Thicknessing by hand?

I've hit a stop in my build because I can't seem to loosen the chipbreaker on my new plane. Does anyone know if I could thickness by hand using just sandpaper? Or does anyone have tips on stuck screws?

Thanks in advance!

what is the thickness now? and what thickness did you want it to be?

Traditionally, thicknessing is done with a cabinet scraper. I built my first 30 or 40 guitars this way. Much faster and more accurate than hand sanding. Either way, the key to success is to have as close to an absolutely flat surface as possible behind the work.

You'll be very hard pressed to thickness sand by hand to any degree of accuracy. Not to mention it would be a chore that you'd never want to do again.

If you don't have access to a drum sander, then I'm with Bruce. Cabinet scraper is the way to go.

The stuck screw on the chipbreaker might loosen if you heat it a wee bit with a blowtorch or maybe a good soldering iron. Not too much natch.

Recipe for loosening rusted up parts.
Step one -hit it with a hammer
Step two -add a bit of lubricant. If you can do it under pressure into the stuck bit all the better. Even water will suffice but wd40 or similar is better.
Step three hit it with a hammer again.
Step four attempt to undo.
If it does not work leave lubricant to soak in. Repeat.

Heat stressing also works.
You are basically trying to shatter the corrosion, which is brittle and wash the broken bits out.

I made a thickness sander following some ideas I think I got from Timbucks web page. I cheapskated on the bearings a bit, but it works fine and so far I have not even needed to change the sandpaper. I used the motor from an old power shower pump and have only had a handful of minor electric shocks so far ;-)
Max

orangeena said:

I made a thickness sander following some ideas I think I got from Timbucks web page. I cheapskated on the bearings a bit, but it works fine and so far I have not even needed to change the sandpaper. I used the motor from an old power shower pump and have only had a handful of minor electric shocks so far ;-)
Max

Click to expand...

I also made a thickness sander after doing it by hand. It comes in handy for all kinds of stuff and is one of my favorite time saving machines. When I did it by hand I used a belt sander to get it from 1/4 to an 1/8. Then used a 2x3 squared up board that was about 10" long with a strip of 3" 80 grit glued to it and sanded it down on my bench with small cleats keeping it steady. Making pencil marks and taking them off over and over. I would not recommend this it was not very accurate and it just sucks. The cabinet scraper as mentioned a couple of times before would of been nice. Or another thing you can do is find a cabinet shop in your area and see if they can let you use their thickness sander or pay them to do it for you. Good luck

You need to get the plane working. A cabinet scraper is really only used for the last few tenths of a mm. I can't say that I've ever come across a chipbreaker screw that was stuck. They usually have huge screw slots, so mount the assembly in a vice and use a very big screwdriver.