From: mlh1@bunny.gte.com (Michael Hackney)
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
Subject: Re: Resurfacing Plane Soles
Date: 28 Jan 93 14:37:43 GMT
Followup-To: rec.woodworking
Organization: GTE Laboratories

In article <01GU0L766HRW00047E@LIFE.UAMS.EDU>, BBHULSEY@LIFE.UAMS.EDU (Wile
E. Coyote) wrote:
> 
> Greetings!
> 
> I've got an old 24" Record jointer plane that I'd like to tune up and get back
> into good service.  On my other, shorter planes, I've reground the soles to
> get them dead flat and smooth by clamping wet-or-dry sandpaper to the bed of
> my jointer and using that as a grinding surface.  However, with the 24" plane,
> I'm concerned that this method is not going to be as accurate (or feasible)
> and accuracy with this plane is actually more of a concern than with my other
> planes.  Does anyone have any experience with regrinding long plane soles like
> this?  Will machine shops do this sort of thing?  I suppose I could go and get
> a nice long, thick piece of glass to use as a grinding surface, and some sort
> of abrasive.  I'm not really sure what kind of abrasive to use though, and I'm
> concerned that the abrasive will eat into the glass faster than into the plane
> sole.
> 
> Any tried and true suggestions appreciated.
> 

It sounds like you have a good idea what you are doing so...

I routinely use a piece of 3/8" * 12" * 48" plate glass that I glue
sandpaper strips (3M spray adhesive) end-to-end to get a 4' long perfectly
flat surface. You could alos purchase the long roles of PSA paper sold for
finishing sanders -  I haven'y had a problem with either one. Do not use an
abrasive directly on the glass because it will wear the glass too. 

1) On metal soled planes, I use water-proof silicon carbide paper and
plenty of water. Remove everything from the plane before starting (handles,
iron, etc). Pick an appropriate grit of paper, depending on how bad the
sole. Do not push the plane down as you take long smooth strokes - the
longer the better. Use a very light touch and a lot of patience. Look at
the sole every 25 strokes or so. You will see the high and low spots
clearly; the high spots look matted from the sanding. Do not change to a
finer grit of sandpaper until the sole is flat (no hi and low spots are
visible). Move to the next finer grit of paper and repeat. You will still
be able to tell the difference between the previous grit and the finer one.
Continue like this until you get to 600 grit. At this point I switch over
to mineral oil for the final polishing. I have been able to true up some
really bad soles this way. I use the plate glass instead of my jointer bed
for these reasons:
			1) plate glass is cheap, jointer beds are not
 		2) I can use water on plate glass
			3) plate glass is plenty flat enough for this type of work
			4) I don't get glue and sanding particles all over my jointer.

To recap: use lots of water, do not push on the plane as you stroke, take
the longest strokes possible, take your time.

2) On wood sole plane I use the same procedure but without the water and
oil lubricants.

3) I have had plane soles machined but it was expensive ($30.00 for 24" 8
years ago). The other problem is that machining will inevitably take off
more metal than needed. This may not be a concern for modern (new) tools
but it is for antiques.

michael