Should I be backing off the iron?

Re: Should I be backing off the iron?

Dan Donaldson


>I mainly do it because at present time my storage is a bit less than optimal and I want to make sure that the iron doesn't hit anything else in the cabinet and get nicked.

Touchy subject

jim reed @ tallahassee


>There have been many threads about storage. Some like to store on the side, others like to retract the blade. I like to set my blade and forget it, so I store mine on a wooden rack with the blade set. Most of my blades are homemade and tough--they are unaffected by a bite of wood. Original Stanley blades can be soft and may need special handling. You should get lots of opinions on this subject.

Personal Preference

David Miller from Iowa


>I, personally, leave the cutters advanced on my user planes and use a little cleat to keep it clear when it is in the cabinet - just makes it more handy to grab it and go.

There was a FWW a while back where Mike Dunbar was making something (a blanket chest?) and in the background of one of the pictures he had a plane sitting flat on his bench. The next issue had a letter pointing this out and Mike came out swinging with his response - the wood is wood and the bench is wood so it doesn't matter etc. etc. It just struck me like he was being overly defensive.

Can't hurt to back off the iron - I keep all my non-users (i.e.., the "collection") backed well off.

Re: Personal Preference

Sgian Dubh


>David, I tend to believe that people can get rather needlessly over-excited about putting planes down flat on the bench. I tend to agree with Mike Dunbar-- in my experience it's not a problem. I even remember the discussion in FW. Odd for me really because I almost never read FW.

In use of course a plane makes shavings. In between uses just dump the plane on the shavings-- even one shaving under the toe or heel of a plane should be enough to keep the iron safe.

Storage is quite simple if there are a few shavings scattered in the bottom where the sole of your plane sits. If the plane is stored vertically in a rack the sole will normally pivot away from the back of the cabinet. Slainte.

Re: I agreed with Dunbar - mostly

thomd


>That whole thing about putting planes down flat has a certain whiff of unreality about it. Usually when I am working even if there wasn't a batten for the plane to rest on the bench with, or piles of shavings, you would actually have to do a pretty scrupulous job of cleaning to ensure there wasn't the few thou of surface fluff on the bench required to protect a smoothing plane edge. With really coarse set planes, there are plenty of shavings around to rest the plane on.

Another classic argument is the do you drag your plane backwards over the work or lift it one. I have done enough dragging not to believe the plane is damaged by resting it on a bench.

Which leads to chestnut 3 should one scar up the bench. I fall into the No! category. So I disagree with Dunbar on any laxity there. I think fine craftsmanship should teach respect for fine work.

I don't recall whether Dunbar mentioned it in his plane response, but one concern has to be safety. I have no problem working around my own planes on their sides, but give a seminar and you shake that habit real quick. Sure seminars are an unnatural situation for woodworkers in general, but they seem a bread and butter one for professionals these days. I know he has mentioned in the past that one has to overdose on the safety stuff, because sooner or later, every stupid accident you can imagine... Maybe that's an added advantage to the whole knights of the round table thing. Knights don't sue, at least not without loosing their social status.

Uh oh. I'm sorry...

Joe in a Cleveland suburb


>I don't mean to start a debate about plane storage. I was just curious about backing the blade off.

Sorry!

Besides, what is there to debate? Everybody knows when you store a plane it should always without question be stored on its sole. And when setting it down on your bench you should always always always set it on its sole not on its side. Geez. I mean come on. What are you thinking? Just kidding of course. :D

Thanks,

Joe

But for woodies...

jim reed @ tallahassee


>you should knock the wedge to loosen. Woodies with tight wedges in storage are really bad. Talk about knickers in a twist!

Re: But for woodies...

Paul M. in San Diego


>Further off topic...

I've been not only loosening the wedge, but also loosening the wooden nuts on the screw arms of my wooden plow plane. I've seen so many wooden screw-arm plows that have the threads stripped off. I don't know how you could possibly do this unless:

1) Some idiot cranked down too hard and busted them -or-

2) Seasonal expansion of the quartersawn body will cause the body to shrink/expand across it's width. This could be the stress force that finds the weakest breaking point in the screw threads.

My hunch is on number 2. Does this make sense? Or are there that many idiots around that have overtightened the wooden nuts?

Me too...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA


>I use a cleat to keep the blades clear from resting on the shelf. Wooden planes are another matter. As all ready stated.

Re: But for woodies...

thomd


>I never back wooden planes off. I think in my lifetime there is more chance something else will go wrong like changes in dimensions. Though generally I just find leaving them wedged up is no problem for the plane, and some planes will sooner or later crash the blade if they aren't wedged. I once nearly cut a toe off the way, though I'm not claiming that is a smart person's outcome.

Re: Uh oh. I'm sorry...

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX


>For all my Japanese planes, thick irons and no wedges, I leave the blades alone when not using them, and store them mostly on their sides. I expect to change this when the new workshop has a wooden rail for these planes, then they'll be stored with the back of the blade/dai down on the rail. I still don't plan to relieve the blades. I'm a little casual about this, can always make a new dai if the cheeks crack. But, I also store them in wooden cabinets, which isolates them from humidity, and plan some sort of wooden cover for the new rails.

Western planes, including metal plows, I store in wooden cabinets to keep them rust free, and use a battan under the heels.

Pam

Re: Uh oh. I'm sorry...

thomd


>I store most of my Japanese planes on the wooden rail, where they hang upside down like bats. As Pam knows, if one backed them off they would someday end up on the floor. I do think Japanese planes are a somewhat different case because some of them have relieved outfeeds which means they aren't going to warp in such a way as to loose their set. I have some maple planes (wrong wood by far) that are still in use over 25 years after having the blades first wedged in there. That's 25 years under hammered tension.

Uh oh. I'm confused

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away


>I have some maple planes (wrong wood by far) that are still in use over 25 years after having the blades first wedged in there. That's 25 years under hammered tension.

Thom,

Not sure I quite understand this. Are you saying that the blades have not been sharpened in 25 years!

Also, what do you mean by under hammered tension?

Todd O.