: Plane soles

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>I wax both my wooden and steel soled planes. I often use a wax candle and make a S pattern on the sole several times while planing. It has the added value of tilting it in the light and you can see the plane tracks in your work the wax seems to amplify the high spots.

Re: Plane soles - strange sickness??

John Aniano, somewhere in NJ...

>Adam,

I include this because no one else above mentioned it...

I use camillia oil (from the Japan Woodworker and other vendors) to keep rust from my iron and steel tools and this also tends to keep the sole friction low. As this tends to wear off or if you need a bit more "slick" to the sole of a steel plane, try the hard paraffin route. I now keep a block of this old-fashioned canning wax on my bench at all times.

The camillia oil is also great for making plunge cuts as in doing mortises. I've watched T. Odate use camillia oil for this and I do the same, when I remember. It really does make a big difference.

But hey, why were you asking such a question anyway? You only use wooden planes, right? Or has some strange malady come over you???

John