Plane Rehab

The available time for woodworking I spent on plane rehab.

Now having a wooden plane I'm impatient to see it at work.

ECE Jack Plane

Before I started the rehab work on the ECE jack plane I bought last week I just wanted to confirm the model.

I found the stamp on the plane which is "103S48". That means it is the model 103S which is a jack plane with a double iron (cap iron) and a sole out of white Beech. The 48 stands for the blade width which is 48mm (1 7/8").

ECE jack plane with type stamp

I had a quick inquiry at ECE and they wrote me that the planes are clear coated when they leave the company. That in mind I guess it doesn't make sense to oil the body. I will reduce the work at the plane body to a minimum. Just sanding the sole and removing some paint marks.

First thing first. I have started to sand the blade. Once again I started with 120 grit. Seemed to be coarse enough. After a few minutes of sanding most of the rust was gone and the original stamp appeared. Now I'm sure that it is an original blade.

ECE stamp

The interesting point is that the back side of the iron was already dead flat. Good news I think.

I could remove most of the rust with sanding. Nevertheless some areas have got some pitting. I won't go nuts about it, because it is not (yet) in the cutting area.

Straight iron

The iron is not cambered but straight. And I will leave it as it is.

The cap iron was a bit more work to do. It was pretty rusty including the screw.

I have started with 80 and then switched to 120 grit.

Cap iron after sanding a while

Still a way to go, but good enough for a first try.

I've started to ground the bevel. Once again 80 grit sand paper.

Oh, what a surprise. The blade is magnetic. I don't like that. But how to get rid of that?

Iron filing

I remembered something I have learned in school, most probably in physics lessons.  You can remove magnetic from iron if you treat the material with a hammer.

So I treated my blade carefully with some hammer blows and the iron filing fell of.

It did not lost the magnetic completely, but I didn't want to hit the blade harder.

Ground bevel wit a bit of polishing

That done I brought the iron to the sharpening stones and established a 25° bevel. No micro bevel at the front so far.

After this all done I cared a bit about the body.

As mentioned it had got some paint marks at the sole and the sides. I wanted to get rid of this too.

Sole with paint marks

Side with paint marks

I have stuck some 320 grit sandpaper on a granite tile and rubbed the sole over the sandpaper a while.

Then I've switched to 400 grit and repeated the task.

Paint marks removed

So I could get rid of most of the marks and I have got a fine, flat sole now.

All that preparation work done I have reassembled the plane and gave it a first try.

The first setting was horrible and I haven't done shavings but was plowing through that board.

A few hammer taps here and there and I was able to get some shavings.

First shavings

I will be honest. That was not what I was expecting. I'm able to plane a board with the plane, yes.

But the produced shavings are far away from fine. 

That was a frustrating moment and I wanted to send it south. But then I remembered my first steps with a metal plane. That was not better.

So I tried to analyze what went wrong or which issues I maybe have.

• The iron has to go back to the stones. I want to make sure that the sharpening process was completed and not be done in a hurry.
• I think I will establish a 30° micro bevel.
• The cap iron has to be better prepared. The surface should be polished. I recognized clogging while planing. I think the cap iron is the reason for this.
• The second issue is that the cap iron is wandering while the plane is used. Means, I set the cap iron, inserted the blade into the plane, worked with it, removed the blade again and the cap iron was sliding upwards.
  Anybody some ideas regarding this? What am I doing wrong?
• Finally I have to train to set the plane correctly.

Man, a lot of effort. Is it worth to care about it? I'm satisfied with my metal planes and meanwhile I can say I'm able to produce good results with it.

On the other hand I would like to know some traditional skills and these kind of planes are the traditional hand planes in German woodshops.

I think I will spent some more effort into it. From time to time. And maybe I get more familiar with it.

For the time being it will not be my go to tool.

Stay tuned!

Stefan