Straightening wooden jack plane

**Tiger** · 24th December 2011, 11:11 PM

I bought a wooden plane at a flea market, the seller assures me that it's great value at $25, the body looks great, nice thick iron and chipbreaker.... one small problem the shavings jam at the mouth. Ok so I look at the chipbreaker and there's a gap, I laboriously flatten it and install it but still the shavings get trapped. I then notice that the blade is slightly warped. I try and bring what I think are the high areas down with a disc sander (I don't have a belt sander). I sand and check, sand and check repeatedly but when it comes time to test the chipbreaker and the blade still a gap. I could just write this off as a bad purchase but I have some spare time over Xmas so what can be done for a warped blade?

**pmcgee** · 25th December 2011, 03:52 AM

Can you test the face of the blade on a glass plate or table saw or ... ?
Is it flat on it's own? Is it bent or twisted?

Japanese blades can be "hammered" as they age to keep them in the correct shape for use - I guess it's to do with the soft iron bodies of the blades ... maybe the old taper irons are not too far off from being similarly constructed. I know with some of mine you can see the distinction between the body of the blade and the thin layer of harder steel (iron?).

Once you have the blade sorted the next thing to look at is the "frog" area to be flat and supporting the blade equally ... and then the sole to be flat and square.

And the wedge to also support the blade/cap uniformly.

Cheers,
Paul McGee

**Tiger** · 25th December 2011, 07:47 AM

Thanks Paul, the blade is pretty hard from what I can tell but I'll see if it responds at all to hanmering. Haven't got as far as the frog yet but it looks like a good fit.

**pmcgee** · 25th December 2011, 08:17 AM

I was thinking of the hammering .. I mean positive flatness re-establishment persuasion .. as a last resort.
Photos would be good.

Paul.

**Tiger** · 25th December 2011, 09:54 AM

Tried a little hammering and the blade seems to have responded. The chipbreaker doesn't rock like it used to with the blade attached.The blade still isn't completely flat but the business end that does the cutting is. The chipbreaker now has one corner that doesn't mate with the blade, I tried banging that too but although it might only be soft iron it hasn't moved much. I'm not sure photos will reveal much because the amount of twist in the blade is so slight but I'll see what I can do.

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