I have two vintage wooden planes that I acquired and would like to rehab. One is an old French smoother, see this thread:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...-it&highlight=
The other is an Ohio Tool screw-arm plough.
On the smoother, the cormier wood body has shrunk so that the iron doesn't fit. It was really stuck, and this is the driest time of year (indoors) here in VA.
On the plough, the wedge is so tight it is impossible to seat it properly - at least without applying far too much force.
I'm new to rehabbing wooden planes so I'm looking for advice. I assume I can simply sand the tight wedge on the plough and all will be well, right? But what about the smoother, should I grind a little off the sides of the iron, or try to widen the aperture in the plane body with files (which I have) or floats (which I don't have)?
My goal is to make these into good functional users, but I'd like to minimize the number of dumb mistakes I make along the way. Thanks for any advice from those more experienced.