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Tuning a Stanley Block Plane


1. An Old Stanley Block Plane. Available in droves through ebay and local flea-markets, these old workhorses are far superior to their contemporary counterparts. This particular speciman is a #9 1/2 standard angle block plane. I'm no block plane historian but I would guess that this tool was made some- time during the 1920's or 1930's.	2. Breaking it Down. The first thing I'll do is clean the tool. All of these little moving parts won't work right unless they're clean and lubricated.


3. Soaking the Parts. I've put the knobs, lateral adjuster and ad- justable sole into a bath of naptha and sewing machine oil to soak for a while.	4. Preparing the Iron (aka: blade). This blade appears to be the original. It's marked with the stanley "sw", or "sweetheart" logo. These blades are better than the ones that came with stanley block planes in later years. It's still inferior when compared to the contemporary replacement blades made by such manufacturers as lie-nielsen toolworks and hock.


5. Lapping the Iron. Since I'll be tuning the frog to match the blade I first need to get the blade in shape. Lapping is just a fancy term for "flattening". I'm lapping this iron on a dead flat granite slab with some 180 wet-dry sandpaper. A little sewing machine oil on the paper can help keep the paper from loading up with rust and steel particles.	6. Cleaning the Depth Adjustment Mechanisms. The order in which a plane is tuned is important because one adjustment to the plane will effect the other adjustments. A dull exacto blade is helpful for cleaning oxidation from the threads of the threaded rod. I'll follow this up with a good scrubbing of the depth adjust- ment mechanisms with naptha and an old toothbrush.


7. Fitting the Depth Adjustment Tines to the blade is important. If these little tines don't recess into blade correctly, the iron won't make proper contact with the rear frog increasing chatter during use. By flipping this part of the mechanism upward I can get into the tight space between the tines with a swiss needle file without damaging the rear frog.	8. A Funky Forward Frog. "Frog" is tool jargon for the parts of the plane's body on which the iron rests. The more contact the iron has with the frog, the less chatter is experienced during use. Eliminating chatter in a plane is a major enhance- ment to the tool's performance. The forward frog (pictured) is no longer (or never was?) properly aligned with the rear frog.


9. Marking the Frog for Filing. I've put a piece of 180 grit sandpaper between the frog and the iron which I'm holding in place with my left hand. The grit is facing the frog. I'm pulling the sandpaper out slightly down from the frog (toward the iron).	10. Filing the Frog. This small mill file agressively removes the unwanted material from the frog. I know where to file away the frog because the sandpaper left the frog shinny where it made contact with the frog.


11. Marking the Frog with a Black Marker. I'll go back and sand the frog with the iron in place a few more times. The marker will then serve as a visual cue as to where more of the frog must be filed away. I'll repeat steps 9, 10 and 11 until the frog is almost completely resurfaced.	12. Final Shaping of the Frog. I'm doing the same thing as I did in step 9. This time though I'm taking my time and making sure that I'm accurately imitating the cap- iron's downward pressure on the blade with my fingers.


13. Truing the Rear Frog. Since I tuned the forward frog to match the rear one I only have to make a few quick strokes with the sandpaper to true things up.	14. Tuned Frogs will optimize this tool's performance by drastically reducing chatter.


15. Flattening the Adjustable Sole. A small mill file ensures that the pocket is true to itself.	16. Fitting the Adjustable Sole to the Pocket. I've run a pice of 180 grit sandpaper through mouth and over the toe of the plane. The small cuts in the paper will allow for the adjustable sole boss to fit into it's place in the pocket.


17. Final Truing of the Adjust- able Sole and Pocket. Working the adjustable sole back and forth over the sandpaper will give me a nice fit. Sometimes I find it necessary to repeat the black marker and mill file technique to speed things up.	18. The Tuned Adjustable Sole Pocket. Once again, good contact will reduce chatter and ensure a flat sole.


19. Final Cleaning and Oiling of the depth adjustment mechanism. I'll need the plane assembled and fully- adjustable for the process of lapping the sole. These old planes also look a lot sharper after they've been cleaned and polished.	20. Lapping the Sole begins with marking the sole for grinding. A few quick passes over some 180 grit sandpaper on the granite slab will reveal any distortion in the sole.


21. The Plane's Sole Revealed. This amount of wear and distortion in the body of the plane means that lots of material will have to be removed in order to true the sole. If a plane is bad enough I'll do the rough flattening of the sole on a belt sander. You have to be very careful if you do this because you don't want to heat the plane up hot enough to screw up the tool's temper.	22. Marking for Final Lapping. I've marked the sole with a sharpie at the toe, heel and around the mouth. These are the parts of the sole that must make contact with the work- piece to ensure thath the plane cuts true. If I were in a hurry I could stop lapping the tool once these marks were sanded away. But I'm not in a hurry and this plane is going to be involved in some pretty fine woodworking.


23. Final Lapping of the Sole. The dead flat slab of granite got the sole of this old stanley #9 1/2 good and flat. I held and pushed the plane as though I were using it to plane a piece of wood. Also, I lapped the plane in different directions accross the granite. This allowed me to both get the most out of each sheet of sandpaper and avoid transfering any potential imperfections from the granite to the sole of the plane. I like to lubricate the sandpaper with a little sewing machine oil.	24. More Cleaning and Polishing. I'll scrub down the plane with some denatured alcohol and polish all of the parts that remain crudy looking.


25. Polishing the Back of the Iron begins on a 1,200 grit Japanese water stone.	26. Beveling the Iron to 30 degrees is quick and painless with a slow speed, water stone grinder.


27. Final Polishing of the Back of the Blade. Polishing the back of the blade and removing the burr left from establishing the bevel both happen at the same time on a 6,000 grit Japanese water stone.	28. Creating a Micro-Bevel on the slow speed grinder's leather wheel gets the blade razor sharp.


29. A Sharp Plane Blade. A quick test reveals that I can shave the hair from my arm with the plane iron. This is sharp enough to contend with the exotic hardwoods I expect this plane to work.	30. Sealing the Plane with Wax. I like to use "Butcher's" brand wax to prevent my tools from oxidizing. Even a climate controled wood-shop has enough moisture in the air to eventually rust up a tool made from steel and iron. Persper- ation and oils from a woodworker's hands will also accelorate the oxi- dation of a metal tool. I wipe on a modest coating of wax to all unplated and unpainted steel and iron surfaces, let it start to dry, then remove the excess and polish until the tool has a nice shine.


31. Testing the Plane. This tuned block plane cuts oak easily and the blade adjustment mechanisms function smoothly.	32. A Tuned Block Plane is capable of taking paper-thin shavings. This "chip" is .002" thick.


33. After a Tune Up this old tool is ready for many more decades of smooth functioning woodworking.	34. A Tuned Stanley #9 1/2.