Got a New Plane Today

[Chuck Hart]

Well it is not new but you know what I mean. These pictures are not the greatest but they will give you an idea. I have a question about the threads. One side seems to move easily and the other seems a little tight. It seems like they are dirty on the one side. Am I going to cause a huge problem if I try cleaning them with a little mineral spirits? One of the washers is cracked but repaired and seems to hold fine under the pressure of planing. Yea it is not a collectors item but a user for me. It has 7 blades and so far they work. I haven't had time to try them all.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Chuck,

The threads don't look like they need to be cleaned, from what I can tell from the pictures, but that doesn't say anything about the threads on the inside of the adjusting nuts. If you decide to clean them with a solvent, I would go with paint thinner instead of mineral spirits though.

Paint thinner has a lower boiling range than does mineral spirits, and as such will evaporate more quickly from the threads. Make sure you keep it away from any finish on the plane. Paint thinner is not terribly aggressive toward many finishes, say compared to acetone or MEK, but it can soften and degrade finishes given a little time, so be careful with it.

One thing to watch out for is that the wood will absorb some of the paint thinner, and can/might cause some swelling and softening the wood a bit temporarily, so don't try to test anything until the wood is completely dry, and I wouldn't be in a hurry to try it. It might also cause a bit of surface frizzing of the wood, so watch that. Wait plenty of time for it to dry. A careful smell test is a good way to detect trace amounts of the thinner still being present. I would wait a minimum of 24 hours to make sure it is dead dry. (That's why I recommend paint thinner instead of mineral spirits, it will dry faster and more completely.)

The paint thinner is likely a slightly better solvent than is the minerals spirits also.

One other potential concern has to do with the nature of the wood used for the threads and adjusting nuts. If these woods are highly resinous woods like teak, the wood may have been chosen because the oily resin can help lubricate the threads and nuts when the threads move against each other. A solvent like paint thinner or mineral spirits can strip the oily resin out of the surface of the threads and do more harm than good, in the long run.

Stew

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Very nice score! I say no solvents at all. You have some damaged threads in that closeup image. It looks like not just chipped but the threads are compressed where they narrow the gap in the groove. It might work itself out just screwing on and off a few times. Use a candle to lubricate it by rubbing on the threads.

A solvent could loosen the finish and turn it gummy, making matters worse.

[Chuck Hart]

Thanks Stew, paint thinner didn't occur to me. Getting the threads wet and swollen was my concern. Here is what the seller said about the wood "This plane was made by Barton in Rochester. It's a beech screw-arm plow with apple arms, nuts, and washers." I think the apple screw may be dirty on the inside I will take it apart and look. Everything else moves easily. I needed (wanted) a plow plane and just liked this one.

[Chuck Hart]

Very nice score! I say no solvents at all. You have some damaged threads in that closeup image. It looks like not just chipped but the threads are compressed where they narrow the gap in the groove. It might work itself out just screwing on and off a few times. Use a candle to lubricate it by rubbing on the threads.

A solvent could loosen the finish and turn it gummy, making matters worse.

The wax worked wonders. The more I thought about it the more I liked your idea and sure enough the washer just spins like new. Thanks for the good advice

[Dave Anderson NH]

Check the nuts out carefully Chuck. It is common on old screw arm plow planes for the nuts, and to a lesser extent, the threaded arms to get out of round as the wood dries and ages. Additionally, the nuts can also shrink. Remember that they often didn't dry woods to the level we do today.

[Pat Barry]

Hey Chuck,
Do you have a picture looking at this plane from an end view? I am confused by the location of the fence with respect to the plane body and cutting edge

[Stew Denton]

Hi Chuck,

I am glad the wax that was suggested by Malcolm worked. I didn't say it earlier, but that plane is beautiful, I'm glad you like it, and I can see why you like it! Getting it to work better like you are doing makes it even better.


I don't have a wooden plow plane, but have dug out my old Stanley 45, and hope to clean it up a bit, sharpen the irons and use it for a plow plane.

At any rate, very cool plane.

Stew

[Chuck Hart]

Hey Chuck,
Do you have a picture looking at this plane from an end view? I am confused by the location of the fence with respect to the plane body and cutting edge

Sorry Pat no I don't. The blade rides on the metal fence with a groove to hold the blade straight you can see that in the first picture. The third picture shows the fence sitting lower than the rest of the plane.

Chuck

[Chuck Hart]

Stew,

I have all the parts and pieces of a very old 45 but have never spent the time to put it together. I probably will end up selling it someday soon. This plane just caught my eye and I needed it. ...ah wanted it

[Chuck Hart]

Check the nuts out carefully Chuck. It is common on old screw arm plow planes for the nuts, and to a lesser extent, the threaded arms to get out of round as the wood dries and ages. Additionally, the nuts can also shrink. Remember that they often didn't dry woods to the level we do today.

Thanks Dave. It is a fairly old plane and I did check all the nuts and washers before I got the plane. One washer was cracked and repaired and you can see the chips in the screw arms. Everything screws off and on easily. I am going to let it sit for a week or so to acclimate to my shop then I am going to start using it carefully until I am confident it will work well. I didn't buy it to sit on a shelf if you know what I mean. I am going to have to learn how to get the fence aligned. The only way I know to get it straight is to count threads but I hope to get good with it. Like anything you have to learn its secrets. Thanks again Dave

[Stew Denton]

Chuck,

You might look on Youtube for videos for the Stanley 45. It will do a lot of stuff, not as well as the individual tools, but a lot of stuff. Until I have more of the dedicated tools my plan is to use my 45 for several things.

Stew

[Steve Voigt]

I am going to have to learn how to get the fence aligned. The only way I know to get it straight is to count threads but I hope to get good with it.

Hey Chuck,

I have a screw arm plow. I have never counted threads; I just measure with a combo square from the far side of the skate. Measure at the front and back of the plow and adjust until both measurements are the same. I think this is far more accurate than trying to count threads.

IMO, people make way to much fuss about wanting a plow that always stays parallel. It isn't that hard to adjust a screw arm (or wedge arm) for parallel. I seriously doubt that the added weight and complexity of mechanisms that maintain parallelism are worth it.

Your plow looks really nice. I have not seen that type of depth stop on a screw arm before, only on wedged or Yankee plows. I'm curious to know if there is a steel or brass foot pinned to wooden stem.

Good luck with your plowing!

[Jim Koepke]

I am going to have to learn how to get the fence aligned. The only way I know to get it straight is to count threads but I hope to get good with it. Like anything you have to learn its secrets.

An easy way to set the fence on most planes is to use wooden gauges. It may need to have a notch or hole to clear the blade.

Mine are made for two dimensions, 3/8" and 3/4 inch are on the same piece about 6" long. The 1/2" and 1" are on another piece. There is also a 7/16" X 7/8" gauge.

There are a lot of other dimensioned strips of wood in my shop. They all are handy for such purposes.

These cover most of my needs for setting plane fences and other set ups.

On my last project they came in handy for lining up the Kreg® introductory one hole pocket screw set up.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

Sorry Pat no I don't. The blade rides on the metal fence with a groove to hold the blade straight you can see that in the first picture. The third picture shows the fence sitting lower than the rest of the plane.

Chuck

I found a random image of a plow plane that looks very similar to yours with a quick google search:
plowplane.jpg