How far should I polish my bottom

**Simplicity** · 16th March 2018, 09:55 PM

Recently, I've decided to pull my finger out, and get on with restoring some of the vintage old junky rusty crappie tools I've been collecting for well, who knows how long.
This vision of clarity come about due to me wanting to plane a small piece of timber the other day and realising I've got 10 plus hand planes and not one in decent order.

I had reached and all time low [emoji849] I felt desgustef with myself .
So ,no more little fun projects on with getting my poo together.

First up ,the number 5 Stanley plane, come out from the lower shelf, and for know, particularly reason.Just because ,it was there and as I will try and be diligent in my efforts of getting my creative zone more in a manner were I don't feel guilty about not fixing that or finishing that.
A quick strip down ,revelled nothing wrong except years of neglect(not from me)
Lots of saw dust ,packed between the blade and cap iron that seems fairly common in my observations.
All screws came undone with out much effort.
a little bit of surface rust tho, know real heavy deposits.
So out with sharping stones, blade given its first decent sharping in over a hundred years, I think the last time this blade sore a stone was a long time ago.
Anyway the blade came up good, passes my end grain pine shaving test 101 with high marks.
Cap iron was up next and was sanded nice and smooth all over before it was carefully stoned and mated back to the blade.
Then the frog was given a clean and all matting surfaces carefully sanded true again.
Next up ,all was put back together and the blade retracted back in to the plane.
The job we all loathe when it comes to restoring hand planes.
Yep ,a runway was quickly put together, a off cut of white faced MDF placed on bench with one strip of 180 grit paper about 1500 mm long attached at either end ,plus a another sheet of 240 grit paper put beside it.
On with some classic punk turned right up.
On with it, 2412 swipes later combined ok ,I wasn't counting ,but those that have been there will know the pain.
So apart from those who will tell me , I should take it to at least 10,000 grit because even tho I like pretty tools.
For a tool that spends its life scrapping along a bit of timber,
What grit do you season professionals sand your plane bottoms too.?
I'm happy to stop at 240 but should I go further ? Do I need to go further is there a perceived benefit to go further ,say 320 maybe even 400 or is that just being to bling.

Just for the hell of it ,while I was there ,Ye I sanded the sides to 400 and gave them a quick polish.
If I was not feeling over it by now ,I did my little 91/2 block plane just for effect.
Saddest

Cheers Matt

And the next candidate

**rob streeper** · 17th March 2018, 01:23 AM

Nice work Matt.

A rusty but good tool makes me sad as it tells a story of death and careless, inconsiderate heirs.

BTW, I see you have the sloppy-jalopy Eclipse/Somax sharpening jig.

**Simplicity** · 17th March 2018, 08:31 AM

Thanks Rob,

I like my little sloppy-jalopy Eclipse jig?
You have a very keen eye

Any suggestions on our far I should be finishing my bottom.
Have you done any scientific analysis on it?

Cheers Matt

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**rob streeper** · 17th March 2018, 08:56 AM

I assume that it shines like the moon? If so you're good.

Not sure if Sally would like me analyzing your bottom, scientifically or otherwise. SWMBO would also likely be less than pleased.
More seriously, you could get some Micromesh abrasives, they can make them gleam!

**Chesand** · 17th March 2018, 09:02 AM

Matt, you had me a bit worried when I read the heading to your thread.

**Chris Parks** · 17th March 2018, 09:43 AM

Matt, what's your address, I have a few more that you can do while you are at it.

**elanjacobs** · 17th March 2018, 09:20 PM

If you're just being practical, you could probably call it quits at 180. Anything beyond that is because you want to make it look nice.

**Kuffy** · 17th March 2018, 09:40 PM

When I make a junker work again, I just sand the sole using 80grit to flatten it and then use 120grit to make it less rough on my hands, I don't think the timber cares one way or the other. I would go further, but then I need to spend an extra dollar for a higher grit roll of paper. So #120 is where it stops. For what it is worth, I recently purchased a couple of Luban hand planes, a 5 and 4. For chinese stuff (maybe it is taiwanese...) they have been immaculately machined. Not a scratch on them, everything is nice and square and there is a nice shine to the surfaces. Three or four slabs later, they are covered in scratches like all of my other planes. I don't know where the scratches come from. I certainly don't throw them around as if they are worth nothing (that statement may or may not be true for my veritas #6. I hope the thing breaks in half!!!!), and I don't clatter them together or crash chisels into them. They just seem to collect scratches. I don't know what others experience, but based off my own experience, polishing to any sort of a mirror would be an epic waste of my time.

after typing this, I realised I had sliced my fingers slightly today because of the gum vein stuff in tassie oak. The stuff is as hard as glass, it's probably the thing which is scratching my tools.

**FenceFurniture** · 17th March 2018, 10:48 PM

This is a thread about Matt's bottom.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Anything beyond that is because you want to make it look nice.

Eez no possible.

Pointless beyond 240 grit (or even 120). It'll look like crap before yer know it.

If you polish it (say 500+) you'll end up with stiction (stickshun? sticktion?....plane sticking to wood as two smooth surfaces do when trying to pass one over the other).

In short there is just no point - it aids neither performance nor result, and will be short lived if used as it should be.

**Bushmiller** · 17th March 2018, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by rob streeper

Nice work Matt.

BTW, I see you have the sloppy-jalopy Eclipse/Somax sharpening jig.

I have learnt to be very careful what I leave out on the bench lest it be inadvertently caught on camera and receives unwarranted criticism!!!!

Regards
Paul

**FenceFurniture** · 17th March 2018, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I have learnt to be very careful what I leave out on the bench lest it be inadvertently caught on camera and receives unwarranted criticism!!!!

Nah mate, just observation

, possibly followed by comment which is entirely up to your interpretation

.

As an example, we observe that all your photographs in the shed are taken in more or less one direction.....never the other.

**rob streeper** · 18th March 2018, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

This is a thread about Matt's bottom.

Agreed, let's all keep our minds on the subject, Matt's flat and shiny bottoms.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

If you polish it (say 500+) you'll end up with stiction (stickshun? sticktion?....plane sticking to wood as two smooth surfaces do when trying to pass one over the other).

I've had one plane do that. It didn't have a polished bottom, just machined. I was trimming a tenon with it and towards the end of the second pass it started making a sound similar to that made by a wine glass when you rub a finger around the edge but lower in pitch. Turns out that the near perfect flatness of the plane bottom as it cut across the grain was creating the sound. I tested it by first planing and creating the sound and then running 280 grit paper on the cut surface and then planing again, after the second past the sound started again.

**Simplicity** · 18th March 2018, 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Matt, what's your address, I have a few more that you can do while you are at it.

Chris.

Not a problem,Sally will be in touch via our solicitor to have the contracts drawn up [emoji6] soon.

**Simplicity** · 18th March 2018, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

If you're just being practical, you could probably call it quits at 180. Anything beyond that is because you want to make it look nice.

Just going for practical here
I do the bling thing on the top side lol.

**Simplicity** · 18th March 2018, 11:24 AM

I think the general consensus regarding the under side of my planes,
Know idea why you were all trying to drag this down to the gutter level of chat[emoji47].
Is to stop at the 180 mark or there about,and yes I agree, there it's in writing[emoji6].
As I think Kuffy and Brett both pointed out, it's going to look fantastic with its shiny A... till it hits its first piece of timer then it's going to be back to being all scratched up.

Brett is right too if it's all glossy, it's going to start getting sucked down on to the timber the smoother it gets.
I should have remembered that from using a surface plate and finishing some small pieces ages ago the further I went with grits the suckier they become on the plate.

Cheers Matt

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