Thread: Flattening a No.7 sole

You could try a belt linisher (like an upside down belt sander) to remove material quickly and then go back to the hand method to remove the scratches left by the belt.

I've often wondered how you would go getting someone to surface grind or mill it flat in an engineering shop. That would be the way the original flat surface was established on the cast sole.

Your best bet would be to work it throught the grades, Gestimate where it was when you aquired it and move up step by step.

Typical sequence would be 20,30,40,60,80,120 180 240 400 600, 800,1200.

Enter the sequence one grade up from where you think it was, follow the sequence, and stop when you are satisfied with the finish. From 180 up, I would go with either wet and dry sheets or red metal polishing belts.

Remember that if the sole is already heavily grooved, you have to remove the equivalent of the groove depth to get it back to flat and clear any ingrained material from the metal, which might substantially weaken the base. It might ultimately be better to look for another plane.

Food for thought, could you lead wipe it to fill the grooves rather than take them out.

No experience in doing it, just thinking out of the square.

Squirrel.

Lead is to soft and would not work.

Originally Posted by silentC

You could try a belt linisher (like an upside down belt sander) to remove material quickly and then go back to the hand method to remove the scratches left by the belt.

I've often wondered how you would go getting someone to surface grind or mill it flat in an engineering shop. That would be the way the original flat surface was established on the cast sole.

Surface grinding would work well .Problem is the set up time spent setting up the the plane would cost a bit .

Kev.

what about a spray on metal product just to fill the scratches in the sole ,there use to be a product for building up shafts and the like but i don't know what it was called.

90 minutes you wusss.

I baought a brand new record #7 ( though it was shop soiled) ...and the sole was like a banana.....it took me about ages to get it flat an hour or so a day.

I would not go coarser than 60 gritt.... but definitely lay down a long strip....the top of my saw bench is 1200mm wide, I used that....and get into it... It'll make a man of you....don't worry thet feeling of being struck between the sholders with a pick handle goes away after the 3rd or 4th day.

OH... buy plenty of sand paper...a strip lasted me about 15 minutes before it stopped cutting.

I've lapped my fair share of planes... and I know timber puts gouges in the sole......those ausie hardwoods can have bones in them.

cheers

Yeaa suck it up I say. I spent a week doing this No 7 up. It wasn't flat and had deep rust pitting. After electrolysis I hit the high spots with a flat file, then took 40 grit belt sander belts and cut them open as a nice long grinding surface. Once that was done it was up the grits to 400 as usual.

Harden up eh? I work with a keyboard for a living!

It looks like the scratches are from a 40 grit sanding belt, so I've been trying to get them out with 80 grit. I think I've used 9 new peices of 500mm long paper, basically the best part of a 5m roll already. I'll keep at it and let you know.

Is the sole definitely flat?? I would be tempted to hit it with 40 grit still. You can see on the side of my plane where there are 40grit scratches that haven't come out in later grits because it's not perfectly flat

Oh it's flat alright. I was quite concave, so the heel and tow are all nice and shiny, but the middle and around the mouth are still badly scratched. It certainly works well enough, I spent about 4 hours tuning it. I've tuned enough planes to know I've got it right, I just don't have the arms for lapping the sole

I'll take some pics over the weekend.

Originally Posted by kman-oz

G'day folks,

Obviously I need to lap the sole further to remove these deep scratches, but I've got very tired arms/shoulders from the 90 odd minutes I've already spent with a lapping plate and Silicon carbide paper.

There is no reason to remove those scratches other than cosmetics, unless they actually do harm to the workpiece. They will not cause the plan to ride unevenly. Presumably, you've removed all the bits that stick out so they could scratch?

Rub some chalk over the sole and plane some wood with it. Observe that the chalk does not wear out, though it might fall out.

Let the plane wear them as a badge of honour, I say!

If you've ever seen a corigated sole plane.. you wont worry about your scratches.
cheers

If you want you can bring it to my place and use the belt sander. It has a 48" belt and should be able to sand it back to just a handle in no time at all.