Flattening the sole on a $9.95 Plane

[Glenn Samuels]

After reading a current thread about HF, I found myself in Richmond and decided to splurge on one of their planes. I plan on using it for cleaning up dried glue on panels. What is the best way to flatten the sole? I have Stu's Sigma stones but don't know if I will do damage to them or if the 1000 grit would even be effective. I have read suggestions about using sandpaper glued to granite. I have a couple of questions about this method:

1. What type and grit are suggested?
2. My fiance will probably not be too keen on me gluing sandpaper to the kitchen granite countertop. Can I glue it to something else and what type of glue is used? Should I use aerosol contact cement?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions,

[Chris Griggs]

DO NOT flatten a sole on your waterstones.

DO use sandpaper glued down to a flat surface.

Get a smooth granite 12x12 floor tile from Home Depot or Lowes (~$10) and glue the paper down to that.

Use aerosol adhesive to glue the paper to the floor tile.

[Glenn Samuels]

Thank you Chris. What grit do you use and do I need wet/dry paper?

[Gary Hodgin]

Glenn,
The floor tile is good but I've also used mdf and melamine. The advantage of these is that they're cheap and you can cut to whatever size you want. My starting grit depends on the condition. I've started with as low as 220 grit wet/dry and as high as 400 grit. So start as low as 60 or 80 grit adhesive back sandpaper or get an appropriately sized belt for a belt sander, cut it and glue it down with some of that spray adhesive. A couple of times I wish I'd started with something like 60 or 80.

I precede from 220 to 400 to 600 or 800 and stop at 1000. You can go further but 1000 does nicely. You definitely want to get it flat on the lowest grit. From there it's just polishing out scratches. Don't be stingy with the paper or you'll be there a while. You can tell from the sound when it stops cutting. I've used water and wd 40 as lubrication. Either works fine. In fact, some people don't use lube at all.

[Chris Griggs]

Thank you Chris. What grit do you use and do I need wet/dry paper?

80 or 100 grit as a starting point. I don't remember how high I went up in grit last time I lapped a sole, but I know I didn't bother going any higher than 220. I wouldn't waste money on wet/dry for this. Just get a good quality AlOx paper. Use it dry and periodically use a magnet to clean off the metal. Be prepared to change the paper when it starts to cut too slow (for this reason use a low strength adhesive). If you don't you will waste time fighting with worn paper, and since the paper wears more heavily in the center you will be less likely to get a flat sole. Use only moderate pressure and vary your lapping motion. If you use too much force and and only go front to back there is a tendency to put more pressure on the heal and toe and you may end up with an iron banana.

[Casey Gooding]

I would suggest sharpening it and giving it a try before you flatten the sole. If you are using it for glue cleanup and such, a completely flat sole isn't really necessary.

[Chris Griggs]

I would suggest sharpening it and giving it a try before you flatten the sole. If you are using it for glue cleanup and such, a completely flat sole isn't really necessary.

Diddo that!

[Jim Koepke]

I would suggest sharpening it and giving it a try before you flatten the sole. If you are using it for glue cleanup and such, a completely flat sole isn't really necessary.

+1 on Cnris's ditto.

My question was going to be, what makes you think the sole needs flattening?

Second would be, does it need to be flat for knocking off the glue?

When it comes to flattening plane soles, it has to have a real problem that can be traced to an out of flat sole before my sole flattening set up is put to work.

jtk

[Gary Hodgin]

I agree on not messing with the sole until you see how it works for what you intend it to do.

[Glenn Samuels]

I purchased it on a business trip and won't be home for a few days. I will definitely take all of your advice as flattening doesn't sound a fun way to spend an evening (unless I absolutely have to). I just was not expecting too much from a $9.95 plane.

[Jacob Nothstine]

A think piece of glass works great, just don't drop it like I did.
Most Auto parts stores carry good cheap self adhesive sand paper strips.
I like to take a pencil and draw a squiggly line on the bottom of the plan so I can check on progress of flatting it.
+1 magnet to clean off the metal on sand paper.

[Kevin Guarnotta]

I wouldn't glue the sandpaper down, it will be a pin in the butt to remove it afterwards. Try using wet/dry sandpaper. Spray the surface of the granite or thick glass with a water spray bottle. Put paper down, spray sandpaper again, it will stick and not move.

[Sam Stephens]

i'll further support the not to bother flattening the sole. i think much time is wasted here in general. a sharp blade will get you 90% there!

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I wouldn't glue the sandpaper down, it will be a pin in the butt to remove it afterwards. Try using wet/dry sandpaper. Spray the surface of the granite or thick glass with a water spray bottle. Put paper down, spray sandpaper again, it will stick and not move.

Sometimes this method results in a lot of curling of the paper which can be a pain - the curling is most pronounced if the one side of the paper backing is wetter than the other . What I always did when using wet-dry paper to wet-sand finishes was to soak the paper in water for a while before use. While I wasn't doing it primarily to fight curling, this also seems to cut down on the curling of the paper once it's saturated.

If you want something coarser than what's easily available in wet-dry and do use the spray adhesive to hold down paper to a tile or whatever, a bit of heat from a hairdryer or heat gun can help peel the paper off easier, then any remaining residue can be quickly cleaned up with some suitable solvent.

[James Scheffler]

After reading a current thread about HF, I found myself in Richmond and decided to splurge on one of their planes. I plan on using it for cleaning up dried glue on panels. What is the best way to flatten the sole? I have Stu's Sigma stones but don't know if I will do damage to them or if the 1000 grit would even be effective. I have read suggestions about using sandpaper glued to granite. I have a couple of questions about this method:

1. What type and grit are suggested?
2. My fiance will probably not be too keen on me gluing sandpaper to the kitchen granite countertop. Can I glue it to something else and what type of glue is used? Should I use aerosol contact cement?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions,

I start and finish with 100 grit wet/dry sandpaper, lubricated with a little water. There isn't a reason to go higher, because by the time you're done, the abrasive will have broken down to the point that it will be far finer than 100 grit. The sole will end up pretty shiny.

If the sole is out of flat significantly, you're likely to need more than one sheet of sandpaper.

I use 3/8" plate glass, which is available from just about any glass shop. A 12x12-inch piece will likely cost less than $10. I use spray adhesive (3M or Elmers, but there are probably other choices that are ok), not contact cement. When you need to change the sandpaper, it comes up easily with a little acetone and a razor blade scraper in less than two minutes. The adhesive is necessary if you go with 100 or 150 grit, because the sandpaper will just slide around.

Check the sole often with a good straightedge to make sure you're not making it worse. It's really easy to make it worse. If the sole is convex along its length (i.e. high in the middle), you might want to start with cutting down the high spot by going crosswise with a file. The file is faster and makes it easier to hit just the high point(s) and not surrounding areas that you don't want to knock down.