Tuning a hand plane.
When you bring you latest $20.00 yard sale #4 into the house and set it
down on some newspaper and marvel to yourself how someone could let such a
potentially fine tool languish in neglect for so long. Luckily you have the
knowledge to revive this basket case and after several hours of attention,
it could leave a perfect, finish ready, surface in curly maple and produce
shaving so thin they have only one side, and they float upward when release
from your hands.
The first thing you should do is try your plane in it's "as found" state.
Chuck up a hunk of wood in the vise and try and take a swipe.... How does
it cut?
Could it cut better? Sure! Let's make it so.
The first and most important thing that needs attention is the part that
does the cutting, the Iron. Release the lever cap and remove it and set it
aside.
Remove the cutter assembly, On most all bench planes it is a two piece
assembly consisting of an iron and a chip breaker iron.
Now you are going to separate the two. But, before we do, lets take a
moment to talk about shop safety......Be sure to read understand and follow
all the ..... .. and remember this, there is no
more important rule that to NEVER do this, use your lever cap as a
screwdriver! Now lets get started on today's project....
Remove the chip breaker and set it aside.
Look at the back of the iron, has it been flattened before?
No. Too bad for us.... take a good look and check for pitting (rust that
has gone below the surface) is there any pits to speak of near the cutting
edge? Yes? Deep? Call Ron Hock.
wait a week for a replacement blade, then continue...
If the back is unpitted, (or you got a new blade) the first thing we need
to do is lap is __flat__ or at least the inch or two nearest the cutting
edge, below the keyhole slot.
This is very important as this is really the edge that does all the
cutting, if it not as flat as possible it cannot cut as well as possible.
There are many schools of though about removing metal to produce cutting
edges, This is not the place for that discussion, use your method of
choice. Lap it flat and polish through successive grits till you can count
nose hairs in the refelction. Stop.
We need a break from this hardened steel, lets turn our attention to the
chip breaker.
First hold it up to the iron in it's natural position and look at the joint
between the two. Are there gaps in it? How about the amount of "spring" in
the arch of it?.. Does really clamp down well when you snug the screw up?
Could you twist the two apart by hand w/ the screw as tight as you can get
it?
We'll put some spring back into the cap. I do this by placing the arch of
the cap over a 3/4" dowel and beating on it with a urethane faced mallet.
Don't worry, this is not hardened steel, it will hadle it well... Okay now
check how it mates w/ the iron... Using a file, fettle the leading edge so
that they two meet at the tightest angle and the passing chip cannot get
snagged in the union of the two.... also polish the face of the curve all
the way to the top of the curve so that the chips just _glide_ right over.
Next were going to work on the ..... anybody, anybody, Bueller?
What's that? The bevel? Wrong! It's bezel and no, we are going to work on
the side opposite the "back" which we'll call the front, even though that
is wrong because it really IS the back of the iron, the part that bears on
the bed of the frog, but since I've never really heard it addressed by
anybody before...we'll stick to that and call this "the other side from the
back" naaahh... "the front".
Start lapping and get it flat, the flatter it is the better it will bed and
the less likely it will be to bind when adjusting or chatter when planing.
Just get it flat.. it does not need the nose hair count test, but needs to
be flat. okay. That will do for today.
The next thing is the bezel... the intersecting slope cut on an angle
between the face and the back, that which will be the back side of the
cutting edge, if you will.
Look at it.. can you might be able to tell how many times it has been
sharpened by the number of facets on the face?-) We're going to get us a
good square true bezel again I like to use a wheel grinder here because it
will remove a lot of material fairly quickly (but you can burn an edge if
not careful) also it will create a hollow grind which is easier to sharpen
and maintain between grindings. Here I'll turn to a 10" slow speed
Horizontal wet grinder. But use whatever means you have and grind a new
bezel so that it is one continuos face from end to end, and square across
the width.
Now sharpen the leading edge thought successively finer grits until the
leading edge is polished and it the blade is sharp, if you go through your
last few finer grits "freehand" and swing the blade back and forth in an
arc, you will naturally induce a slight crown to the cutting edge.
Otherwise just dub the corners, if you don't do anything, your corners are
going to leave ridges in the work surface.. Now strop off the wire edge
and lightly wax the entire blade to protect from rust. Rust is the enemy!
Replace the chip breaker, setting to from 1/32 to 1/16 back form the edge
and place the blade back in the plane adjust as necessary and take a test
cut. Does it work better? I sure hope so, we just did a lot of work! Can it
work better? I'm sure of it.
How wide is the mouth opening? What do you mean mouth opening? OH... The
gap between the leading edge of the blade and the trailing edge of the
front of the mouth.
For a smooth plane you really want to close it down to be no more open that
necessary to pass the chip the blade is cutting. Take the blade back out
and release the frog attachment screws and remove the frog... is there
years of accumulated shavings packed underneath rotting away? I thought
so.. Remember that, and clean it out every once in a while, okay?
Put the frog back in but don't tighten the set screws all the way, put the
blade back in and the lever cap back in place... slide the frog foreword
till the mouth is about twice as thick as the shaving you intend to
take.... I shoot for about 5Thou for a finely tuned smooth plane... hold
the frog in place and carefully remove the blade and tighten the screws
securely. Replace the blade and try the plane again? How's that working now?
This is about as good as your going to get without some serious work....
ask yourself now "is this acceptable?"
To get any increased performance you _might_ get out of the plane it will
require working of the castings. To assure the sole is flat and the frog
mates well and the like.
But before you go any further in your modifications of this plane, it is
important to hear from the conservative side of the house....
Good night
John....
Stay tuned for Part II:
cleaning and protecting the body,
bedding the frog and lapping the sole.
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