Can't get a flat surface out of my #4 plane
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8 March 2015 at 2:09 pm #125350
I have an inexpensive #4 style plane that I can’t get to work right. I have the blade super sharp and I can adjust it to take very fine shavings. The problem is it always leaves a line on the board along where the plane went across and if I surface plane a board the surface will never come out smooth. I can then follow up with a scraper and get back to work but watching Paul’s videos and seeing his results I’m certain my plane isn’t adjusted right, or isn’t capable of being adjusted right.
I have flattened the sole, inspected the frog, made sure the blade is 90 degrees to the long side, rounded off the corner of the blade like Paul, and I’m starting to wonder if I have a bad plane?
Does anyone have any advice? I have an “Olympia” brand #4 plane.
Thank you. Hoyt
8 March 2015 at 2:26 pm #125351When you say the plane leaves a line on the board, are you talking about the “tramlines” where the edges of the plane stop cutting the wood, or are you talking about lines in the cut itself? Tramlines are basically unavoidable, atleast to some extent. Less cut means less visible tramlines, but in a wide board, the blade has to stop cutting somewhere. If you’re talking about lines inside that area, it’s entirely possible there is a nick somewhere in your blade edge, where the blade doesn’t cut properly.
Without some pictorial evidence to go from, it’s going to be very difficult to tell you more.
8 March 2015 at 2:32 pm #125352Yes I am talking about the tramlines (I learned some more terminology today!). I guess I’ve been under the impression that the plane should leave a smooth surface once I get to the level of taking very fine shavings. Am I wrong about this?
Thank you for the advice.
8 March 2015 at 2:48 pm #125354In short… Yes. Atleast in my experience. Although if your plane is set up correctly with (in the case of smoothing planes) a very straight cutting edge, and a very light cut, they should be very shallow.
You can see in one of Paul’s videos on the Occasional Table project that you can make these marks more visible by rubbing the surface with a piece of wood. In this case it’s on the underside of the tabletop, where it’s been left unfinished.
Under ideal circumstances, the tramlines should be sufficiently light that they can be easily removed by light sanding or scraping without significantly altering the surface. The goal with the smoothing plane isn’t to create a perfectly smooth reference surface, but rather to remove local high spots.
That said, I can’t say I’ve really noticed massive tramlines in my own work, so maybe you’re taking a thicker shaving than you think you are. Maybe post a picture of a shaving you think of as thin, and see what other people think. Working on your own there is no reference for what things should be, and I’ve personally noticed studying with others that when they first try to use a plane, they set the depth of cut to like, 2-3mm.
8 March 2015 at 2:54 pm #125355Awesome thanks for the info. I’m going to head back into the shop and try to evaluate if it’s my plane or me being too picky. Like I said I thought I was magically supposed to get this super smooth surface after hand planning and I’ve been working towards that but now I know I need to adjust my expectations a little bit.
I will post some pictures when I get a chance to get back out there.
Thank you again!
With me I don’t notice those lines at all for the most part. On some pieces of wood they just show up for some reason. They always show up when I take a big cut though. Just on some pieces even if I take a light cut they show up. Nothing you can really do about it as in adjusting the plane but when you come to sand it at the end before putting finish on they should disappear if they are small enough.
9 March 2015 at 1:01 am #125372Three things to keep in mind to minimize the issue:
1. be sure to round the corners of the blade per Pauls’ instructions. This will taper the lines and make them much less pronounced.
2. methodically work across the width of the board making sure to overlap the previous stroke. Effectively chasing the line across the board.
3. Use the shallowest setting possible for your final pass across the board.If you do the above the lines will be almost undetectable. Personally I don’t like to see them but want to still feel them when I run my fingers across the board. Of course a light sanding will typically give you an absolute smooth surface.
9 March 2015 at 3:24 pm #125380Thank you for all the info. I went back out into the shop and actually ended up with the opposite conclusion than I thought I would get. I took everyone’s advice and working on a rough sawn piece of alder I picked up I planed and squared the four sides. I found that with my Olympia #4, the one I was having problems with, I could not adjust out the very noticeable tramlines, but with my new Woodriver #5 the lines were barely noticeable and easily sanded/scraped away.
So I’m thinking at least at this point that my #4 might be better suited for me to convert into a scrub plane like Paul’s video. Then, as time and money permit, pick up another #4 plane. I’ll keep tinkering.
Thank you again!
10 March 2015 at 5:25 am #125419Paul has a video on easing the edges on the sole of the plane. I would suggest you watch it. There is a small rounded part on the bed of the casting beneath the tote (forget the proper term) that gets dinged up on occasion that could cause unnecessary gouging on the workpiece.
10 March 2015 at 1:48 pm #125423Sounds to me that perhaps it’s not the iron but the edges of the plane’s sole. The outer 1/4″ has to be slightly rolled over. As Timothy says, above, Paul shows how to do this in one of his early YouTube videos.
I use very fine grit sandpaper glued onto a flat piece of granite and then tape down a very thin ruler on which one side of the plane can ride, thereby resulting in a very slight chamfer on the opposite edge as it passes a few times over the sandpaper. Then I do the same to the other edge. Finally I take a file to the edges, just to ensure that there were no sharp edges that would dig into me or the wood. I’ve done this exactly once on all my planes; once done you won’t have to ever do it again.
Make sure the iron and cap iron are installed, but that the iron is fully retracted, when you work on the sole. You want the sole under full tension when you prepare it.
Many years a go I bought a Veritas #4-1/2 smoother and, when I actually got to using it, found that the sole had extremely sharp edges that would almost always leave tell-tale signs in the surface. Tuning it up, using the technique described above, eliminated that problem entirely. (It’s a nice plane, but I prefer the lighter Stanley #4 I got on eBay for $35.)
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