On Fri, 06 Aug 2004 17:58:38 GMT, "Greg Ostrom"
wrote:

Where does one go(locally) to find someone who will teach me how to use hand
planes.
Any suggestions?

I'm pretty much in the same boat you are. The shop I'm at now doesn't
rely very heavily at all on handplanes, so I've sort of had to teach
myself. I've found that simply making shavings has been the best
education, although I've never taken a course so I guess I can't
really compare. What I tried to do was give myself the best chance of
success right from the get go.

Here's what I did... Rather than trying to restore an old plane to
workable condition, I purchased a very good plane and fettled it such
that I knew it would work (based upon what I'd read). I bought the
Lee Valley low angle block plane. The first thing I did was to try
and make a few shavings straight out of the box. It did make
shavings, but I primarily did it for the sake of comparison. Then I
went to work...

First I disassembled the entire plane and cleaned it thoroughly of
rust protection gunk. Then I put it back together and made a couple
more shavings. No real change. Took it all back apart and started
the fettling process. I used ScarySharp (the use of abrasive paper in
lieu of sharpenijng stones) and lapped the sold of the plane flat up
to 600 grit (I think - I've since gone to 1200). Then I put a slight
chamfer on the leading edge of the mouth and the back edge of the sole
to avoid catching. Then I moved on to the blade. Lapped the back up
to 1500 grit (it took FOREVER - consider an alternative method right
out of the gate). Then I flipped it and put it in the Lee Valley
sharpening jig and put the primary bevel on it at 600 grit and then
put a microbevel on at 1500. Reassembled yet again taking great pains
to get the cutting edge square to the mouth.

Now I was ready to plane - or so I thought. I've since learned that
waxing the sole can really, really help, but I skipped that step
initially. With a piece of poplar in the vise (oh yeah - you will
need a vise) I went to work. First pass was waaaaay to heavy.
Lightened up the cut and took another pass - nothing came off. Now I
picked up on just how sensitive the depth of cut mechanism is. The
way to do it is to start with the blade just a RCH below the surface
of the sole, and then just move it up a smidgen at a time until you
are cutting beautiful little curly cues. Take care to watch how the
plane reacts to the wood - and vise versa. Tear out? Try plaing the
other way. Maybe try closing the mouth. Just play around. Oh - and
the shavings (aka excelsior?) make an outstanding firestarter.
Remember "The Bad Seed"....

Half the battle for me was in the fettling. Once that's been
accomplished you are well on your way.

JP
*******************
98% normite and dropping.