Shoulder plane setup - update

Hard to stretch a blade

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>but it is easy to grind off a touch for a perfect fit.

Re: Shoulder plane setup - update

Bob Fawcett

>As the original poster, I should report that I have since ground the high parts off the blade. Turns out the blade was somewhat tapered. The cutting end was very close to the width of the plane - only over by less than 1/64". I ground some off both sides towards the back of the blade only. I did this carefully on a bench grinder, then cleaned it up with a diamond stone. I have been happily using the plane this last week and it performs well. Only took 10-15 minutes to make the mods.

I centered the blade in the plane body and have a few thou overhang on each side.

Re: Shoulder plane setup - update

John Todd

>Most Shoulder and Rabbet Planes seem to be made this way. My LV Shoulder Plane irons are wider and following language is on theLie-Nielsen Website for both the Rabbet Planes and the Shoulder Planes. (QUOTE) "The blade is a couple of thousandths of an inch wider than the body. Align the edge of the blade with the side of the body that you want it flush with. Laying the tool on its side can help you do this quickly and accurately. Or, if you prefer, you can grind a little material off the side of the blade to make it flush with both sides."

Re: Shoulder plane setup - update

Todd Stock

>The last time I had to do this tweak (on a Record 073), onion skin on 320 worked fine (onion skin supporting body with blade running on the 320...be gentle). The paper is about .002, and beds down somewhat into the 320, so the net result was about .003 across the blade - about right. These days, a few swipes with a diamond stone would probably be faster.

I figure one of the things we pay for on high-end planes is just this sort of tuning. I expect the blade to be matched to the body to within 1/100, allowing the user to make the final tweak. A sixteeth or even a thirty-second seems like a lot more than necessary, although I'm not certain what the body and blade width tolerances might be out of the machining cells.