A Plain Sole

A fly rod is a fine tuned machine. If you don't believe me ask an experienced maker who "plays" with tapers. They will tell you all it takes is a few thousandths of an inch change to effect the character of a rod. A lot of the items we use are that way. The more care that is put into the small, seemingly insignificant, details the better the product.

One such product that I use a considerable amount to make a fly rod is a hand plane. I recently picked up a new Stanley equivalent to the old classic 9 1/2 block plane. All block planes, no matter how well made, need to be fine tuned. Some, though, are better than others. You could pick up Lie-Nielsen version of the 9 1/2 block plane and use it right out of the box. A well cared for classic Stanley 9 1/2 could also be used.

Classic Stanley tools make for excellent wood working and rod making tools. At some point Stanley tools decided that quality was no longer important, likely during the advent of power tools, and shipped their tool production to China. Some where along that trip, who ever was in charge of keeping up with the directions for plane making was apparently lost at sea.

The two important parts of the plane are the blade and the sole. The sole is the part of the plane that needs the most work on these new planes from Stanley. To give you an idea here is a photo of the sole of my new plane. The shiny area is where the sole of the plane was coming in contact with the abrasive used to flatten the sole. As you can tell there is a considerable amount of work ahead of me.

Items Needed

The items needed are straight forward and can be picked up at the local hardware store. You will need mineral oil, paste wax, sand paper (80, 100, 220, 400, and 1200 grit), a straight edge (a high quality steel ruler will work), and a flat surface. When picking out your sand paper be sure to get the one labeled "wood/metal." Thankfully, for me I have a table saw with a cast aluminum top. These tops are typically very flat and will work well for lapping the sole of a plane. If you do not have a table saw you will need to find a hard flat surface to use.

The Pain Staking Process

As enjoyable as making a fly rod is, some parts are just monotonous. This is one of those parts. It is pretty simple, start with the coarsest grit paper you need (more than likely 80 grit), place it on your flat surface, pour on a little mineral oil, retract your blade (but do not remove it), and begin sliding the sole of your plane across the paper. Stop to check for flatness with the streaght edge. Once you reach a uniform flatness across the plane sole begin moving up through the higher grits.

Some out there advocate only stroking it in one direction and that is fine if you want to double your time and really not benefit yourself in any way. Others encourage a serpentine motion. This is fine if you need to remove a lot of metal, but as you progress through the higher grits of paper I suggest a back and forth motion. This will reduce the swirling that was made by the courser grits and the serpentine motion.

Finishing

The next question is, when do you stop? Some say you need to obtain a mirror finish. A mirror finish is a good thing but I don't believe it is absolutely necessary. All of the planes I uses, wether for rod making or woodworking, all have what I call a hazy mirror look. Lets put it this way you will not fix your hair by looking in it.

Once you have reached the desired sheen you will need to protect the plane from rust. The best way to do this is to apply a coat of paste wax. The kind that I use is "Liberon Fine Paste Wax." I use this in furniture construction as a finish but it also works well to protect all of my hand tools. I use the "neutral" color because it will not rub off and color the piece I am working on.

Simply rub on the wax, let it set for a minute or two and buff off.

Cost vs. Time

After completing this job I began to think about the time involved, the cost of the plane, the sandpaper, the oil, and the wax. Here is the way I have it figured:

1. Stanley block plane = $40

2. Mineral oil = $1

3. Sand paper = $40

4. Liberon Wax = $20

5. Time = 4hr x $25 = $100

Total = $201

Now, lets look at the Lie-Nielsen. It is only $150 plus shipping from the factory. You can get it a little cheaper through Woodcraft.

Thank the Lord, all of these items were already in my shop. The only purchase I made was the plane. I hope this will be a help to some out there. Bottom line, buy a good quality plane it is worth the investment for the better product.

Matthew