help needed: flattening stanley plane
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Tagged: plane flatten help
- This topic has 13 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 1 month ago by David Gill.
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Hi,
My father is getting rid of his tools and gave me this nice Stanley plane. When I tried it I found it very hard to get any kind of shaving. The blade feels pretty dull, so that’s the most likely cause. However, before sharpening it I decided to flatten the base. To be honest, I don’t know how well I’m doing.
I’ve done everything according to the instructions. A flat granite tile, 120 grit paper, mark the base with a marker and then several hours of trying to sand off the ink. In Mr. Sellers’ video it takes him several minutes, so I must be doing something wrong.
I’ve included some pictures, at various stages during my latest attempt. There’s 2 spots (one at the front, one at the back) that stay mostly unaltered. The pattern of the steel is also different there. A different pattern of scratches.
What am I doing wrong? Too much pressure? Not enough pressure? Perhaps the plane is just fine?
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.First question, did you keep the blade assembly loCked in place in the plane with the blade retracted?
Did you sharpen the blade and try it out after all this? Does it take fine shavings now?
It looks like that sole has a belly in the middle, if I’m reading the pictures correctly. Get a 60 grit belt sander belt, cut it into a piece the length of your granite block and glue it down with some double sided tape and go to town on that sole. You need to keep at it. 60 grit should help.
16 February 2014 at 2:08 am #27905Wesley, I agree with what Dave has said above. You just needed to start off with a more aggressive grit. I shouldn’t take too much longer to get it flat. A couple of small hollow sections should not cause you any issues though. Sharpen the blade and give the plane a try. I bet it does really well.
For reference, it took me a good hour to flatten my eBay #4.
A lot of older planes will have had this done to them before, it used to be standard practice. Ask your father if he has ever flattened the sole before. If he has not, then this is the first time and probably will take a little extra work. The next time will only take you a few minutes.Wesley, what size plane is this? If it’s a #5/jack plane don’t spend more time flattening it. Only a plane used for smoothing and final flattening is worth that much effort. Also Handyman line planes weren’t quite up to the higher end standards so you may not be able to get it to be perfectly tuned without a lot of effort and skill anyway. Can still make a decent roughing tool though.
16 February 2014 at 6:19 am #27913Wesley,
I’ve a #4 1/2 that has similar problems, still has a very slight hollow right down the middle that starts just forward of the mouth and ends a few inches aft of the mouth. the rest of the plane rests perfectly flat. When I started the hollow was much much worse. Obviously it isn’t perfect but it does take a nice thin shaving. Point is don’t obsess on getting it “perfectly” flat, that will eventually happen, get it close and get to work.Hi all,
Thank you all for your advice and encouragement. I am just getting started in woodworking and in the process of acquiring the basic tools.
To answer your questions: The plane is 4-1/2 (25,5cm we don’t use the metric system over here) and my father never flattened it. Yes, the blade was retracted and was clamped in place.
Reading through all of your replies I think I’ll wait for my diamond plates that I ordered some days ago so that i can sharpen the blade and try the plane again. I can always try to flatten it further using the 60 grit paper later.
Also, I’ll keep an eye out for a higher quality plane. 🙂
Thanks again.
Wesley.
Right, today I received diamond plates but they were too small to use. I knew the price was too good to be true. Instead I used abrasive paper: 180, 220, 400 and 800 grit to sharpen the blade.
Results have improved but taking shavings off isn’t as fun as everybody says it is. The blade gets stuck a lot and leaves ugly, shallow cuts in the wood and then the blade gets stuck even more.
The blade is nowhere near as sharp as in Mr.s Sellers’ video, but I’m not sure if that kind of sharpness is needed. I’ve also used this strop, but I get the impression it dulled the blade:
I’ve included pictures of the wood after I’ve tried to plane it, the position of the blade (position of frog correct?) and the position of the blade in relation to the chip breaker.
Could you please help this newbie out again?
Wesley
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.17 February 2014 at 11:29 pm #27985Wesley,
Those kind of marks in the wood I recognize. I have had them. In my experience, the marks are caused by:
– A dull blade. What bevel angle did yo use? If a newbie, did you use a honing guide? I had better success at getting a nice, sharp blade when I used a honing guide. There are inexpensive ones available. After going through the grits, did you turn the cutting iron over, lay the flat face across the stone and pull once after the last grit? Also after finishing with the strop?Keep on. Persistence will pay off.
Carlos
Wesley, I think your blade may be on the dull side. Sharpening is as much art as it is science and it’s difficult to describe what a sharp plane feels like other than planing should feel rather effortless.
Couple things to try.
1) close the frog up just a touch, aim for 1/16 of an inch between the blade and the front of sole
2) back the iron off till you don’t get any shavings
3) now on the edge of a board, not the face, slowly adjust the plane in very small increments till the plane begins to cut. Sometimes a plane has rather coarse adjustments and it’s easy to adjust its cut too deep which may be causing some of your problems.
4) a fine shaving should almost be transparent, as in you can see through it.
5) keep at it, it’ll come with practice.In your ’05’ picture I can still see the edge of the iron. That is a sign the blade isn’t sharp. You must continue to sharpen until you can’t see the edge any longer.
Did you flatten and polish the flat face of the iron?
The tip for the honing guide worked well for me as a beginner.
If you do freehand sharpening you’ll have to make sure you don’t lift the blade on the backward stroke. That’s a mistake i made as well. It may leave you with a rounded over edge to the point where the bevel exceeds 45 degrees at the very cutting edge.
The same when stropping.I also test for sharpness on a scrap piece of paper. The iron should slice it with minimal effort.
Hi guys,
Thanks for all your continued advice and encouragement.
I took your advice and purchased a Veritas honing guide. Indeed my results are now much, much better. My blade isn’t as sharp as demonstrated in several videos, but it’s good enough for me now. Also, I moved the plane’s frog forward a bit and did a final flattening of the sole, since I noticed the area in front of the blade opening wasn’t flat at all.
My plane is now fully operational. 🙂
Started working on (a version of) the carrying tote.
Regards,
Wesley22 February 2014 at 5:59 pm #28183Glad to hear the guide helped, Wesley. One trick I use is to take a utility knife and make a mark on the side edge of the plane iron when you’re iron is set up at the correct angle. Then when you go to set up your angle you can easily judge how much your iron should project without having to measure each time. But if you have the Veritas guide you might not need to do this. I have a simpler guide that’s similar to the Draper.
23 February 2014 at 10:15 am #28196Weseley are good points the guys make, I would also add , how secure is your work being held in the workmate , you could be getting vibration if not held securely
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