Questions on Flattening a block plane

[lottathought]

I cleaned and am currently trying to flatten the Fulton Low Angle block plane that I have.
I have a granite slab and have been using sandpaper to get it done.

I have been at it for a few hours now.
Turns out that there are 2 spots that actually have little dips in the sole...
They are about the size of a dime.
The dips are near the edge on the front left corner and rear left corner. The dips do not go all the way to the end of the sole so they are not causing the sole tip like a table with a leg too short.........and are not terribly close to the throat of the plane.

What is so odd to me about this is that this is an 80 y/o plane.
This is not some cheap knockoff from China.
Am I just being too sensitive about these dips? I imagine that this thing was used at some time in the past and wonder why a woodworker would have accepted this flaw if it mattered?

I do not mind to keep working on this but it also occurred to me that I might, at some point, compromise the sole if I work too long on this.

Thoughts?
Comments?

 

[PeteM]

"There are really only three points on the sole that need to be in true alignment for the plane to work well; the toe, the mouth area and the heel. All points in between are not as crucial and, regardless of whether they are perfectly flat or only flat in those three critical contact points, there is little or no difference in actual performance."

From http://www.handplane.com
Lots more info there. Check it out.

pete

 

[CarvedTones]

"There are really only three points on the sole that need to be in true alignment for the plane to work well; the toe, the mouth area and the heel. All points in between are not as crucial and, regardless of whether they are perfectly flat or only flat in those three critical contact points, there is little or no difference in actual performance."

From http://www.handplane.com
Lots more info there. Check it out.

pete

Interesting. I would think the whole perimeter would be important. Planes are often used on the edge/ends of boards skewed diagonally like this:

Sometimes skewed more dramatically and at the beginning and and of each stroke only part of the plane is on.

 

[lottathought]

Now see Andy....that is what I was thinking. I was thinking that especially since this is a low angle and will be used more on ends.

But I was not sure..thanks for link..I obviously still have tons to learn. :wsmile:

 

[bigcat4t9r]

Make sure that you are applying even pressure while you're lapping the sole e.g. with a bench plane lapping can result in uneven front corner and opposite rear corner. I also will lap in the normal direction and in reverse. You could shortcut with a little belt sanding and re-lap to get to level. Also, if you've take quite a bit of sole off to get things into level, make sure you debur/smooth the edges as they can get pretty sharp corners on some of my more "aggressive" tune-ups. Have a 4 1/2 that was a bear to get the mouth in line that had that issue.

I'm doing quite a bit of restoration/tuning right now so I'll offer any assistance I can.

 

[CarvedTones]

Now see Andy....that is what I was thinking. I was thinking that especially since this is a low angle and will be used more on ends.

But I was not sure..thanks for link..I obviously still have tons to learn. :wsmile:

I would use a block plane on the end also; that was just a picture I Googled up. I have used a plane on the side of two thin boards (each half of a soundboard) clamped together in preparation for edge joining and the reason you clamp both together is that the theory is that as long as they are coplaner along the length, they will fold together at 180 degrees even if there are slight undulations along the way. In practice, said undulations can't be too severe (DAMHIKT :tinysmile_tongue_t.

 

[Gofor]

... I imagine that this thing was used at some time in the past and wonder why a woodworker would have accepted this flaw if it mattered?

I do not mind to keep working on this but it also occurred to me that I might, at some point, compromise the sole if I work too long on this.

Thoughts?
Comments?

I think the "if it mattered" statement says a lot. I sometimes think I over-restore some things that obviously were seeing a lot of use in the condition that they were when I got them. I also agree with the concern of removing too much good metal.

With defects that size and location, I would stop flattening and start using it. If it becomes a problem when skewing the plane, etc, then I would consider addressing it again. If it works well, you have a winner. Like cutting a board, its a lot harder to put the metal back than to take it off.

JMTCW

Go

 

[nelsone]

I agree with Gofor! If you really want them gone, you can keep working it, but I doubt you sill see enough deflection to make any difference. Sharpen it and use it!

 

[Ozzie-x]

I agree with Gofor! If you really want them gone, you can keep working it, but I doubt you sill see enough deflection to make any difference. Sharpen it and use it!

+2 The wood will never know the difference, nor will the user. I've flattened hundreds of planes and a high corner on the toe or heel, or a couple of isolated low spots will not matter on a user plane. Get the majority of the sole flat, and get it especially flat in the mouth area and it will be fine. Like Gofor said, don't waste a lot of metal. It's probably more critical to get the cutter very very sharp and get the plane tuned properly.

 

[froglips]

Something else to add to the mix, a block plane does not typically get used in operations that require the sole flatness of a bench plane.

If you want to get the plane sole flat, then by all means. Block planes are nice to learn on, as they are smaller and much more forgiving than say, a jointer plane.

While I don't know where it started, many block planes I've seen had run ins with belt sanders leaving them in odd states of flatness. One tell tale sign is of the thickness of the sole is tapered across its narrow width.

If you wanted to work to get your plane flat, I'd suggest removing metal from the middle. Take a 2" wide strip of paper and run the plane perpendicular to the strip.

Do this for a number of passes and then re-check by marking up and running over paper normally. Do this until you've got evidence of removal at the heel and toe across the width. You now have a low spot in the middle and the ends are high. The high spots then abrade down to the low spots.

I will caution you that some time sand paper lifts if not glued down. When that happens, you can see some rounding over of the toe and heel of the plane.

Best of luck and can't wait to see pics of your new tuned up tool!

Jim