Flattened soul.....

[froglips]

Out of curiosity, this question popped into my head.

After you have flattend the sole, done all that good stuff and have been happily planing away the hours, days, weeks, years, etc

Do you "periodically" reflatten the sole? Should you check it?

Assuming a sole goes out of flat over the course of my life, would there be any tell-tale signs its going? Something like when my back is getting ready to give out......

Jim

 

[Travis Porter]

I am going to venture to say that this is a one time thing. You should not have to reflatten the sole of a plane if it is treated properly. Insom or some of the others may chime in and correct me, but I believe I have even read it somewhere.

 

[Ozzie-x]

Generally, once you've flattened the bottom it should be good to go for a long time. Common cast iron is somewhat less than a wonderful material though. Over time, the cast iron could conceivably come-and-go enough to put the sole out of true, particularly if subjected to a lot of temperature variations. After you flatten the bottom, if it gets "out", one tell-tale sign would be odd wear patterns on the sole. I used to be very neurotic about everything on the plane being absolutely perfect, but ove time I realized some things didn't matter that much- I was just causing myself a lot of extra work and worry for nothing. If ths sole is fairly flat and really smooth it will be okay. Put the majority of your efforts into tuning and sharpening.