I inherited a bunch of old tools, all of which need tuning. One of the tools includes a Bailey #4 Smoother. It actually is in fair condition, with almost all of its japanning intact. The sole of the plane had some rust on it, so I figured, in order for a smoother to work correctly, the sole should be totally smooth and flat. I have spent quite a bit of time lapping the sole on 400 wet & dry emery, on glass. I have about 2/3rds of the sole polished. The edges, and down the center of the plane don’t seem to want to polish down. That was where most of the rust was, when I started.
At what point do you say “enough”. The sole is flat side to side, front to back and diagonally. I just can’t get all the pitting and scratches out. Should I leave well enough alone at this point?
Thanks.
Dave
Replies
when is enough enough
I think you have answered your own question Dave. At the point where any more work is purely for aesthetics then you can safely say enough is enough.
Robert.
flatten, then polish
It sounds like you may have surface irregularities that the 400 grit paper isn't reaching. You may need to flatten with a coarser grit, then move to polishing out the abbrasion marks.
How course
I was reluctant to go coarser than the 400 grit, because I didn't want to introduce more scratches than I already had. How coarse could/should I safely lap the sole. Do I use crocus cloth, 320 emery, 220 emery? At one point, I thought of using sharpening stones, but none of my stones are large enough to lap a full sole
true grit
The folks who restore planes on a regular basis may have other recommendations, but I'd start with 220 grit wet/dry with oil. Depending on the size of the plane, you may need to buy it in a roll to get enough length, and then securely affix it to a known/tested flat surface. (Note than glass can flex a touch, if not supported on a flat surface.) Part of the trick is to maintain even pressure, both fore/aft and side-to-side, when lapping. Otherwise, it's easy to introduce curvature. Having a precision straight edge to check it from time to time is handy, too, of course. You can also "paint" the sole with machinist's blue layout ink (not to be confused with metal bluing) or non-permanent felt marker, and then do a few strokes without oil to check for low spots.
http://www.amazon.com/Starrett-1610-4-Kleenscribe-Layout-Plastic/dp/B000VE0QZE
Once the blue goes away completely, you know you're flat. Then, progress up to finer grits to remove the micro-scratches, eventually ending at the desired level of "polish". How obsessive you want to get with the polishing is a personal decision. Stopping before a mirror finish is achieved is probably OK. A coat of well-buffed hard wax can work as well as a mirror finish.
I get even more aggresive than your recommendation Ralph. I quite often start with 80 or 60 grit silicon carbide paper glued to a flat surface, eg, a surface planer (jointer) bed if the plane sole is severely concave. This gets the high spots down very quickly.
I'm not really into getting the sole mirror shiny and may stop at about 120 or 150 grit for a plane sole that's more than flat enough and smooth enough to let the plane work effectively. I can't recall ever spending much more than about 20 minutes or half an hour getting even a badly dished plane sole flat enough to work very well if lapped to this grit grade. But there's nothing to stop someone working their way through to 10,000 grit or more if they want to get the sole of the plane highly polished-- it seems questionable to me that a very smooth and shiny sole adds any usefulness to a plane's functional qualities, but that's a different discussion. Slainte.
Starter with a coarser grit
I use 60 grit sticky back sandpaper on 1 1/4" granite to get the plane sole in the same 'plane' when first starting a plane that needs a lot of fettling. Starting at 400 grit can take a very, very long time to get everything flat.
The critical areas that all need to be in the same plane are the toe, heel, and in front and back of the mouth. Also, the sides need to be flat, so the plane doesn't rock side to side.
After quickly getting flat with 60 grit, I move from there to 150 grit, to 220 grit, and then........for smoothers only, go beyond to make it look purty and smooth. Otherwise, what's the point?
Jeff
I agree Jeff, smoother than about 150 grit probably adds nothing useful to a plane's ability to function. The corrugated texture left in the plane sole by a coarser grit may even contribute to a reduction in friction, although I haven't done any testing to back that up-- it's merely speculation. However, if someone wants a plane sole shiney enough to use as a shaving mirror, I don't see any harm in that either. Slainte.
Even More Aggresive
Hi all
Had a lot of planes of all persuasions to true up at a High School. I held the planes upside down in a vise and attacked the soles with a reasonably coarse DMT diamond stone, this levelled the soles quickly and then a check on a flat plate with the blue ink and a quick touch up on 1/2" plate glass with a couple of smoother grits got the job done to a very respectable degree. Didn't worry about the kids being able to see their faces in the sole though.
wot
Richard
I would also add to this discussion that flattening the sole is only a small part of the equation. The mating surfaces of the frog with the bed are very important. If these surfaces aren't in the same geometric plane, the iron can get skewed, causing it to project through the mouth unequally, causing the iron to not cut full width, or even gouge the wood unevenly.
The chip breaker and cap iron also need to be addressed. If the leading edge of the chipbreaker isn't sharpened to mate with the backside of the iron, shavings will easily clog here.
I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, Richard. I'm just adding this to the discussion.
With a little work and knowledge, it's pretty easy to take a $10 flea market find, and get it to function as well as a much more expensive plane.
Jeff
Everything that everyone has said has been very helpful. In my instance, I'm attacking the sole first, then I'll move upward to the frog, blade, chip breaker etc. I've been using plate glass, clamped to my cast iron table saw wing, to minimize flex. Even though, according to my straight edge, the sole appears to be flat in all directions, I am concerned with the areas that are showing the pitting and scrathes. They are in the critical areas. At the toe and heel. Fore and aft of the mouth, and along the outside length of the plane. Because of this, I'm going to take some 60 grit silicon carbide paper to grind it down. Then work my way up, probably back to about 400 grit W&D. That should be a lot of paper changes!
From there i'll finally attack the frog.
Thanks
Dave
Dave Keep at it, and you'll
Dave
Keep at it, and you'll reap the rewards of a finely tuned tool ready for a lot of woodworking.
One bit of advice as you work the sole on the paper. Every 20 or 30 passes, rotate the plane from facing forward, to facing backward, and on and on and on.........This will balance out any unevenness your hands and arms may introduce as pressure leaning to one side or the other. Otherwise, you may get all finished, only to find that your sole is now listing 5° to port!
You probably know this, but it's also worth mentioning that all the fettling should be done with the blade retracted, and frog and cap iron engaged. This introduces just enough stress on the plane to mess everything up if not in when fettling.
Have fun.
Jeff
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