Smoothing plane


Tmize

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14 hours ago, Stumpnav said:

I have always been a BD user. I tried the LN No.62 LAJP and did not like it. The little things I did not like: no lateral adjustment, lighter than a No 5, nothing to rest my index finger on when I had it pointed down the cut...but the biggest thing I did not like was the difficulty in changing the depth of cut.  I much prefer to be able to reach down with my finger and spin the adjustment wheel.

Yeah this is my take as well the lateral adjustment is so finicky i can never get it right i'm always too far one way or another. Also the easy of depth adjustment on BD is awesome. I don't get the BU argument for end grain. My BD planes work awesome on end grain. Just have to have a sharp iron i guess.

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15 hours ago, Stumpnav said:

I have always been a BD user. I tried the LN No.62 LAJP and did not like it. The little things I did not like: no lateral adjustment, lighter than a No 5, nothing to rest my index finger on when I had it pointed down the cut...but the biggest thing I did not like was the difficulty in changing the depth of cut.  I much prefer to be able to reach down with my finger and spin the adjustment wheel.

I agree especially the adjustment on the fly comment. Probably has as much to do with what you learn on as anything but I change that enough that stopping to do it is a royal pain for me. Needless to say out of dozen or so planes I only have one BU and it doesn't see much use.

Having said all of that I'm just glad we have multiple high quality plane makers now :) 

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On 12/14/2018 at 10:45 AM, Stumpnav said:

I have always been a BD user. I tried the LN No.62 LAJP and did not like it. The little things I did not like: no lateral adjustment, lighter than a No 5, nothing to rest my index finger on when I had it pointed down the cut...but the biggest thing I did not like was the difficulty in changing the depth of cut.  I much prefer to be able to reach down with my finger and spin the adjustment wheel.

One of the common errors made in setting up a BU plane (whether smoother, jointer or block plane) is to over tighten the lever cap. A too-tight lever cap will lock the blade and prevent fore-and-aft movement. The answer is to relax the downforce.

Regards from Perth

Derek

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My LN No 62 BU was a great thing to have when my plane selection was extremely small.  Since I've built it up  (a few 3's, 4's, 5', and a 7) it gets less use, but it's my go-to for my shooting board for super easy and clean end grain trimming.

 

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I got my BU smoother today. Been playing around with it comparing it to my Stanley #4 and well side by side going with the grain can’t tell much difference in cut quality. Not when I got into reversing grain I could tell a difference. The #4 has some tear out not much the BU cut clean thru it not glass smooth but no tear out. Now in the wild forked area of the board is where I noticed the biggest differences BU was a clear winner to be fair in this short test I was planing straight toward my planing stop with a slight skew trying not to stop plane the area as I normally would. Now I’m still trying to figure out this plane a get the adjusting comfortable to me. But I had the same learning curve with my first bailey style so more to come. 

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When comparing a BU and BD plane, it is important to mention the cutting angle of the BU plane - otherwise one cannot be sure that you are comparing apples with apples. 

What happens to the finish off the BD plane when you close up the chipbreaker? What happens to the performance of the BU plane when you increase the bevel angle?

Regards from Perth

Derek

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On the BU plane it came with a 38* bevel angle I honed in a slight micro bevel so maybe 1 to 2 degrees ( free hand sharpened). As with all my smoothing planes the irons have the corners knocked down with about a 10 second extra pressure applied to each corner on my dmt stones for a slightly radius cutting edge. Now with the BU lron I polished the back flat. I prepare my BD blades with a slight back bevel using the Charlesworth method. 

The BD has a thicker woodriver V3 blade in it. It has the original chipbreaker set as close to knock down corners as I could get itabout a 1/32.  The chipbreaker was prepared to fit flat to the back of the iron. The mouth has a opening of a 1/16. 

The BU plane has about 51 to 52* cutting angle. I set the adjustable mouth was also set at 1/16. 

Now the only difficulty I’m having with the BU is getting the cap iron set to the correct pressure. The set screw they use to center the iron in the mouth is great. I’ve noticed when planing the cap iron will work it way lose then the lateral adjuster gets pushed over. So then I have to reset everything again. So I’ll tighten it up about 1/2 a turn more. I was fiddling with it last night a think I’ve found the perfect combination. 

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