First, you need to determine how flat it is. Comparing to your tablesaw top
won't do it. Do you know how flat it is?
"djs" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for some advise on how close to flat a 14 inch jack plane
should be. I picked up a plane yesterday and today I was checking it
out. The first thing I checked was the flatness of the sole relative
to the top of my table saw. There was a slight rock from corner to
corner. I measured this to be about 0.008 of an inch using a feeler
gage. The other thing I noticed is that the middle of the plane had
about a 0.007 inch gap using the feeler gage technique.

Is this plane sole good enough to be used as a scrub plane? It would
seem like it to me, but I am just guessing.

Is it flat enough to be used in less aggressive jack plane
applications? If not, then how flat and how straight should a 14 inch
jack plane's sole be?

I don't have experience using planes or tuning them, but I am willing
to try it.

My options a
1) Use the plane as is.
2) Return it and try to get one that has a flatter sole.
3) Try to flatten the sole.

So what do the experienced woodworkers think? I would appreciate what
ever advice you may have.

Thanks In Advance,

DJS