# The ******* Thickness Sander



## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Hi all,

I posted this pic on another thread, and Dave Paine suggested I post it here as well.

I build electric guitars as a hobby and don't have a lot of really useful tools, so I have to make do with what I have. One of my challenges is getting boards down to acceptable size for fret boards, which are usually 1/4" thick x ~ 2" wide. This is what I came up with:










It's an old Stanley #5 (pretty sure it's a #5) that is clamped to the table to act as my fence. I actually use the blocks of wood to sit on the plane body and then clamp the wood to the table. One thing that I need to do, though, is to shim the back of the plane ever so slightly so that the sole sits perpendicular to the table. This is defnitely not an optimal solution, but it's worked well for me until I can afford to buy a planer or thickness sander. The key is to take small amounts off at a time and plan to spend quite a bit of time on the job. 

So there you go.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Happy to see you did post on this forum. I hope more eyes get to see this. A good example of creativity. Using what you have available. :thumbsup:

I know what you mean about having to shim the plane. When I get a plane, one of the first things I do is check to see if the sides are orthogonal (90 deg) to the sole. They rarely are exactly 90 deg.

My new Veritas planes are 90 deg. Veritas mentions about the tight tolerances on machining.

I think the old Stanley's got "close enough". They were likely not focused on using the plane for a shooting board where the plane is held on its side.

I even have a Record #5 purchased new in 1999. One side is perfect and the other side is off by a degree or so. It happens to be the side I would want to have down on the shooting board. Drat.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*clever!*

Why not just put the plane back on the shelf and make a vertical fence, 2 pieces joined at 90 degrees and wide enough to clamp on the back side? Another idea is to run one bolt hole at the end as a pivot point and then clamp the opposite end. You can make marks for different thickness on the table..... :blink:


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Thank you, guys. I'll admit that I'm pretty much a rank novice when it comes to woodworking and woodworking tools, so there are lots of things that I need to learn. One of the reasons why I'm here is to learn how to use the tools I have much more effectively. Everything that I seem to make with respect to jigs, fences, etc, never seem to be "quite there". I seem to be lacking some of the critical tools to making sure my work is flat and square, for example, I don't have a table saw or jointer. That's one of the reasons I continue to use this option.

I actually inherited that plane from my dad who was notorious for his lack of maintenance on anything that he owned. I posted this pic on another guitar forum earlier this year while the plane was in its unrestored condition, and a fellow member offered to refurb it for me free of charge. Here are some before/after pics:


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

The other person did a wonderful job on that restoration. The "after" pictures look almost new.

I love to see the tools brought back for a second life. :thumbsup:


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

The fellow certainly did a fine job on the plane restoration, sounds like a very helpful forum.


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## lray (Feb 16, 2012)

Way to be resourceful! You can save a lot of room in your work space by being creative and using what you have. 

And the after picture of that plane is amazing, no more using it for a fence!!


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