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I've done all that on Stanley and Record planes back in the day .... that is why I use Veritas and Lie Nielsen nowadays ... with Lie Nielsen bronze planes in particular there is no need whatsoever for pissing around trying to improve them ... any perceived improvement is an illusion... they function perfectly. All you need to do is sharpen the iron, set the mouth, and you are good to go.

Your mileage may vary.

-j

I hope you don't mind me butting in here, but even Heirloom planes are manufactured to a specification and a cost, Lie Nielsen's are, I believe , to USA XX-X specs and soles should be flat to within 1 1/2 thou, and all 3 I have you couldn't get a 1.2 thou feeler gauge anywhere near under the edge of any of them on a granite surface plate, (or a blue cigarette paper!)
But, the 62 and the LN block soles were both slightly concave and the adjustable mouth plates were low one side, high the other (fractionally). Took me a while to find out, and I fettled about 5 Stanleys and a Faithfull no.4 before attempting to touch the 62.
It wasn't that much (< 1 thou, maybe aound 03.-0.5) but a sharpie revealed toe, mouth, and back end of the sole were not coplanar, and the sole behind the mouth was slightly concave. And the block's adjustable mouth plate in particular was not flush at one side. LA block was much the same. I honestly reached for my Faithfull instead of the LN block plane
Before I flattened the sole, I could get 1 thou or so shavings in pine, maybe 1.25 thou in hardwood, now that's down to 0.5 thou.
It was a pleasure to use from day one, but now it's a joy, same for the block.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I broke down and bought a Woodriver #4 1/2 today from Woodcraft. I took my kid down to check out some of the cool woodworking tools. They had an assortment of planes out for customers to try. The sales guy helped me adjust it right there at the store. I haven't checked the sole yet, but omg it's it sweet, right out of the box. It's now the nicest plane I own, next to an old Record #4. Back to the workbench...

Cablepuller, where in the UK are you? I have a drum sander.

Hey whiskywill in devon mate... might have organised something but thanks for offer

Not far if you can swim, but a long way around.

Just a quick update. .. the wood is now thinned woop...
Took it to a mates workshop whos a french polisher.. he had a thickness planer but still no joy.. it would only take off an extra 1mm or so and it really didnt like the rosewood. .
So we used an electric planer to remove some major material. . The wood looked realy rough then with real big cut channels. . But he was still confident and we then turned to his belt sander and it worked a treat..
The wood is super flat and has no heavy scratches that i was worrying about

Its a real case of just getting stuck in and finding what works for you

Thanks for all the advice

Get a thickness sander.....

Love to but way to much money hesh

I'm surprised you don't get wood chips... those power planers are not precision instruments!

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

No chips tai ..he worked with the grain .4mm each pass... like i said looked rough after but belt sander sorted out lines..

A really good plane or thicknesser would be preferable but costs dictate otherwise .. for now !!!

I'm not sure, but the problem I see is perhaps the machine isn't set up right or held in the right places. They often take aggressive bites and doesn't produce good finish so you're at a risk of either splintering your wood or making it too thin. I have seen people use them for roughing out wood carvings which is why I never used them myself. Even hand planes can be dangerous when improperly set up due to tear outs. They also have very limited bed length meaning if you didn't hold it right, you could gouge the wood too. I would only use it in straight grained wood and not anything with even a slight amount of figure.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

We all have a level of confidence when we have nothing at risk -- it was your wood. "Truly you got lucky" a hand power planer or even a stationary power planer is simply not the tool designed for this work. If you care to search you'll find many sad tales from those trying to use hand and power planers on veneer -- Cable you are done, so this post is for others.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I agree ken got lucky .. i thought a good hand plane was the advice i was getting on here..
Idunno did say money was a big factor

No luck yet at the car boot?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

No nothing last week colin... going again tomorrow though

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I just got a lunch box planner, and had good success getting a bunch of ebony plates down to 1/8" which seems to be the lowest the beast wanted to go. Much much faster than the drum sander. Any lower and I suspect the wood would be too floppy to work in there.

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Pat

Well, ok, if your blade is very sharp it may work. However as you got the thickness below 3/8" the piece must be fully supported with a backer board (and how to get that off after finishing with planing I have no idea). If the piece were to flex even in a small way, disaster will strike!

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Thanks for the wise words of warning Tai fu. Of course sharp blades are a must for any kind of cutting.

This was my first experience with a power planner and I was sort of pushing the envelope. I did not use a backer board and I was able to get down to about .130" without any problems. Although that ebony was quite stiff. That might of had something to do with it.

All in all I think it was a very good investment for $75 (10" Ryobi) and we'll have it's place in my process.

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Pat

Fyi I did a Gabon ebony B&S starting at .190" and a bunch of Macassar Ebony backs that were very rough off of some Indonesian's bandsaw. Even at .130 there was still some hit and miss, but I've used a couple sets of it before and it's so hard and dense my final thickness was about .075 so it was fine.

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Pat

I think a properly sharpened Wagner Safe T Planer or similar should do a better job without ruining the wood. You can then follow it up with a thickness sander.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I've taken Mesquite down to 3/32 " with my thickness planer using a sled.
Trying to run wood with figure, knots, or wavy grain usually results in disaster.
I've had good results thinning small figured stuff using my oscillating spindle sander with a fence, but it takes forever.
For the electrics I build, my next tool purchase will be a jointer.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Using double stick tape for thin stock on a carrier board helps, as does putting it through at a bit of an angle so that a corner contacts the planer blades first, instead of the entire leading edge.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker