Hand Rehab A plain and simple prescripti on plan for old and new planes By Joe Hurst-Wajszczuk

t’s common knowledge that anI old hand plane usually needs Pick a plane, any plane (almost) some TLC to get it into top To fi gure out how planes work, it’s best to start with one that's been working form. But you may not around the block a few ti mes. In additi on to Stanley Baileys and realize the same is true for most Bedrocks, you may fi nd decent planes bearing names including Sergeant, new planes. Regardless of a ’s Miller’s Fall, Victor, or Winchester. (Consult woodworking hand tool age, the trick to tuning it up is forums online for informati on and opinions on plane pedigrees.) determining whether it needs If you’re lucky, you can snag a respectable tool for under $20. a bit of preening or a complete However, because bargain planes oft en suff er from missing parts overhaul. Tearing a plane apart or defects, consider investi ng a few more bucks. When you come across an att racti vely-priced candidate, remember to factor in the the tool is a basket case, a full cost of a replacement . For example, a $60 No. 3 might sound renovationisn’t terribly is dif�icult, the woodworking but unless like a steal, but if the plane needs a new $40-100 blade, it’s not such equivalent of performing a heart a great deal compared to a brand new WoodRiver No. 3 at $120. transplant to treat a hangnail. A soup-to-nuts treatment can be society, I’ve combined techniques newer ones that aren’t living up expensive and time consuming. gleaned from other stories, to their full potential. With the There’s also a risk that overwork conversations with tool collectors, following instructions and a little might diminish a tool’s value or and my own experience to develop practice, you’ll be able to quickly even damage it. Why take the a three-level tuning strategy. The diagnose and treat those chance if you don’t need to? advantage to my approach is that As a card-carrying member of it can be used not only to revive or decide whether or not a plane warrantsthat require heroic only measures. a little �irst-aid, the26 “If woodcraftmagazine.com it ain’t broke, don’t �ix Feb/Marit” 2011old planes, but also to �ine-tune Start with a Figure 1: The Parts of a Plane careful cleaning As shown in Figure 1, Blade there aren’t many parts to a (iron) bench plane, but for smooth Lateral Chip- Lever adjustment breaker cap adjustments and clean lever cuts, everything should be in good working order. Apply oil to Start by cleaning the tool. This screws and bearing points. will give you an opportunity to Polish top to help clear Depth shavings. adjustment suchlearn as how cracked the parts castings �it together, or knob and to look for any fatal �laws Polish back face Dress missing parts, before you invest Frog of blade and edge to fi t too much time or money. hone level. breaker. Before knocking off any rust, remove the knob and tote. Light Dress edge to rust can usually be erased with mate with blade. Sand frog spirits and steel wool. For Tote face fl at to Sand frog contact Plane Tuning Key heavySand�lex rust, blocks, I’ll use or amineral chemical seat blade. points to fi t body. Level 1 - Check this fi rst. Repairs almost remover like Top Coat, or place Frog adjusti ng always needed. the parts in a plastic tray and screw Level 2 - Check this next. treat them using a process Repairs may be needed. Body Level 3 - Check this last. Repairs may prevent rust from blooming the Mouth Knob not be needed. (throat) instantknown asyou “electrolysis.” put the tool on To the Flatt en sole. shelf, apply a light coat of oil mouth to remove burrs Lightly chamfer or wax to all metal surfaces. and/or fi t thicker blade. edges.

Initi al diagnosis Date to Remember After cleaning a plane, it’s wise Like many old-tool users, I’ve found that pre-war planes (1941 or to establish a performance earlier) require less work than post-war planes. The Web is crawling baseline before doing further with plane-dati ng fl ow charts, but to quickly ballpark a plane’s age, work. To do an initial test, check the frog and tote. Most pre-war planes, like this No. 3, sharpen the blade (See have fl at-faced frogs and varnished totes; post-war versions, 1 like this No. 4 ⁄2, have raised-faced frogs and painted totes. page 31), and check or 1 replace“Sharpening the chipbreaker. made simple,” Now Stanley No. 3, Stanley No. 4 ⁄2, make a few test shavings. type 12 (1919-24) type 19 (1948-61) There’s a slim chance that the plane was well cared for. If it produces silky shavings of consistent thickness, you can consider yourself lucky that your job is done. In most cases, the repair work is just beginning. As shown at right above, rehab work falls into three levels. The to put it to work. For example, level tune-up. Smoothing planes approach you choose depends not jack, fore, and jointers—planes deserve more attention in order just on the cost and condition of used primarily for rough work— to produce the wispy shavings the tool, but also on how you plan rarely require more than a mid-

Photos: Jim Osborn; Illustrati on: Christopher Mills Feb/Marnecessary 2011 woodcraftmagazine.com for re�ined work. 27 your plane. Most secondhand Level 1 planes suffer from this ailment. Check the chipbreaker To close the gap, hone the 1 Positioned about 16" behind underside of the leading edge the edge of⁄ the blade, the chipbreaker forces the approaching shaving backwards, aon consistent �ine-grit angle, move until the it’s chipbreakerstraight and as�lat. shown To establish in tearing away from the surface. Photo A, keeping the screw It“breaking also helps it directup” before shavings it can start hole aligned with the edge through the plane’s throat. To of your honing platform. work like it should, the edge of While you’re at it, polish A the breaker must contact the the top of the chipbreaker Dress the edge to close up a blade/ blade perfectly, or else shavings to minimize friction against breaker gap. Site on the screw can jam in the gap and choke the approaching shavings. hole to set the grinding angle.

Flatt en the sole Because cast iron is slightly For a plane to work properly, minor hollows aren’t likely to and lap the body under normal compromisedead �lat. Realistically, accuracy in a fewuse. working�lexible, youtension. want Install to inspect the the sole must be �lat and blade, chip breaker and lever Smoothnesssmooth. Its �latness contributes ensures to cap, but retract the blade into (Compare the “Before” and anthat easy it will gliding create operation �lat surfaces. and the body. Next, use a permanent primarily“After,” below). on the It’s toe suf�icient and heel to prevents any deep scratches marker to draw reference lines areas�latten and most the of section the sole, in focusingfront from marring a workpiece. across the sole. Rub the plane back and forth across a strip but it’s typically the most time- Grit Guidance consumingFlattening step a sole in the isn’t plane- dif�icult, then check your progress. If a sole doesn’t yield to 220 tuning process. You’ll need a few Thisof 220-grit is your paper starting a few point. times grit aft er some concerted packs of sandpaper in successively Put on your favorite CD, and work, downshift to coarser paper. When the sole exhibits sanding consistent, I prefer a consistent scratch patt ern, reference�iner grits surface ranging on from which 80 to runningstart �lattening. the plane To over keep the the move up to the next fi nest 3 work.400. You’ll Here, also I used need a piece a dead-�lat of 4"- sandpaper in one direction, then grit and conti nue the process ⁄ the other, as shown in Photos B through subsequently fi ner 1"-thick MDF, but you can work on and C, below. In a perfect grits, fi nishing up athick tablesaw �loat glassor jointer on top table of a instead. piece of world, the entire sole should be at 400 grit.

Before

Needs work

B Aft er With the blade retracted, scrub the C sole, applying the same pressure as Rotati ng the plane ensures that the Aft er 2+ you would use to plane a board. sanding is even across the sole. hours of Acceptable dip lapping 28 woodcraftmagazine.com Feb/Mar 2011 D E Use an accurate square to gauge how much material For bett er visibility when fi ling, apply tape adjacent to remove to correct imperfecti ons in a mouth, to your gauge line. Tape the underside of the or to widen it to accept a replacement blade. fi le to protect the back edge of the mouth. of the mouth. The latter is a vise without squeezing against particularly important, because Level 2 the tall sides. Using an accurate its job is to hold down the wood File the mouth square and a scratch awl, gauge If the front edge of the mouth the blade tries to lift them. is chipped, out of square to the the front edge of the mouth, as �ibersFlattening to prevent will tear-outproduce as plane sides, or too narrow for a shownthe amount in Photo to �ile D .away Aim tofrom remove -sharp corners. To protect blade, you’ll need to correct things as little material as possible to correct a chipped or out-of-square lightly ease the edges with a your work (and your �ingers) importantwith a �ile. thatWhile it remains�iling the straight mouth work to your line (Photo E andisn’t perpendicularparticularly dif�icult, to the sides it’s theedge. throat Then back use aa bastardfew degrees �ile to it’s�ine time mill to�ile. smooth Once you’ve the sole. done to improve chip clearance. ), �iling the preliminary �lattening, non-loading stearated paper, directlyof the plane. in front Otherwise, of the blade, it won’t necessary for many replacement I dry-sand it using 400-grit leadingreliably tohold possible wood �iberstear-out. down .Opening (See, the “Buy mouth A Better wider is wet/dry paper, lubricating To work on the mouth, clamp 1 itbut with you mineral could use spirits. 400-grit the lower section of the body in 16". Blade?” below.) In this case, you’ll ⁄ need to �ile away about Buy A Bett er Blade? several different manufacturers, I suggest working with what There’s no shame in sticking with you’ve got before making an a vintage blade (especially those to no adjustment. The Pinnacle/ upgrade. Much like stepping up to bearing the Stanley Sweetheart IBCwill blade�it most will planes require with you little titanium golf clubs or parabolic logo), but if the blade has a to open up the mouth. skis, you need to experience the pitted back, or is too short from Is it worth it? It depends. Many repeated sharpenings, you’ll blade in order to appreciate need to buy a replacement. “before” of a vintage high-carbon The blade you choose will thatwoodworkers the rest of �ind the thatplane a isthinner not only affect the plane’s blade will work �ine provided the bene�its of an upgrade. performance, but will also thick blades are a price-conscious IBC/Pinnacle – 0.125" determine how much work you’ll solutionproperly to tuned. improving Thicker a plane’s .095"- performance. For smoothers, Replacement - .095" 1 at right, older planes employed such as the No. 4 2 shown in this need to do to make it �it. As shown story, I found that⁄ the thicker Nowadays, thick is in. Stanley blade resisted chatter better Original - .080" replacementrelatively thin blades, (.080") available blades. from than the thinner ones.

