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Hey Everyone,

I won this plane off of ebay that Bruce had pointed out for us. Got it for only $10!! This thing is really cool.

But, now what? I have never worked with a old plane, so I don't know how to tune it up. What do I want to do?

Thanks for the help!

Jeff

10 bucks, the police may show up at your door any second. I always say you can get em cheap, but you stole that. What should you do. send it to me, thats what..
Seriously, the pictures are a bit dark, but it looks like it is in very nice shape. Do you have a flat plate for sharpening, if not get it. Then I like to hone the surface the blade rest on, the frog, till its flat. No need to make it shine, but it must be flat. I cover the entire surface with red marker and then start out with a course grit paper, say 180 or 220. Sand till the red is gone from everywhere, then remark it and go up in grit till I get too at least 400.
I do the same treatment to the surface of the cap iron where it rest on the blade. You are just concerned that it is flat all across its surface to make good contact with the blade. you will need to lift the back of the capiron up so its face is flat when it sits on the blade.
Now reassemble the plane with the blade slightly recessed, but tight.   Get that marker out and coat the bottom and start the honing process at 10/220 again until the red is gone then go up in grit red each time and try to keep even pressure on it. Some people say you only need the front, the area behind the opening and the rear flat, I don't know I try for as much as possible.
If you find a point where you are having trouble removing the marker from an area go back a grit size or two and do them again. I take it about 1500 sometimes 2000. Then I apply carnuba wax.
As for the blade, which looks to have good life left, I use the scary sharp meathod with a guide, there are lots of ways to do it. But remember to get the back of the blade to, say 1/2 to 1 inch from the cutting surface, again I go to 2000 grit and it has a mirror look.
I am able to shave down to .0015". Some day maybe less then .001".
By the way, the 3rd photo the handle looks like one heck of a nice piece of rosewood. I still can't believe what you payed...Mine cost $30 and I thought I did well. Man I got taken
Mike

yup, you stole it!!

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Looks like an old Stanley No.6?

I'd follow Mike's advice, sounds like he knows what he's talking about. I'll just add this:

For the large surface you'll need to hone the sole flat, I can recommend a corian sink cutout. Folks who remodel or build kitchens using corian counter tops cut out the sink area, then throw away the cutouts. I scrounged one, about 20" x 32", got it for nuthin. When I got it home, I set it atop my workbench and tested it for flatness with a machinist's straight edge and a set of feeler gauges. My thinnest feeler gauge is 0.0015". I could not insert that feeler gauge anywhere under the straight edge across the entire surface. It might not be as flat as a machinist's surface plate, but I figure it is good enough for my uses, which includes honing plane soles.

Best,

Michael

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That's some good instruction there. Even if you don't get it perfectly "tuned"
I think you'll find you have a fine plane - it's a really handy size. My #6
Stanleys get more use than the 7s.Frank Ford38885.7771180556

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Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

I knew my ignorance could not over-match the wisdom of the collective OLF! Thank you Mike for the detailed instructions. Michael, Martin, and Frank, thank you also.

Once I have smoothed everything out, gotten it level, and a sharp blade, do I need to oil, wax, or? any of the parts, or wood handles, or?

Yea, I feel like I got a smokin' deal on this #6 plane. My jointer is going to get lonely if I can get this baby trued up!

Jeff

The #6 is a great luthier size.
I flatten the sole of mine with 2 3/4" wide self adhesive abrasive (150 grit)
stuck down to a jointer table.
Another trick to bed the frog to the sole is to use abrasive compund
between the two parts and rub them back and forth. It's not so important
that the two surfaces are flat as it is they mate with as much of their surface
areas as possible. Valve gringing compound from the auto parts store works
well for this.
Also, have the frog in and suecure and the iron in, but adjusted back when
you're flattening the sole so all of the same tension is in place as when
you're using it.
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

most of my advice is aquired via OLF, so thank the group.. I just figured I 'd compile it and give it back. I also added a hock blade and cap iron to my #6 and it is better, but the original blade and cap work well. Also the one bit of advise I forgot and nobody picked up on, practice. You will need to learn to use it. For jointing it is very important on how you handle the plane, how much and where you apply the pressure. You use as little as possible to keep the plane down, basically use its weight. Then apply a slight pressure to the front as you start the stroke, when the entire plane is on the wood, you have even pressure and as the front leaves the wood you only have pressure on the rear.Grain direction is important also. I adjust the blade/cap iron so the cap is about .025-.030 from the blade tip. No science there, just keep it close.
I'm sure you will check out Hesh's post on how hey jointed a top with his new plane, it looks very interesting, I may try it. I do it on end in a vise, but his method looks more solid. Planing is fun..And this won't be you last plane..

Hey Jeff I'll give ya 12 bucks for it. That's a 20% profit. Just kidding. That is a great deal. Looks like it is in great shape too. The seller lost money on this deal. He should have put a reserve on it.

Jeff this is a pretty good site for tuning a plane.

Plane tuning

Colin

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Very nice...what them others said.

Remember you don't want to get everything super-shiny, per se; just get the sole flat (and keep it square to the sides if you want to shoot with it!!!) and remember it's an old plane with the patina of ages on it.

[QUOTE=Mattia Valente] Very nice...what them others said.

Remember you don't want to get everything super-shiny, per se; just get the sole flat (and keep it square to the sides if you want to shoot with it!!!) and remember it's an old plane with the patina of ages on it.[/QUOTE]

Wise words.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Also, check out --Woodworking at Rex Mill-- lots of help there.MT

10 bucks ?? Wow,what a deal! Congrats on that Jeff!
A lot of good advice here! Have fun slicing those thin curls!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

$10 bucks for a great old N06 and $100.00 worth of free advise on how to set it up. Yep that's a great day you had yourself there Jeff

Cheers

Kim

One of the things that I've never figured out was how do I flatten the frog? 80% of the frog surface that contacts the blade can be flattened just fine but the place where the adjustment levers prevents the frog from laying flat on my sharpening surface. I might be able to get the cutter depth lever out by pushing out the pin that hold it in. The lever that adjusts the scew seems to be riveted to the frog and won't come out. How do you all deal with this?

When I flatten the surfaces that connect the frog to the sole, how do I do that? In the past I've flattend the frog by using a stone and then sticking adhesive sand paper to that and rubbed the frog againts it's mating surface on the sole. Is there a better way?

[QUOTE=ToddStock] On restoration versus obliteration:

There are several folks dealing tools on the web that will take an old plane such as Jeff was so lucky to find and completely strip it of japanning (the black paint-like coating on the non-working surfaces of the plane), mill the bottom and sides, then strip and refinish the totes. The end result is a tool that looks like it just was delivered from New Britain.


Jeff Hallam's WC Article on Rejapanning a Plane[/QUOTE]

Do you know the name of any of the businesses doing this? I would be curious to check them out.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com