How To Set Up A Hand Plane

Setting Up and Tuning a Hand Airplane

In today's culture of instant gratification and disposable everything, most of us are conditioned to look the stuff we buy to only piece of work right out of the box.  Fifty-fifty the caveat "some associates required" is printed on the packaging of many items, simply to make sure there is no misunderstanding.  Published reviews of shop tools invariably dedicate an entire department to the experience of unpacking, cleaning, and setting up the tool for use, before the bailiwick of functionality is even broached.  Whether a realistic expectation or not, once a tool is put together, nigh people want no further inconvenience beyond plugging it in and turning it on.

It's no surprise that then many 'modern' woodworkers, specially those used to plug-and-play electric tools, eschew anything that requires sharpening, let alone tuning and fettling to make information technology work properly.  Simply the fact is, whether 100 years old or brand spanking new, virtually all manus planes do good from some degree of tuning to bring them to their full potential.  Fortunately, this is non a difficult suggestion, and actually aids in amend understanding how the tool functions and how to become the most out of it.

Below are the bones steps for setting upwards and tuning a hand plane for use.  Since there are so many variations of planes, both new and used, I'm purposefully keeping it fairly generic, so some interpretation may be necessary when applying the concepts to the tool in front of you.  But don't worry, there are no tool police surveilling workshops and garages.  Feel free to skip a pace if you don't think it's relevant or needed.

Step ane – I Righteous Sole
I'm not a stickler when it comes to flattening the sole of a aeroplane.  After owning hundreds and using dozens over the years, information technology'southward fairly rare to come up across a plane with a sole and then warped, cupped, or bowed that it's unusable.  If you happen upon one that is unusable, my communication is to return it, sell it, or throw information technology abroad.  The merely possible exceptions are block planes, which are pretty easy to flatten due to their smaller size.  Bench planes are far more difficult, especially the larger ones.  You lot can take them to a car shop and take them milled or lapped flat, but forget trying to flatten them yourself with sandpaper unless the problem is very small.

Good luck trying to lap this 22″ bad boy!

If you do decide to lap your aeroplane's sole apartment, yous'll demand a dead flat substrate.  The bandage iron bed of a tabular array saw or jointer works well, or if you don't take one of those available and want to keep it on the cheap, a piece of 12" x 12" or larger granite surface plate or a marble tile from your home center will work for cake planes, and typically costs less than $five.00.  Simply make sure you retract the blade and tension the lever cap equally y'all would in actual use.  This puts the right stress on the plane body.  I beginning with lx grit and progress upwards to nearly 320.  Removing high spots (convexity) is more disquisitional than low spots (concavity).  Proceed in listen that you don't fifty-fifty need the entire sole dead apartment.  As long as you lot have smooth contact at the toe, around the rima oris, and at the heel, the plane volition work just fine.

Vintage planes oft have raised dings, particularly along the edges, toe or heel.  A flat mill file makes very quick work of these minor problems.  Finally, some woodworkers file a very minor 45 degree chamfer along each edge of the sole.  This is completely optional, but helps prevent inadvertent gouges when using the plane should you tip it slightly.  I've seen some Stanley planes from the mid 20th century that announced to have been made that way at the manufactory.

Pace 2 – Flat Frogs Brand Improve Mates
Bench planes have removable frogs.  Block planes do non.  However, the function of the frog is the same – it provides a secure base to support the iron.  In society for the plane to shave forest correctly, there must not exist any motion (wobble, play, rocking, etc.) to the iron.  It must exist firmly seated against the frog, so the confront of the frog must be as flat as possible.

On your bench plane, unscrew and remove the frog and all of its hardware, including the lever cap bolt on the front and the adjustment plate and screw on the rear.  Taking care non to impairment the tip of the yoke that engages the iron and cap/iron, carefully sand the face surface of the frog until information technology is every bit flat as possible. I use the edge of my granite block for this, and change management often to ensure I become a surface every bit apartment as possible.  No need to obsess over it, you just demand the iron to seat firmly against it.  While your at it, affect up the mating surfaces on the lesser of the frog where it attaches to the aeroplane base of operations.  Also take a moment to touch up the mating surfaces on the plane body besides.  You desire the frog to seat as firmly equally possible to the body.