Feb/Mar 2011 woodcraftmagazine.com 29 Level 3 Fine-tune the frog In order to secure the blade to the body, the frog must be in solid contact with both parts. Some tune-up articles lead off with frog tune-up, but I recommend doing this step 45° last for two reasons. First, too much tuning can ruin a good plane. Second, most frogs don’t F G need any work. If the contact Lightly dress the rear contact Clean up the bott om contact points are painted, dinged up, points by running the frog points with a sanding block. The jig or clearly mis-mated, read on; against 220-grit sandpaper. provides a wider bearing surface. if not, skip this section until you’ve made some shavings. First, clean up the frog’s wider rear contact points. To surfacedo this, af�ixand rub a strip the offrog 220-grit from sidesandpaper to side to (Photo a �lat referenceF). Don’t oversand; as long as the surface marks are perfectly acceptable. is �latNext, and clean clean, the minor lower mill contact PSA I sandpaper points. This can be done H Rub the frog in all directi ons freehand, but I use a simple jig Apply sandpaper to the frog’s to clean and dress the contact that provides a wider bearing front and rear contact points. points on the body. surface for a sanding block 1 (Photo G). To gauge your Setti ng the frog even 16" gap between the blade progress, color the contact points Reattach the frog, tightening the and the⁄ front of the mouth. (You’ll with a permanent marker, and screws just enough to hold an want to close it up more when stop when most of the ink is gone. adjustment without it slipping planing tear-out-prone woods.) To dress the contact points around. Next, install the blade and Finally, remove the lever cap and chipbreaker assembly and lever blade assembly, tighten the frog- self-adhesive sandpaper to cap. Adjust the frog to create an holding screws, then reassemble. theon the sanded body, surfaces attach 220-grit on the frog as shown in Photo H. Set the the frog in place and Ready, Set, Shave rub it about, as shown in Setti ng up a plane is a litt le confusing at fi rst, but with practi ce it will Photo I. Again, easy does it. become second nature. Secure the chipbreaker to the fl at (back) face of the blade and then carefully install the assembly onto the frog. the frog face using a permanent Snap the lever cap in place, and then retract the blade into the body. marker,Finally, sandpaper, check the and�latness a of Secure a test board on your bench, and run the plane across the reference surface. A minor wood. Slowly rotate the depth adjustment knob unti l the blade hollow isn’t a concern, but a begins to bite into the wood. Adjust the lateral adjustment lever to humped area near the bottom center the shaving on the blade. Your plane is now ready to shave. can cause the plane to chatter If you retract the blade during the adjustment process, spin the knob unti l it reseats against the yoke to remove any backlash. to remove any high spots. in use. Use 220-grit paper 30 woodcraftmagazine.com Feb/Mar 2011 Sharpening 25° primary made simple bevel A sharp blade is crucial to both plane assessment and proper post-op use. Following is a stone-simple procedure that two-stonecosts less than simple $45 treatment for supplies. (Adding an 8000-grit for the J First, hone the back of the When polishing the back face, a will set you back another $60.) taped-on block off ers grip and 27.5° secondary prefer to do this on sandpaper evens out downward pressure. bevel spray-adheredblade to �latten to and a granite polish it.stone I (Photo J paper, moving). As when to a coarser �lattening grit a plane sole, start with 220-grit if a concerted effort doesn’t 25° stop start removing mill marks, rust and other defects. Progress 30° stop 1000-6000 grit waterstone soon as you have established a 1 ⁄8"- thick 8000 grit consistentto �iner grits scratch of sandpaper pattern. as Work spacer waterstone paper, wipe off any loose grit, through 320-, 400-, and 600-grit K with your waterstone(s) until Paired with an inexpensive honing guide, this two-stone stati on and then �inish honing the back makes the sharpening process quick and consistent. Now work the bevel. Set a you get a near-mirror �inish. the blade over and check your bevel. You can adjust the blade progress. The resulting edge inhoning the guide guide so to that establish the bevel a 25° will appear as a thin band, as rests completely on the stone, shown in the blade photo, above. but to keep things consistent, I screwed a stop to the edge of the blade on the stone, as of the sharpening station (see shownAs a �inalin Photo step, L draw the back Photo K). Wheel the guide back the blade and again hone the bevelled edge until, and the thenwire �lip stone until you feel a wire edge edge falls off. Now remove the onand the forth back across edge yourof the 1000-grit blade. blade from the jig, and wipe it To speed up the sharpening down with oil to prevent rust. process, I prefer to hone only L a portion of the primary bevel, bevel will begin to get as wide Draw the back of the blade over creating a slight “secondary After several honings, the 27.5° your fi nest waterstone, then the that happens, you have a choice. front, unti l the wire edge falls off . 1 "-thick spacer and slide the Youas the can primary regrind 25° the bevel. primary When bevel.” To do this, I use a blade⁄8 back in the honing guide. angle, or to save time, you can bevel. Because of the way the blade is oriented in the plane, a grit stone a few times and, if you angle and use the second stop few extra degrees do not affect Roll the blade over the 6000- use the 27.5° as your primary the plane’s performance. I have one, the 8000. Now turn to hone a new 30° secondary Feb/Mar 2011 woodcraftmagazine.com 31