ordered my first LN plane

[Tom King]

I'm working on a pair of entry doors in an early 19th Century House.  They meet too tightly in the middle, and have gaps a little too wide on the hinge sides.  We don't want to risk damaging the finish already on the doors either inside or out.  I need to take a little over 1/16" out of the depths of the hinges.  The doors meet the jamb and floor perfectly top and bottom, so accurate depth of the hinge mortises is important to maintain.

I probably could do it with a chisel, but the probably part is what worries me.  I looked at the offerings at LV and LN, also on ebay,  and decided to go with the LN.

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/handplanes/butt-mortise-plane?node=4063

[wdwerker]

A bit of practice on an old door would be my recommendation . I can see that tool being useful considering the sort of work you do. I hope it works well for you.

[Brendon_t]

That is an interesting and super specialized plane.  I hope it does what you need it to. 

[Tom King]

I have no doubt that it will work just fine.  The real PIA on this will be test fitting the doors.  The hinges aren't butts, and the screws holding them in are straight slotted old ones that I don't want to mess up.  They don't have pointed ends, but the screws are tapered with blunt ends.  I hope we get it close enough first try.

The wood is Heart Pine, which I deal with almost daily, and I can get the iron sharp.  I'll post pictures once I get them up correctly, and the hardware reinstalled. 

[Brendon_t]

The think that would worry me is the same thing I have seen with a router plane. When taking short controlled movements, too much man can take off way more than I planned.

[Tom King]

I plan to use it like a controlled paring chisel.  I'll take light cuts.  This is not a job where speed is important.  In fact, I don't even think about taking a job if speed is important.  The old saying about building is pick two out of three-good, fast, cheap.  With me, you get one, and it's neither fast nor cheap.

[Llama]

As long as you stake out the surrounding material, you'll be fine. Same with a router plane when used properly.

No doubt at all you'll be fine Tom. 

[Tom King]

Here's the plane in action.  It said it was ready to use, but the iron wasn't close to being as sharp as I like one.  This is now the only A2 cutter I have.  I would like it better if it was 01, but it works fine.  This will be a nice tool to have when a router plane is not big enough.  It does a really nice job.

The mortises in these 1850 doors were the full width of the door thickness.  I was able to do the adjusting in place, without taking the doors all the way down.

It turned out that the mortises just needed cleaning up.  The original hanger had figured the spacing correctly, but wasn't precise enough with the bottoms of the mortises. They had a lot of humps in them.  Once they were made perfectly flat with this plane, they operated just like you would want them to.  I really didn't have to take out much more depth.

I'll put pictures of the doors in the Wood forum.