Lap frog face on edge of stone to protect yoke

On vintage planes, thoroughly make clean all the threads of the screws and bolts to remove any crud or rust, and apply a little light oil before reassembly.  This is especially important for the big contumely aligning knob, which needs to plough freely along the full length of its commodities.

On your cake plane, the frog is non removable, so you but need to touch on up the seat with a business firm sanding block to ensure it is flat.  Since the flat sloped area behind the mouth on the aeroplane'south base provides much of the forward support for the iron, it needs to be flat also.  Unfortunately, it'south hard to become to, and since y'all don't want to enlarge the oral cavityat all, only a touch using a small piece of angled wood with fine sandpaper wrapped effectually it is most as far as you want to take it.  Thankfully, this is all that is usually needed to remove old crud. A Dremel or quality flexible shaft tool with a wire wheel brush will likewise work if the problem is limited to clay and light corrosion.  Finally, as on the bench plane, clean the threads on all the hardware and add a piddling light oil to help retard moisture and rust.

Step 3 – Bit Breakers, non Bargain Breakers
On bench planes, the chip breaker, more accurately referred to as the Cap Iron, serves three important purposes.  1. Information technology adds rigidity to the atomic number 26 (blade). ii. It provides a small opening through which the depth adjustment mechanism engages the iron.  3. It helps 'break' the shavings every bit they rise off the cut edge of the atomic number 26, thus preventing them from jamming upwards the throat of the plane.

Most cap irons, even on new planes, benefit from a little tuning to brand them more efficient.  The leading contact border, where it rests upon the border of the iron, needs to exist completely apartment so that no lite (or shavings) tin pass betwixt the 2.  This is a simple matter of a couple of passes on a sharpening stone.  I use my yard grit stone as anything college is overkill.  If you don't take one, use whatever comparable sharpening media you have bachelor.  Ideally, yous should undercut it slightly, so just the front edge makes initial contact.  As you tighten the cap fe against the iron, information technology will flatten out some.  The idea is to get in completely flush so that fine shavings do non slip in between the cap fe and iron.

Cap iron with polished arch

The other tuning indicate on the cap iron is its forwards arch.  For lowered resistance and smooth chip passage, this curvation should be polished.  You tin can practise this by hand using your sharpening stone or sandpaper.  Again, yard dust or thereabouts is plenty.  Smoother is ameliorate, and at that place's no downside to over-polishing other than the time it takes.  Once consummate, you may demand to remove whatever burr that has formed along the front end border.  I run mine edgewise (similar cut with a knife) downwardly a piece of scrap woods.

Note that block planes do not have cap irons.

Footstep 4 – Popular a Lever Cap on that Sucka
While appearances and designs vary greatly, all planes have some sort of lever cap.  The lever cap provides the tension that holds the iron in place.  There's not really a whole lot that needs to be done to the lever cap.  Just ensure that the contact edge on its back side is reasonably flat, so it makes flush contact with the cap iron on which it sits.  Wood shavings will find their way through the tiniest of gaps.  If you're obsessive, you lot tin can polish the forwards arch a piffling but as you lot did with the cap fe.  You might also add a driblet of oil to the working joints to ensure smooth operation.

Bench airplane and block plane lever caps

On block planes, since there is no cap fe, the lever cap plays a more of import part.  Take a fine file to the back side and remove any crude spots, giving close attending to the leading contact edge.  This is nigh important on block planes with bandage iron hooded style lever caps, such as the old Stanley 9-1/2.  The back sides of these caps are notoriously crude and unfortunately japanned. You lot don't need to remove all the japanning, but you do want to get a shine line of contact downward front where it touches the atomic number 26.  File it smooth and give information technology a couple of swipes across your 1000 grit stone.  I like to touch upwardly the top front edge as well, only this isn't critical.

Step 5 – I Pity the Fool Who Don't Sharpen His Tool!
The but fact is, even with make new planes, the irons require terminal honing earlier utilise.  This is not due to some lack of attending on the part of manufacturers.  Irons are provided this mode on purpose, since the manufacturer has no way of knowing what yous will be using the airplane for, and subsequently how the iron would demand to be honed.  If you practise nothing else in the mode of tuning your plane, at to the lowest degree take the time to properly sharpen it.  Do non skip this step!  Acuminate the iron.  Again, sharpen the iron!  Sharpen it!

