Doomwolf Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 Care of Joshue Clark (http://hyperkitten.com/) I now have a massive* 20" wooden bodied fore plane. It's my first time using a plane that uses just a wedge to keep the blade in, instead of a Stanley or Norris-type adjuster. I spent some time fiddling around with it this evening, and either the blade protruded too much to take a cut, or I couldn't get it to expose itself. What's the trick? I tried searching the archives here, but including "plane" and "wood" makes the search kind of non-specific. Should I invest in a lane hammer? Current adjusting options are a beech wood mallet and a ballpeen hammer. *The sole is an 1/8" steel plate screwed into the body. I once got the blade adjusted properly, and then it had enough mass to plow through anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 I don't have any wooden bodied planes but I have a few metal bodied (modern ones) that don't have any form of adjuster. I use a tiny brass jewellers hammer of around 3 oz to adjust the blades. To adjust them the plane is placed on to the benchtop. Then the blade is usually pressed by hand to touch the bench top. In your case the wedge is tapped in - in my case the clamping cap is set to finger tight. Then a slight tap on the rear of the blade (the top edge) - we a not talking a lot - takes it out to smoothing equivalence. If it is too far tap the back of the plane and it will retract. When you are done tap the wedge a little more and you are all set. For heavier cuts just tap a little harder. We are not talking driving a nail in force. http://www.alwayshobbies.com/tools/hand-tools/hammer-$4-pin-pushers/hammers/brass-jewellers-hammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 I'd recommend watching Paul Sellers video on preparing a wooden jack plane. From about 36:00 he shows the reassembly of the restored plane and the method of adjustment. He also has a video on wooden scrub planes which may be of interest if you have any of those. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 What Terry said, is the proper way for adjusting the blade! And Dave nailed it, Paul Sellers can get you set up the right way.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekcohen Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 Care of Joshue Clark (http://hyperkitten.com/) I now have a massive* 20" wooden bodied fore plane. It's my first time using a plane that uses just a wedge to keep the blade in, instead of a Stanley or Norris-type adjuster. I spent some time fiddling around with it this evening, and either the blade protruded too much to take a cut, or I couldn't get it to expose itself. What's the trick? I tried searching the archives here, but including "plane" and "wood" makes the search kind of non-specific. Should I invest in a lane hammer? Current adjusting options are a beech wood mallet and a ballpeen hammer. *The sole is an 1/8" steel plate screwed into the body. I once got the blade adjusted properly, and then it had enough mass to plow through anything. To set up a woodie ... Guiding Principle: it is easier to accurately extend the blade projection than accurately retract the blade. Basic methods: extend the blade by tapping gently at the end of the blade. retract the blade by tapping the heel of the body. always tap the wedge after adjusting the blade, especially with tapered blades. It will need to be re-seated. Make yourself a glass plane setting board. Mine is 1/4" float glass glued to hardwood ... Place the plane on top of the glass plate with the wedge loose enough to allow the blade to be pushed flat onto the glass plate ... Tap the wedge gently to seat it ... This will create a minimal projection of the blade. If it is a smoother, it may be ready to go and produce very fine shavings. Just tap the blade very gently to take a deeper shaving (and don't forget to tap the wedge as well). The glass will not damage the blade's edge. Incidentally, that plane was made by Jim Krenov. Regards from Perth Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomwolf Posted November 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 Thanks all. I'll try this out when I have some spare time in the next couple of days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 I do the same as Derek to start, but instead of glass, I just use whatever hard, flat piece of hard wood is handy, try it on something, and adjust from there. Same for molding planes. For multi's, I just sight it, but they have an adjusting wheel. I use the red and yellow plastic ended Estwing on the body and wedge, and a 4 oz. brass on the iron. I used to use the plastic on the iron too, but the brass gets you where you want it with less fiddling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Seeing this makes me not afraid to figure out this wooden plane I got from my dad. It's about 10 inches long and about 4 inches wide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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