Bill Lantry
Member
- Messages
- 2,663
- Location
- Inside the Beltway
I know, I know... no pics, didn't happen. I'm trying!
So, last June, I was up in connecticut, while my doorlink was at a conference. I had young James, not quite two, in tow, and we went to see an experienced and respected woodworker who I had only met online. He took us to a local store, where we bought two planes... a fairly recent jack plane and a very old woody. The idea was we'd spend a little time getting them working, and he'd show me a little about planing technique. As it happened, young James wasn't patient enough for us to do all that (he kept going for the man's lathe chisels, leading to no little consternation), but I did get a quick lesson in how to plane a board.
So the old woody has lingered in the corner of my shop for quite a while. And today, I thought since I successfully tuned a worthless plane, based on all of your advice, I thought I'd see if I could do something about the woody. I got it down off the self, and started taking it apart. Here it is:
Hope these pics are working. Oh well. Here's a pic of the plane bottom (I guess that's called the sole?)
and another of the mouth:
The rust on the blade and chipbreaker was incredible. I had to soak them in wd40 just to get them apart. Then I carefully went at them with with the wire wheel on the grinder. I thought that may be sacriligious, but figured there was little to lose. Once I got most f the worst of the rust off, I tried to work on the blades bevel, with my sharpening guide, on emery cloth. It was beyond hopeless, I decided, after 20 minutes of futility. So I carried it over to the trusty ridgid belt/ ossicilating sander, with a fine belt mounted. Ten more minutes. Mounted a coarse belt and went after it. Took a while, but the back *nearly* got flat. Back to the emery cloth, and then through several grits of sandpaper. It slipped out of the guide, and I had to start over. Finally, I told myself it wasn't sharp, but it *was* good enough to test. So I went after the bottom of the benchtop. It worked! Not well, but well enough to show me the blade will be worth futher effort. You can tell by the nature of the shavings it's not sharp enough yet...
So now I'm wondering how to flatten the sole. It's all wood, can I take an incredibly thing pass on my jointer? The wood is filthy... should I clean it somehow? I tried to take a picture of the maker's mark on the blade
but no luck. It says: W. Butcher. Warrented cast steel. There's a B with a circle around it, an arrow, and what looks like a german (kaiser?) cross, as well as a fleur-de-lis. The plane itself is 22" long, 3 1/2 wide, 3 1/4 tall. It's so filthy I can't tell what the wood is, but it's very heavy. There's some kind of stamp on the front of the wood (in the end grain), but until I clean it up, there's no way I can read it...
Anyway, the good news: I made shavings with it. The bad news: the pics didn't insert, and I don't know how much more I should try to restore the old thing...
Thanks,
Bill
So, last June, I was up in connecticut, while my doorlink was at a conference. I had young James, not quite two, in tow, and we went to see an experienced and respected woodworker who I had only met online. He took us to a local store, where we bought two planes... a fairly recent jack plane and a very old woody. The idea was we'd spend a little time getting them working, and he'd show me a little about planing technique. As it happened, young James wasn't patient enough for us to do all that (he kept going for the man's lathe chisels, leading to no little consternation), but I did get a quick lesson in how to plane a board.
So the old woody has lingered in the corner of my shop for quite a while. And today, I thought since I successfully tuned a worthless plane, based on all of your advice, I thought I'd see if I could do something about the woody. I got it down off the self, and started taking it apart. Here it is:
Hope these pics are working. Oh well. Here's a pic of the plane bottom (I guess that's called the sole?)
and another of the mouth:
The rust on the blade and chipbreaker was incredible. I had to soak them in wd40 just to get them apart. Then I carefully went at them with with the wire wheel on the grinder. I thought that may be sacriligious, but figured there was little to lose. Once I got most f the worst of the rust off, I tried to work on the blades bevel, with my sharpening guide, on emery cloth. It was beyond hopeless, I decided, after 20 minutes of futility. So I carried it over to the trusty ridgid belt/ ossicilating sander, with a fine belt mounted. Ten more minutes. Mounted a coarse belt and went after it. Took a while, but the back *nearly* got flat. Back to the emery cloth, and then through several grits of sandpaper. It slipped out of the guide, and I had to start over. Finally, I told myself it wasn't sharp, but it *was* good enough to test. So I went after the bottom of the benchtop. It worked! Not well, but well enough to show me the blade will be worth futher effort. You can tell by the nature of the shavings it's not sharp enough yet...
So now I'm wondering how to flatten the sole. It's all wood, can I take an incredibly thing pass on my jointer? The wood is filthy... should I clean it somehow? I tried to take a picture of the maker's mark on the blade
but no luck. It says: W. Butcher. Warrented cast steel. There's a B with a circle around it, an arrow, and what looks like a german (kaiser?) cross, as well as a fleur-de-lis. The plane itself is 22" long, 3 1/2 wide, 3 1/4 tall. It's so filthy I can't tell what the wood is, but it's very heavy. There's some kind of stamp on the front of the wood (in the end grain), but until I clean it up, there's no way I can read it...
Anyway, the good news: I made shavings with it. The bad news: the pics didn't insert, and I don't know how much more I should try to restore the old thing...
Thanks,
Bill
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