Plane Restoration

Thanks Johan, some good info on that site.

jgust747 wrote:

Got my rusty #4C in from Ebay in the mail the other day. just sanded off the the worst rust spots and sharpened the iron. It cuts very nice but the widest shaving I can get while just taking a fine shaving is about 1″.

Do you think it could be too much camber (rounding) of the iron?

Going to flatten the sole and see if that make a differences.

If the sole is bellied side-to-side, it could affect both the shaving width AND where the shaving is taken (sometimes to the left, or the right or centered as you take passes even though you aren’t adjusting the blade). If the plane can rock side to side, the sole is bellied. That can be some work to fix. A slightly hollowed sole is easier to deal with and in some cases can be ignored so long as the hollow is well back from the mouth and doesn’t extend to the edges of the sole.

Sight the blade using a small square to estimate how much camber is present. A 1″ wide shaving isn’t the end of the world, consider reducing the camber gradually through sharpening instead of re-grinding. May only take a few sharpenings to fix anyway.

jgust747 wrote:

Thank you Rob,

The sole is flat side to side, it’s just the front and the back that is a little higher then the rest of the sole. The shavings are from the the middle of the iron so the iron should be level with the sole. I will wait and see if it improves after a couple of resharpening’s.

Johan

It sounds as if you are describing a concave sole, toe to heel. Is that correct? This isn’t terribly difficult to “fix” and since you would have at least two points of contact to start your flattening (sandpaper on glass or whatever) it should be quick and relatively painless.

Not sure how often it is mentioned, but for me, when flattening a sole “freehand” against a reference plate, I like to turn the plane around toe-to-heel every so often. Say 10 strokes with the toe forward, then 10 with the toe pointing to me. The theory is that I will cancel out any bias introduced by my body mechanics which could tend to bring the sole out of square to the sides. It is just the way I’ve been doing it, I can’t say if it really makes a difference but it gives me something to do during a boring part of a restoration.

Also, remember to do your flattening with the frog, blade, chip breaker & lever cap in place and tensioned for use. Just retract the blade. On smaller body planes, you can certainly deflect the casting when cinching down the blade. May as well compensate a bit during the flattening procedure.

Good luck and enjoy your new “toy”.