wood plane tuning/setting the blade

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

mikew

>Hi Bob,

If you made the iron from thick material, I would try sans the chipbreaker. Regardless, unless you made a tapered iron, by adding a chipbreaker it is a reverse wedge if you were to look at the assembly from the side I suspect. That is, the thickest portion is near the cutting edge and narrows toward the top?

If so, taping the wedge will try to drive the iron downward. I would remake the wedge to hold the parallel iron by itself.

Take care, Mike

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

Adam Cherubini

>Sounds to me as though the wedge angle is too high. That would make the plane more sensitive to adjustment taps. I'm not exactly sure how the reverse wedge effect of a tapered iron effects this. My guess is that the angle that's important is not the angle cut into the plane but the wedge itself. This makes me think that if you didn't have a tapered iron, you'd want the same wedge angle and a lower angle cut into the plane. What does Clark and Williams do? Don't they have flat irons?

Adam

Coupla things

jim reed @ tallahassee

>I would lightly sand the middle of the wedge where it contacts the blade. Maybe there is a little too much friction. For the blade to stay in place, the friction on the bottom of the blade must be higher than the friction of the top where the wedge is. In my experience every woodie requires a slightly different adjustment, but most of them are quick--tap, tap, tap, tap, and they are ready to go.

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

Warren in Lancaster, PA

>This is a hard problem to diagnose over the phone. I will describe the setup on a plane of mine that adjusts easily.

The wedge is tapered at roughly 10 degrees. The iron and the cap iron are both tapered, both thickest at the cutting end, and together they form a wedge that is about 2 degrees. The cap iron on a wedged plane is much flatter than that of a Bailey plane. The side against the wedge is ground flat except very near the cutting edge so that the wedge fits snugly against the cap iron for almost the whole length. Usually the screw end is flush with the surface.

In your situation it is difficult because you don't know if the problem lies in the plane or in your tapping. Even when the wedge and all are nicely fitted, it takes some time to get a feel for the individual plane and I think that the wedge system gradually works better (adjusts in finer increments} as it is used regularly over a period of weeks. Good luck.

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

Larry Williams

>"... What does Clark and Williams do? Don't they have flat irons?"

No, we've always used tapered irons and always will.

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

ThomD

>In my shop there are irons that are flat and tapered in both directions, they all work.

In addition to the advice given here, I would experiment with a lighter hammer.

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Like Thom said, it may be as simple as using a lighter hammer.

I haven't made a wedged plane, Japanese blades are what I'd call self-wedging given sufficiently tight abutments, hichly tapered and very thick; however I've used several wedged planes, one of which gave me similar problems, as well as having the blade move in use. This seemed to be a varying problem, sometimes it was perfect, sometimes impossible. I finally figured out that it was a humidity problem. In the summer the top of the wedge was too big (this was a very slight difference) to properly seat the blade. My solution was to simply not use that plane, a tiny shoulder, in the summer since I knew I didn't know enough about wedges. I suspect the wedge needs to be sanded slightly on the side nearest the blade.

Pam

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>It sounds to me like the angle on the wedge is too high, probably the primary problem, although it is a difficult phone diagnosis as has been mentioned. If the wedge angle is too high it will not apply enough pressure on the iron until it is too tight. Do you have a book on wooden planes? I highly recommend David Finck's book on Krenov style planes. A wooden plane is a very simple thing; the iron has to be bedded well (a flat base to lay on), the wedge has to make good contact with the iron and whatever it wedges against and be the right angle and right wood for a wedge. These four things determine whether the iron adjusts well and will stay in place.

Re: wood plane tuning/setting the blade

Andrew Lunn

>Hi Bob,

You should see what Larry W. thinks is wrong. In the meantime, I don't think it's been mentioned--I'm wondering what sort of finish, if any, you have on your plane and wedge that might be causing excessive slippage. Or what sort of rust preventative like wax or oil you have on your iron. Also, I'm no expert, but I'm wondering what the angle is between your abutments and your bed. I don't see how the angle of the wedge could be the primary problem, as the wedge only fills the space you've created between other parts of the plane. I mean, if you've got a wedge problem, either your wedge just isn't fit properly, or the space you are trying to fill with it is off, too open or too closed, and the resulting wedge that fits the space is either not able to create enough friction, or is too gradual in slope and tends to get easily driven too far forward. Just my thoughts. Good luck getting it worked out. Be sure to post a picture of your plane!

Andrew