Musings

Restoring Infill #1 – Ascertaining Utility (Flattening the Sole)

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In heading down the road of restoring the three infill planes I got at the MJD auction last in 2015, in fact whenever I restore almost any tool, my first step is to determine whether or not the tool can be made to work excellently, rather than just looking purdy.  If the former can be ascertained positively I will likely embark on the latter.  If not, not.

The first thing I did was take inventory of the components by disassembling the plane completely (third from left) and making sure all the parts worked ell, or, could be made to work well without a boatload of headaches.  They did, so it ws time to get this thing tuned and singing.

In this case I was ready to bring a heavy hand to the task since I spent less than a pair of sawbucks for the tool.  I first disassembled the tool to make sure all the parts were there, and they worked as the should.  They were and they did.

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The first stop was the grinding plate, my 50-cent slab of granite counter-top splash board outfitted with a 60-grit sanding belt, to flatten the sole.  Which worked out just fine.  All I wanted was uniformity of the abrasion pattern which was accomplished easily (this picture was from a later stage of the project).

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