Thread: Fixing Cracks on a Wooden Plane

Thanks for the input, Ian. I did try brushing the gunk out with toothbrush & turps as you suggested without much luck. A bit of it came out but most are quite solid and stuck to the wood. It does not seem to be stains as it has a certain thickness to it, probably about the thickness of a coat of paint in some area. I did try filing using a second-cut file but couldn't find any obvious high points.

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However, there is a perceptible dip, approx. 1/2" width just next to the mouth, I'm guessing about 1/32" deep max.
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That's the best I clean up I could do without resorting to chiseling and risking further damage, so decided to leave it as it is. This is my first time using a wooden plane, so the problem may well be my setting technique (or the lack of it).

After the cleaning effort, I installed the blade back on the bed and carefully advanced it by light tapping. After a few attempts, finally managed to get the iron to protrude just a hair (or two) beyond the mouth. Curiously however, it wouldn't produce a full length shaving. It started shaving - biting into the wood, then "jumped" up resulting in short shavings, shown on picture below. I thought it could be that the sole wasn't flat, but checking with a 24" ruler, the sole looks relatively flat. Using my Stanley #4 afterwards, I could produce full length shavings without any problem.
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WP, there are some nice bowtie patterns on your link - especially the bird shape. I'm not game enough to attempt it on the plane though..... yet. Skew's wax-sticks suggestion is more right up my alley skill wise.

Cheers,
Andy

Andy, I can suggest a couple of potential reasons why your plane stops cutting. The first may simply be technique. That's a very short test-piece for a long-ish plane, & it may be that you are bearing down sufficiently at the start of the stroke, but relaxing a little before the plane has reached the point where the weight is properly balanced on the work, allowing the rear end to droop a teeny bit so it's describing a shallow arc. It takes care to not allow this to happen when planing short pieces with a longer plane.

Second, the piece of wood may be slightly concave, and though the shorter #4 can manage a full shaving, the longer sole won't. This is usually obvious because the plane cuts at the start & end of the stroke, whereas I understand from your description that it's only cutting at the beginning.

Or your sole could be out of whack. Checking flatness of a sole with a straightedge alone can be misleading, you can see gross deviations, but unless you hold it against the light just-so, the light may not show through small dips of a couple of thousandths of an inch, which in the right (or should that be "wrong"?) places can cause trouble. And holding a straightedge against the sole certainly won't tell you if it's twisted - a twisted sole will definitely not work well! To check for twist (or 'winding') use a couple of "winding sticks".

If you've already eliminated those possibilities, I'm stuck for further suggestions....

Cheers,

Thanks for the suggestions, Ian.

I had a chance to play around with the plane again today, and the main problem appears to be user errors. Having only been using Bailey-type plane to-date, reckon it will take some time for me getting used to adjusting the iron using wedge and mallet taps. After several attempts, finally managed to set the cutting iron to a usable level.

Just need more practice with it.

Cheers,
Andy