@momist
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Sorry Robin, I’d rather not if you don’t mind. The purchase of mine on ebay was contentious, as I got it for the minimum bid of 99p, collection only, and the seller was both angry and aggressive to me, he wanted ÂŁ25. The sale went to ebay’s resolution service and eventually got sorted out, but I don’t want to identify either of us in that way.
Hi Carlos.
My story with sharpening might be unusual, I don’t know. I first learned woodworking at school in the ‘sixties, and always sharpened freehand then. I did very little after leaving school until the late ’70s and then not very much. Eventually found my sharpening skill very poor, and I bought an Eclipse honing guide. The guide helped me get an edge, but it wasn’t very good and, especially with the plane iron, was slightly skew. I blamed myself for lack of practice.
One day I read an item somewhere on the internet that suggested that the honing guides were less than perfect (by then probably Chinese made) and could be corrected. I modified my honing guide to remove the skew effect, and thought it a bit better, but still not brilliant.
Since I discovered Paul’s blog and “just do-it” attitude, I’ve returned to honing freehand, and my edges now are better than I have ever had them, even under tutelage at school.
The important aspects are :
1. Get the flat face to a mirror finish, you can’t make a sharp edge against a rough surface.
2. Hone until you get a wire edge. The grade of the honing surface determines the size of that, and the sharpness achieved.
3. Strop carefully! You CAN remove the sharpness.
Free-handing a curved edge is not that difficult with practice. Choose a technique you are happy with and practice it. The figure-eight is difficult to acquire for many, but the sideways sweep works just as well, as does my technique of forward and backward with a side rocking action.
I expect the scrub plane blade is the best one to start with, as it doesn’t matter to the plane if the curve is a series of flats 🙂And here are the other two candidates:
OK Robin. I’m no photographer, but since I fell off my bike yesterday and hurt my shoulder, elbow and wrist, I’m not mooching around in the garage today so I’ve taken these photos.
Here’s the finished #4-1/2 and the re-worked mouthThanks Mark.
To conclude this thread, I have now completed the conversion of my #4-1/2 to a scrub plane, following Paul’s recent video, and it works beautifully. The first job was to take down some badly re-sawn sycamore I was given when a neighbour had a tree felled. I had split this down the grain with a home-made frame saw that wandered all over the place (I didn’t have a rip saw then), and I needed to plane out a V shape depression about 3/8″ deep. The scrub plane has flattened it easily.
I chose the #4-1/2 because
a) it came to me very cheaply
b) the blade and body was heavily rust pitted, and would never have been acceptable as a regular use smoothing plane
c) it has the weight for ploughing through heavy work
d) I love my #4, and couldn’t imagine why I might also need a #4-1/2 smooth plane as well.
e) the #6 is too long for a scrub, and I needed it as a small jointer
d) the little wood plane would wear faster (I think) in this role.Thanks to everyone who helped me with this decision, and especially to Paul who inspires us all.
P.S. The Sargent 407 plane, I have just discovered, is equivalent to the Stanley #2. Does anyone know what such a small smoothing plane was used for?
Hmm. You may have to be quick Jay. Following Paul’s posting today of the scrub plane video, many people will be after additional planes, or plane irons to adapt their current plane to a scrub, and we can expect eBay prices to go crazy for a couple of months or so. This might also affect blades for your #40 (if you can find one).
Thank you Paul. I am coming round to the view that the wooden plane is the one to go with.
Did I say Preston? I’m sorry for that Paul, I mis-remembered and confused two manufacturers there. The plane I think may be a No.3 is a Sargent. The casting is labelled SARGENT and carries the number 407. The lever cap has the same name. The blade is stamped SARGENT in a box with NEWHAVEN.CONN. underneath and USA on the next line. It measures 7-7/8″ long and the blade is 1-5/8″ wide. It will never be a collector’s piece, as the front knob is obviously a home-made replacement and the body is pretty well beat up. As I said, the blade is too soft to be usable. It belonged to an uncle I never met, and I inherited it from my aunt.Re the finish on food handling items. I’ve baulked at spending good money on food safe mineral oil which will sit on the self for years. I managed to get some grape seed oil (not RAPE seed oil) from Tesco at a reasonable price, and used that very successfully on my spoons and spreaders. Any left over just goes into use in the kitchen and doesn’t hang around to go rancid. Grape seed oil seems very low odour and very clear, no colour, so that suited me. Olive oil is often suggested, but it does have a noticeable odour and goes rancid very quickly.
