Shoutout to the old school hand plane I found at a yard sale

I was fixing up some oak trim in a house from the 1920s and the modern planer was just tearing up the grain. I remembered this rusty Stanley No. 5 I got for $10 last fall, so I spent an hour sharpening the iron and setting it up. On a whim, I tried a super light pass with the grain, and it came out glass smooth, no tear-out at all. I guess sometimes the simple tool is the right one for the job. Anyone have other tricks for working with really old, cranky wood?

4 comments

4 Comments

karenb971mo ago

Funny you mention that, I've had the exact same issue with old growth oak from a 1920s house I was working on. A light mist of water works for me just before the pass, no alcohol. Let the blade get super sharp and take like a thousandth of an inch off at a time. A slightly cambered iron on the plane helps too, it kind of slices rather than hacks at the grain.

aaron7403mo ago

Old tools just work better sometimes. That alcohol trick sounds sketchy though.

anna4913mo ago

I keep a spray bottle with a 50/50 mix of water and denatured alcohol. A light mist on the surface right before planing really helps with that interlocked grain in old oak. It's like the blade just skims over it.

wade2503mo ago

Wait, denatured alcohol? That stuff is crazy toxic. I used it once to clean a brush and the fumes gave me a headache for hours. Spraying it in the air while planing seems like a bad idea. I'd be worried about breathing that in, especially in a small shop.