Bending plane soles
Sgian Dubh
>Dan, it's crossed my mind that I should really start a new thread instead of responding here to your suggestions for plane bending experiments. I'm not in the mood to start a new thread so here's what I've found along with my comments on the exercise and on planing in general.
In the first place I've been fairly sure for about 25 years that a plane sole can be bent in use to advantage. It was a technique demonstrated to me sometime back in the 1970's by an old cabinetmaker I worked with early in my career.
I recall I was impressed by the claim, but didn't do too much with the 'knowledge' until perhaps early in the 1980's, at which point I experimented with the technique whilst creating sprung joints for panel glue-ups by hand.
Anyway, I became convinced that bending plane soles in the length was possible and I've been doing it ever since. Plane soles can also be put slightly in winding but I can't say I've ever used this ability to advantage. I use this plane sole bending technique mostly to create a convex sole. I believe it helps me create the hollow used in sprung joints.
Yesterday I approached a colleague with a large engineer's flat plate, retracted the blade on my bailey No.7 and started playing around to see what I got. We laid the plane down on the plate and tried to slip some 2/1000 shim stock under the sole. We couldn't find a spot where the shim would go under.
Next I grabbed the knob and handle as if I was going to use the plane and waggled the thing about on the plate to get an impression of what it felt like. It was pretty sticky and didn't really want to go anywhere. After that I started a bit of bending. I attempted to bend the sole convex. I could tell I was able to because as I held the plane in my hands it wanted to pivot on a point somewhere under the frog. In other words the front and and the back had been raised off the plate. We were able to slide the 2/1000 shim stock alternately under either end. More accurately, if I held the plane down at the front knob and twisted the handle up we could get the shim stock under the rear of the sole. We could reverse this ability front to back, i.e., hold the back down and jack up the front end.
Next I tried creating a concave sole with wrist twisting on the knob and handle, much as I'd done for creating a convex sole, but in reverse. As soon as I tried this the plane sole wouldn't slide easily on the flat plate. The toe and heel touching the plate made it hard to swivel the plane about side to side. Again we could slip the shim stock under the centre of the sole.
I was unable to find a way of taking suitable photographs in the very limited time I had to do my experiment. It's hard to see how I could set up anything that might be considered scientific and repeatable when all I'm doing is grabbing a plane and bending it as best I can with my hands. I guess I could lock down one end and try bending and measuring, but that's not how I use a plane.
I probably do things with planes that aren't in the books, and mostly I'm not aware of what I'm doing, or why, when I use a plane. I just do it, whatever it is, and it works reliably and efficiently. I guess it's bit like driving a car for a learner driver. Every action of accelerating, changing gear, using the clutch, braking and steering is conscious and considered one. With practice it all becomes seamless and unconscious.
The problem for me is that I've been using planes on a daily basis in my work for over thirty years now and I no longer consciously think about the mechanics of planing, and can't really remember what they are-- I just do it.
So, unscientific as it is, improperly measured, and unrecorded too, I now know for certain that I can bend plane soles in use, and I'm even more convinced than before that I do it to advantage. Slainte.
