Hand Scraping (metal flattening)....

[froglips]

For those who are interested, I've made some progress on my Hand Scraping a block plane sole flat.

This is a technique where you "spot" your workpiece against a super flat master surface. Paint transfer from the master to the workpiece shows you all the high spots.

Then you scrape the high spots off with a tool called a hand scraper (not a cabinet scraper, totally different animal). I use an old mill file sharpened to a good profile.

I have been using 3/8" glass with very inconsitent transfer of the marking medium (paint). I was rubbing the plane, looking at the transfer, cleaning it off, rubbing again, getting wildly different results.

Part of the solution: Scuff up the glass with 220 wet dry.

Turns out an iron master or a granite surface plate aren't totally smooth like glass. They just have a whole lot more high points per inch than your workpiece. As in, 8 to 10 points per inch is a good flat surface, a master can have between 20 to 50 (i think).

The goal here, is first to get plane soles really flat. Then work on all the parts with mating surfaces (frog, adjustable mouth, etc).

Ultimately, my goal is expanding the technique to flatten some of my older messed up table saw tables!
Jim

 

[NCPete]

Jim, you may want to try this trick with printers ink. should transfer more easily than the paint

 

[froglips]

Thanks Pete, I'll give that a try too.

Right now i'm using Prussian Blue artists oil paint with some mineral oil to keep it from drying.

I also plan to someday try Dykum Hi-Spot, which seems to be what most scraper hands use.

Thanks,
jim

 

[Gofor]

Flat is good. I am having second thoughts about flat and shiny, tho. Found out that 600 gr wet/dry paper (used dry) on a 14,000 rpm quarter sheet sander with a flat hard shoe can put a real shine on the cast iron (or ductile iron as most really are). The graphite from the metal will really put a polish on it. It also really increases the friction coefficient.
Made me appreciate the corrugated sole on my #6, which pushes easier than my #4. Both do well when first waxed, but the drag goes up pretty quickly on a fine grained hard wood.

Just my experience

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