"Chris Friesen" wrote in message
...
wrote:

If the scratches are behind the blade it may indicate that something
chipped the blade and that blade fragment then scored the plane.

The scratches run the length of the sole, and line up with the nicks in
the blade.

It has been a long long time since I used a manual plane but isn't a
jack plane designed for very rough removal of wood ?

Are you maybe thinking of a scrub plane?

As for the abilities of the jack, I guess it depends on the plane and how
it's tuned. This is what I have:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,41182,52515

With the mouth closed down tight it is capable of some very nice shavings.


Traditionally, the jack followed the scrub and preceded the smooth. It was
for "good enough" surfaces which would not be seen. It's not common to make
Jack blades convex any more, so we call a plane of a certain length a jack.

You have steel in your blade, iron on the sole. Any piece of wire edge left
behind is potentially a scratch, as someone reminded you, as is any foreign
substance in the wood, including that bane of the hard maple industry,
"mineral stain." Calcium oxalate, the stuff of kidney stones precipitates
in slow flow areas like beneath branches, in injuries, &cetera. It can make
some marks.

However, a betting man would go with something you picked up on the bench -
from putting the plane on it - like some sandpaper grit, or the odd bit of
metal. Unless you're going to wipe the plane before use all the time, get
used to some wear marks.