Basic sharpening setup using a waterstone

Since sharpening is such an expansive topic in and of itself, I will leave the specific details for other posts.  What you need to know in the context of tuning, even so, is that any plane, new or onetime, requires initial sharpening and honing.  At a minimum, new airplane irons need to have their united nations-beveled side honed flat and polished to at least 4000 grit and preferably 8000 grit.  You lot don't need to fuss with the entire surface; just the first i/eight" to 1/4" along the cutting edge will do.  You also need to put a terminal honing on the bevel edge itself.  It may look abrupt, but it needs to be honed, once again, to at least 8000 dust.  The goal is to become your cutting border to as close as possible to a zero degree radius.

Sharpening is too ofttimes the deal breaker that dissuades woodworkers from trying manus tools.  This in unfortunate, for it requires little monetary investment to become started, is not particularly difficult to learn, and can be accomplished rather speedily with surprisingly proficient results.  For detailed information on sharpening, I recommend investing in one of the outstanding books on the bailiwick by Ron Hock or Leonard Lee.   Chris Schwarz has also written a number of fantastic manufactures on sharpening aeroplane irons. Sharpen the fe.  Again, acuminate the fe!  Acuminate it!

Step 6 – Concluding Adjustments
Now that yous've finished tuning and sharpening your aeroplane, information technology'southward time to put it all back together and adjust it for employ.  Hopefully, yous have a amend agreement of what each role does and how they all office together.  This will make adjusting it for use, and while in use, more intuitive and fluid.

A few points of consideration…

While the frog's position on bench planes is adjustable, meaning yous can shift if forward to decrease the size of the mouth opening or backward to increment the size of the opening, it needs to be firmly attached in whatever position you decide then that it doesn't move when in utilize.  In other words, to adjust its position, you will have to loosen the screws that attach information technology to the base.  Without getting into detail, employ a larger oral fissure opening for thicker cuts, and a smaller mouth opening for fine shavings.  Fix the position of the frog where you desire it and spiral it downwardly tight, understanding you may need to practice this a couple of times before you go to just the correct position.

The cap fe should be firmly screwed to the iron, leaving just a tiny edge of the iron protruding forward.  This should generally be as small as possible – 1/64" for fine shavings to 1/sixteen" or more than for heavier cuts, depending on the amount of camber on the iron. The iron/cap iron in place, the lever cap bolt should be tightened just enough to concord the fe firmly so it doesn't slip in use, merely not so tight that you tin can't accommodate it's depth of cut using the large contumely or steel wheel at the rear of the frog.  If that knob won't turn, the bolt holding the lever cap is too tight.  This too, may take a couple of tries before you become the feel of information technology.

Holding the plane upside downward, and looking down the sole at a low angle, lower the iron until it just begins to announced through the oral cavity – only a whisper.  Note that it's not unusual for there to exist quite a fleck of slop in the wheel that lowers and raises the iron, as much as ½ to ¾ of a turn.  Just turn it until you begin to experience resistance.  Brand any lateral adjustments necessary using the lateral adjustment lever that extends from the meridian of the frog.  Turn it upright and brand a exam pass on a piece of scrap wood.  If the plane digs in, back off the depth just a bit.  If it misses entirely, lower the iron a niggling.  You will rapidly get a feel for when it's 'right,' every bit evidenced past the rewarding 'thwack' audio a plane makes when it cuts a perfect curl.

On cake planes, adjustments for use are a simple thing of properly tensioning the lever cap and setting the pharynx opening via the front adjustment plate (if the plane has one).  The same principles apply that you utilise in adjusting your bench planes.

Tuning a hand plane is not a difficult try.  One time practiced, the whole process tin can be accomplished in about a half hour, fifty-fifty less depending on the tool.  Rather than view it as an unpleasant task, I really bask it, peculiarly later in the evening when the dust has settled and the world is quiet.  Pour yourself a measure of Kentucky's best brown, put on your music of choice, and saddle up to your work bench.

Stanley no. 5 Jack Plane, c. 1940s

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Tools shown in the photos were returned to functional status by Virginia Toolworks using museum quality archival preservation techniques.  Sharpened and tuned for use, every tool is fully tested and adjusted until perfect.

Source: https://virginiatoolworks.com/2012/06/09/setting-up-and-tuning-a-hand-plane/

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