>Just received a box of goodies from Lee Valley, and trotted out to the shop to try things out. The medium shoulder plane is quite a nice piece of work, and cut nicely. The sole's not quite flat, though. As best I can tell, there's daylight showing (under 0.002") between mouth and back end, and 0.002" clearance between the straightedge and the nosepiece. It looks like the bed is "raised," if that's the right word, right at the mouth. I've written to LV Customer Service, but, in the experience of those who've used this plane, are these dimensions any kind of issue to worry about?
>This is a very nice tool, and maybe was the second LV handplane I bought. Quite useful, when one is doing furniture and 'fine' woodworking, as opposed to brad nailer and caulk trim carpentry.
I use mine to clean up places that are hidden by the joinery, and so .002 is not a problem. Have to leave room for the glue, right?
>"As you tighten the wheel, you increase the blade clamping force that, in turn, results in a slight deflection of the blade bed. This is normal and does not affect performance. A very light clamp force will deflect the blade bed 0.0005". A hard clamp force will deflect the blade bed by as much as 0.003". Extremely small adjustments to blade depth can be achieved by changing the blade clamping force. Clamp the blade (1/8 turn should be ample. Do not over clamp) and take a test cut on a flat scrap of wood."
These people certainly spend time testing their tools. I'll have to see when I can get to the shop and follow their instructions to test it.
>Jim, that is in the manual/website. It is always worth reading first! (Ha, ha. Who reads a manual here?!). It was the first thought to cross my mind when I saw Bill's post. So Bill, play with the holddown tension and tell us what you find.
>... what David Charlesworth says about shoulder plane soles. In a nutshell, he says to determine the tension under which you want to use the plane, then flatten the sole at that tension, then finally use a sharpee to mark the wheel to indicate the position where the operating tension is reached.
So, I tested my Record shoulder planes (073 and 077A0), and tightening the cap has no discernible effect on the bed. I don't know if my experience with the LV plane is a byproduct of their use of ductile iron or merely an artifact of the smaller size, but I'll have to get used to this new regime of just barely tightening the screw cap, and maybe try it on the Record planes too.
>One consistent problem I find with old tools is lever caps that are waaaaay too tight. I have seen a #93 with a broken back which seemed due to overtightening. In my experience, only a light touch is needed. With a sharp blade and a light cut very little hold down strength is needed.
>IME the same rule for bench planes goes for shoulder planes: the lever cap should not be so tight as to inhibit adjustment (more specifically for shoulder planes, depth adjustment).
Overtightening of spin wheels is very bad news. I use just over "ten minutes on the clock" on my large L-N 073. The clock starts when you just percieve first contact, as you turn the wheel.
Sorry about these odd angular units but my pre-digital, analogue mind finds "minutes on the clock" easier than degrees ~;-)#
However some tension is necessary or the blade and lever cap slide about as you work with the tool. Different users will employ wildly different forces when they grip a tool, so minimum satisfactory "minutes on the clock" must be decided by trial and error, for each user.
I use the smallest tension that works for me, and it does distort the sole a little, just behind the throat. A little tuning makes it possible to take the finest shavings, which is surely one of the functions that these precision trimming tools are designed for?
Even some of the best manufacturers do not feel able to tell the purchaser that a little tuning will improve their shiny well machined tools. It is somehow seen as an admission of .....?????
Another view is, that if a not very skilled person messes with a sole they may make it worse or even destroy the perfectly adequate functionality that exists.