Woodworkersjournal.com

He's in Fine Fettle
by Ian Kirby

Issue 142 August 2000

Whether you buy old or new, it's almost certain that you will have some work on every plane – clean it up, modify it, tweak it or adjust it. The old term for these activities is "fettling", and it’s the source of the expression "he's in fine fettle," for someone at the top of his game. The good news is that it's a rare old plane that can’t be renovated to perform well. The bad news is that new planes need fettling as much as old ones.

General Cleanup
Disassemble, wash, remove the rust (I use Scotchbrite™), then go over edges and ends with a file to remove burrs, nicks and sharp corners. A burr on the edge of the sole will plow a groove in the work, so file a tiny chamfer on the long edges. To keep the toe and heel from gouging the work when cleaning up frames and subassemblies, file a more substantial chamfer there, one about 1/8-inch wide. Wipe all the metal with an oily rag, and put a drop of oil on the moving parts.

Blade Control
To operate the plane you need two controls: a blade-advancing mechanism for depth of cut and
a left-right tilt for making the cutting edge parallel to the sole. The mechanisms in older planes offer more positive control than the folded metal parts in new ones. Old or new, make sure the controls work, and if they don't, find what’s missing, bent, or clogged and put it right.

Frog and Mouth Adjustments
The frog is the mass of metal that supports the blade. The slot in the sole is called the mouth. There has to be enough of an opening for the shaving to pass through. Whether it ever needs any more adjusting ("opening"or "stopping down") than that is debatable. The fact that the frog in metal planes is an adjustable part is the outcome of manufacturing convenience, not a woodworking requirement. Making the frog removable solves a casting problem – otherwise, the body casting would distort as it cooled and shrank. It's also easier to machine the frog as a separate part. It's not, however, a necessity – Norris planes, among the best ever made, have fixed frogs.

These days, since we all prepare wood with machines, hogging off thick shavings isn't called for, so there’s little need to adjust the mouth. Make sure the frog supports the blade, set the mouth for an opening of about 1/32 inch, and leave it there. The quality of the planed surface comes much more from the sharpness of the blade than from the width of the mouth opening.

Flattening the Sole
The sole of the plane has to be reasonably flat. However, flattening is a major operation, so don't do it just because you’ve been told you should. Clean up, sharpen and adjust the plane, then try it on wood. Most planes will work quite well, and if so, leave the sole alone.

File a substantial chamfer on the toe and heel of the plane.

Old-Style blade controls are more robust than the stamped metal ones in recent planes.

The bedrock style frog firmly and ingeniously connects the blade assembly to the body. A regular frog is not as massive and does not seat as firmly.

Adjust the frog to support the blade securely. The mouth opening should be set to 1/32".

If you decide you must flatten, there's no need to make an expensive fetish of it. Get a piece of 1/4-inch or thicker plate glass and wet two sheets of 220-grit wet-dry sandpaper onto it. Apply working tension by assembling the plane and mounting a blade, but retract the blade so it's not involved in the flattening. Then work the plane on the sandpaper in a circular motion, using plenty of water for lubrication. To check your progress, wipe the metal and look at it. Once you get contact at the mouth, toe, and heel of the sole, stop and polish up on a finer grade of paper. There's no need to achieve perfect flatness from one end to the other.

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