Be sure to rinse and pat dry after use. But it is precisely new users who can benefit the most from a cambered blade. Silverline 10inch Smoothing Plane. Lubricating the plane's sole makes a surprising difference in the ease with which the plane glides over your workpiece. The later models will have the number stamped into the side plae the plane.

If your bevel is not at the right angle, the edge is not square to the sides, or the cutting edge is nicked you'll need to regrind it. This can be done on a grinder—an 8 inch slow-speed grinder is best for this work, a water-cooled, large wheel grinder even better—but good results can be achieved by working the blade on PSA sandpaper attached to a dead flat surface.

I start with 80 grit paper and work up to grit. Once the bevel is shaped to the proper angle, it, too, will need to be polished mirror smooth by working your way through the grits of whatever stone or sandpaper method you use. While some woodworkers are able to get good results by hand holding their blades, I highly recommend a honing guide to produce consistent, repeatable results. If your restored plane has a blade that's in very rough condition, you may find it easier to purchase an aftermarket replacement blade.

Not only will you start with a blade that's in premium condition, but it will be made of a more durable modern steel than was available when the older planes were originally made. This will need to be done on all blades, as even premium blades do not come with a micro bevel.

Once again, start with your coarsest stone and stroke until you've established a thin line evenly across the tip of the blade. Then proceed to the next higher grit. Finish by giving it a mirror polish with your highest stone. Do a careful job here; it's the micro bevel that meets the wood and produces those fine shavings.

Finally, to get the sharpest edge, use David Charlesworth's ruler trick to put a very slight back bevel on the blade.

Place a thin ruler lengthwise on the rear edge of your stone. Then, lay the blade on the stone bevel side up with the cutting edge off the far edge of the stone. While making back-and-forth sideways motions, carefully pull the blade onto the stone, then push it off again, repeating the process up to 10 times. Do this using each of your stones, working to your highest grit. The result—a high polish on the extreme tip of the blade back that gives the sharpest edge. Once done, this step need not be repeated, though you may wish to refresh the back bevel with your finest stone each time you re-hone your microbevel.

Now that your blade is sharpened and honed to perfection, you will ordinarily only need to refresh the micro bevel on your finest stone from time to time to keep it in top cutting condition. Upgrading Your Plane Blade. If your blade is in bad shape—either badly nicked or rusted—you might be better off installing a new replacement blade.

Several manufacturers offer replacement blades in a variety of widths to fit older Stanleys, Records and other brands. Some blades are as much as 25 percent thicker than the original blades and use modern steels, including both A2 and 01 steel. Replacement chipbreakers are also available. Thicker blades reduce the likelihood of chatter and offer greater stability, but they may require adjustments to the frog or even the size of the mouth opening to accommodate the greater thickness.

Available blades vary in thickness, so take this into account when purchasing. A thickness of. Replacement chipbreakers in particular may be thicker than the original parts and may not fit older planes.

Check with the manufacturer before ordering. Highland Woodworking carries Stanley replacement blades and chipbreakers. Set the Mouth Opening. While the lion's share of attention goes to getting a keen edge on the blade, several other steps will help you get the best from your plane.

One is adjusting the mouth opening. On a bevel down plane, this is achieved by moving the frog forward or backward until the opening is slightly wider than the thickness of the desired shaving. For smoothing planes, very fine shavings are the goal so you will want to set a very narrow gap.

The opening can be wider for jointers and wider still for jack planes set up to take thick shavings when roughing out a board. Set the frog with the blade in place and slightly projected. On planes based on the Stanley Bedrock model, which includes Lie-Nielsen planes , adjust the opening by loosening the two screws on either side of the depth adjustment wheel. Then advance or retract the frog as necessary by turning the large screw located between the two locking screws.

Once the frog is adjusted, loosely tighten the locking screws, remove the blade and sight down the frog to the mouth to confirm that the frog is perfectly square to the mouth.

Then tighten the locking screws alternately and gradually until tight. Don't over tighten them to avoid stripping the threads. Shop by Category. More View more categories Less View less categories. Brand see all. Type see all. Bench Plane. Block Plane. Jack Plane. Smoothing Plane. Jointer Plane. Spoke Shave. Surform Plane. Shoulder Plane. Material see all. Number of Pieces see all. Blade Material see all.

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