Scrub Plane

I purchased a second hand grinder so I didn't have to spend so long sharpening tools by hand. This is a POWAMAC by Crompton Parkinson. They were an electrical appliance company from the UK and they also made products in Australia, of which this is one. It is incredibly solid with a solid steel housing and stand. It weighs around 10kg on its own. Also picked up the Veritas bench grinding stand, a matching straight jig, and a diamond dresser.

Using my exciting new tools, I modified a spare Stanley #4 plane into a scrub plane, by grinding down the planeiron to have a radius and re-sharpening it. Since the grinding wheels I have are original and not the new low-temperature type, I may have overheated the planeiron on one edge. Though the marks were removed once I honed the edge so maybe it's ok. 

Using my new scrub plane, I could start cleaning up some of the timber from the tables I found during hard rubbish collection last week. The scrub plane made straightening the boards a lot quicker, though it was very easy to get splintering when going diagonally across. I learned that it's very important to read the grain to avoid this. 

After flattening them I smoothed them with a standard #4 then a #5 smoothing plane.

Unfortunately the big wide boards are just shitty pine. Not sure what the legs and side are, but they are something a bit nicer at least. All-in-all a decent haul but I had hoped for some more timber. Maybe next year!