Official Luthiers Forum!

I am knackered. Read
Aching from the knees up and a blister coming up on my right hand.
Just spent most of the day flattening the sole of a "well loved" USA Stanley 4 1/2 bought from a retired carpenter for $8 (eBay)
Looked like a topographical model of the Highlands!
Worst was probably the toe, and front of the mouth, which both must have seen a lot of shaving miles hissing past.
I think I needed 8/9 sheets of P40 abrasive initially to flatten it, and worked up to P180 before I ran out of puff. (Also did an easy block plane, for a little break now and again to let the 4 1/2 cool off)
, and I'm for an early bath and bed.
Looking forward to sorting the blade out and taking a few "gossamer" passes tomorrow.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Did it make you feel like this? NSFW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cubV4nELOyk

If it's that bad I don't bother trying to get the thing flat. It's much easier/quicker using the Japanese method of 3 points of contact. I use a sanding block rather than running the sole over abrasive paper. The one to really avoid is the hollow immediately ahead of the blade. That's the one that seems to adversely effect performance a lot.

Colin, this is where I took a break on my #4 yesterday. Notice the toe. Still, I love the mojo, and another hour of hell won't be too bad.

Gotta love the taste of vintage iron
Always great to see an auld soul being fettled
Nearly there
you gonna make this a scrub or smoother ?

I've taken the lumps off more than one plane sole with an angle grinder.

You only need flat, not micro flat, or mirror smooth (remember corrugated planes?) but flat in the places that count, especially around the mouth. If you end up leaving a few angle grinder marks in the broad-acre regions it's not going to adversely affect performance and will ward off the hernia and the carpel tunnel for a few more months...


Grinder marks can be seen on this #7 near the toe. The deeper longitudinal scratches are from mineral inclusions in some EIR, hence not much point in polishing to a mirror finish. The sharper eyed will see that it's currently set up for planing cross grain, two sides together in this particular instance. Sharpen it and take some of the crescent off the blade and it will take ultra-fine shavings off spruce, no problem.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I made friends with a guy who runs a machine shop. Bought him lunch and he flattened the sole on my Stanley 605.

But it was worth it.
Got rid of that hollow in front of the mouth, and the "Persian slipper" toe.
Looks like the previous owner may have been left handed as it was worst worn at front left and back right of the sole.
Not worried about a mirror finish. it'll just get marked the first time I use it.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Looks great! Well worth the work. I have a few recently acquired old planes I need to get to work on. Like many things the hard part of an arduous task like this is getting started. . .

Your comment about left handed gave me pause though. I regularly switch hands while planing depending on how the workpiece is clamped and the direction I am going relative to where I am standing. I do this particularly often when I am reducing thickness and working across the grain and at angles to the grain. Is this not common? I usually consider myself to be very right handed. Switching came so naturally for planing that I assumed everyone did.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Possibly, but these castings twist as well as bow. The soles always seem to go concave, though. I've never seen a convex one. I've flattened that #7 three times now (its a very heavy Clifton casting) which carries on moving, which is why I've taken to using an angle grinder.

Looks good, but nothing like the shape of my 4 1/2!?

4 1/2 top, 5 below.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au