Sole of hand plane gums up
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Tagged: plane sole gums
- This topic has 3 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 10 months ago by ehisey.
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I recently began woodworking and have run into an issue that I can find no info on in searching the internet
When using my all metal hand planes (I have what appear to be a 4 & 4&1/2 – one is an older Craftsman & the other is not marked excet made in USA & is also older) small bits of shavings appear to be getting left behind on the surface or trapped under the sole. As the plane heats up the shavings are sticking to the sole & kinda gumming things up
I was using the method taught by Mr Sellars of the 3 in oil in tomato can to make planing smoother but have switched to mineral oil because it just doens’t seem to happen as quickly or as badly
I have also turned to wetting the the sole & using wet/dry sandpaper to clean off the gunk.
What’s even weirder though is that I have noticed the plane seems to perform just as well if not better when the shavings gum up
Has anyone had this issue or know what’s causing it so I can fix it… thank you
28 June 2015 at 6:42 am #128090I don’t think you should use water to wet the plane and probably shouldn’t be using sandpaper either, unless you are trying to flatten the sole. If you are getting gummed up, use mineral spirits to clean it.
As to why it is getting gummed up, I haven’t a clue. Three in 1 oil will not get gummy, but mineral oil might. Have you tried this on different woods? Maybe the wood you are planing has something in or on it.
You said that shavings are getting trapped under the sole 0 this might be a clue that something is not adjusted quite right. There are many things to check here, but a few follow: Need to make sure the sole is flat and the blade is properly adjusted. Make sure there is no gap between the cap iron and blade when they are screwed together. Make sure the frog is adjusted so that the mouth opening is not too large o small for the shavings you are trying to take. If smoothing with light shavings, the mouth opening should be small; if making heavy passes, a (slightly) larger opening is required.
Wish I could see what’s happening to give better input. Try different things to see what changes. Good luck.
I was teaching a kung-fu student of mine to Plane the other day, as it is similar to soft-power generation, and he had the same issue.
Turned out he was sweating on the wood. When the plane got wet it started to collect the dust residue in cakes on the sole. We cleaned it, rewaxed the sole, made sure the wood was dry and the problem went a way.
Check the that you are not planing damp or green wood, Pine sap does the same thing.
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