Cheers Eddy, but I’m the original skinflint. I could get one eventually from ebay for less than a tenner, with postage, if I wanted to.
Thanks Salko, but the No.5 is the one plane I don’t have (yet?). My list of planes is growing faster than the storage I have to keep them.
At 18″ long, the No.6 is too big for this, I think. My equivalent to a No.5 is a beautiful old mahogany infill plane 15-1/2″ long with a heavy Marples blade, cap iron and thumbwheel clamp. Adjustment is by tapping with my small hammer, but that doesn’t matter as it is kept set very fine and has made a great jointer for me so far. The No.6 may replace it for that purpose when I’ve finished the restoration, but the infill is way too heavy and the mouth too narrow to use it as a scrub.
My first ever plane was the No.4 I mentioned before, which is my turn to plane for nearly everything I want to do, maybe I should look out for another of those in the long term. To complete the inventory, I also have a Record 09-1/2 adjustable mouth block plane at 6″ long.Meanwhile, the wooden plane at 7-3/4″ long seems like the best candidate, although I still like the idea of using the little 7-7/8″ No.3, if I can make the blade hard again.
Yes, thanks Eddy, I did see that video and I suppose it was that which finally inspired me to get on with preparing a scrub plane. I’d been vaguely aware of the need for one for a while.
I couldn’t remember if it was a No.4 or 4-1/2 that he had modified, but I’ve just reviewed the video and at about 25:30 in he says it’s a No.4. Paul also mentions a video about how he modified the plane, but I can’t seem to find that one. Maybe it’s still awaiting release?
It’s in the last few days I’ve been reading about scrub planes as a result of seeing the preparing-rough-stock video. Chris Schwartz seems to have some firm views on the subject, but then others have counter views. Some even say there is no English history of their use, and that the first plane to touch rough wood is the fore plane – it goes ‘fore any other. Now, I believe that a fore plane is about the size of my No.6, or longer? You wouldn’t want to use that for hogging off a small board rived from a short length of tree trunk. Yes, I have a draw knife, but no room for a shave-horse . . .Having bought the lumber, I wouldn’t worry over much about your finished dimensions, it’s the structure that counts. Work out what you want to make from the lumber you have, and just get on with it. Anything you make will be much better than an old table.
I’ve been working off a bench for thirty years which used a piece of 30mm plywood for the top, and 70 x 40 mm framing and legs. It has a flat top with no well, and just a floppy batten across the back to stop things rolling off, and prop my planes against.
I’m going to build a better bench, I’ve been saying that for over ten years now. 🙂 I’ve just bought an old Parkinsons Perfect vice, so I need a stronger work bench to take the weight of it! 🙂Just another view from me. That beautiful saw appears to have been sharpened many times already, from the proportions of what blade is left, so don’t think you might ruin a collector’s item.
I agree with the others, resharpen it after you’ve used it a bit. Try new teeth on one in worse condition.
I recently found I already owned a cheapo plastic handled Bahco saw that had etched into the blade “Resharpenable”. I’d never noticed that until I was about to throw it out. Guess what? I’ve resharpened it and it’s nicer to use than any of the other hardpoint saws I own.The next one you make will be better made. Practice makes perfect. 🙂
Yeah, what is this for? I’ve just bought a 4-1/2 myself from ebay, which was not in your collection.
It’s nice to see images of the variation in condition, some of those planes look very nice. The one I bought is rusty all over and the blade will need grinding back about 1/4″ to reach good metal. The handle is broken as well. 🙂
