I don't post here often, so please forgive me if this is covered frequently. I don't use planes often, but when I need one it is because nothing else will get the job done as well. I picked up a couple of CHEAP wooden hand planes at the Grizzly tent sale in Springfield on Saturday, and would like to get an idea of how best to tune them up for use. One was a shoulder plane, returned because the blade was 'ground at the wrong angle'. An ebony (what the box says anyway) plane for $10 I couldn't pass up. I didn't see anything obviously wrong with the angle or machining on the blade, and I figure at the very least I have a good start to a decent, seldom-used tool that I otherwise would not have in my arsenal. The other was a $7 'rosewood' bullnose plane, which hopefully will help soften edges faster than my current sandpaper method. If it turns out to be junk I'll mount a handle on the blade and have a decent beading tool for the lathe
Anyway, what is the best way to get these tuned up for use? For the shoulder plane I assume I need to lightly plane the sides and get them as parallel as possible, then make sure the bottom is flat and square to the sides. Anything else to it? I don't know that the bullnose plane needs much of anything other than a good edge and maybe sand the globby finish out of the channel.