Another Hand Plane Lapping Question

[Livens]

Hi,

I've been using my Stanley 12-247 "el-cheapo" block plane for a while now. I got it at Lowes pretty cheap and decided it would be a good beginners plane, and it has been.

But my cuts aren't as smooth as I'd like. I was seeing small scratch-like grooves where the cuts where made, presumably from the rough factory lap marks on the back of the blade. So I decided it was time to tune this baby up by lapping and honing the blade and sole. I have everything I need to do it, I've been using scary sharp for my chisles, but I am a little stumped about one thing...

The "Durable epoxy coating for long-lasting protection" that my block plane sports is covering the sole too, and its not exactly "flat" flat. Smooth yes, but it has pretty large gouges from the factory in it.

My question is what is the easiest way to remove this epoxy finish? It seems to like to gum up my sandpaper pretty bad, but maybe thats the best way. Thought I would ask to make sure.

Thanks.

[rhull]

Personally, I'd probably clamp my belt sander upside-down to my bench with a higher grit belt and give it a quick run over that. That should remove the epoxy and the metal pretty quickly and flatten the bottom all at once.

[Sawduster]

Frankly, I'm surprised that you didn't just chit can the thing and walk away mumbling obscenitites about those crazy neanderthal woodworkers. While a well tuned, sharp handplane is a joy to use, they come from the factory (with exception of those high quality high dollar ones) no where near useable shape. Even the old ones needed a bit of work before they were really ready to be put to the wood.

Dull blades on planes and chisels right out of the box have driven more than a few aspiring neanderthals back to electron burning, which is a sad thing because even in a tailed tool shop, there is need for some basic hand tools, including planes, chisels and, yes, even hand saws.

Anyway, I'm glad you got past that point and have decided to work at making that little block plane work for you. Like Rob said, go after that puppy with a belt sander to get it cleaned up and then work the scratches from the belt sander out with finer and finer grits of sandpaper.

[tpuzio]

why isn't sand paper called scratch paper? I mean that's what you do with it.

[Sawduster]

Yep, first you make big scratches in a perfectly fine surface, then you take those scratches out by making smaller scratches, then remove those with smaller scratches, . . . till you've removed about $20 worth of wood or metal or whatever and get back to the original surface which was fine to begin with. Well, maybe not.