Took my Lee Valley Scraping Plane out of the box today. Now I find myself wondering how to use it without skinning my knuckles. There just does not seem to be sufficient clearance for safety between the rear handle and the thread the "Frog Adjustment Wheel" runs on. This "Rear Handle" looks (or more exactly feels) wrong anyway. Can I solve this by taking a file to it? PvR
PvR asks:
I don't know. I used mine the other day with no problems at all, though admittedly only on some mahogany for a short while.
Seemed to me to work just fine all the way through and was quite comfortable in my hand.
Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker
On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 22:55:19 +0100, "P van Rijckevorsel" brought forth from the murky depths:
I took a look at the pics online and it appears that the blade can be held straight up, which puts the thread right up toward the handle. Adjust the blade angle and watch the rod move away. (picture #2 looks to be adjusted that way)
If you don't think you'll ever use the blade in a 25 degree slant, you could always shorten the adjusting rod for a less knuckle-scraping plane. Or get some plastic handle dip and coat the end so it wouldn't bite if your hand hit it.
- If the gods had meant us to vote, they'd have given us candidates. --------------
Why not drop a note to Robin Lee and ask him? He is very good at responding to customer concerns. His email is: snipped-for-privacy@leevalley.com
Brian
Brian in Vancouver, BC schreef
Yes, I might do that. I would rather have a more exact idea of the ins-and-outs of the matter before I take that step. I just hoped somebody had already dealt with this issue. I could also take 2mm of the thread, which is what extends beyond the adjustment wheel when the blade is entirely forward. That will be my last resort. PvR
Hi -
I beleive there's actually more clearance in front of the handle than the Stanley model ? With the blade raked forward, the threaded rod retracts, affording more room...
I've forwarded your message on to the chief designer for the product - he'll be able to tell you how much you can "prune" from the rod, and what the effect will be on the range of adjustment....
Cheers -
Rob Lee
Hmmmm ... I never noticed a problem with mine. I'll have to take another look at it this weekend.
I guess this is just another case of personaol taste. While I don't particularly like the looks of their totes, I've found that they are quite comfortable in use. (Even nicer than the more elegant L-N.)
If you don't like it, you might want to consider making a replacement rather than messing with the one it came with. That way you could customize it to your hand without risking buggering up the factory-supplied one.
Chuck Vance
Not my Stanley. Pruning the annoying rod was one of the first adjustments I made to it. This is certainly a problem with the #112 design, and the length of its sole is a limit to it. With a "clean slate" design, I'd want to lengthen it.
I'm still musing on building my own dovetailed #112 from scratch. As it doesn't need a frog, it would be quite easy to fabricate by welding. I have a cunning plan to make something in dovetailed steel, silver-solder the joint, then use niello to blacken the silver in the joint line.
-- Do whales have krillfiles ?
Conan the Librarian schreef
I have both the scraping plane and the LV LA smoother. I just went into the shop and grabbed both of them to see if I could understand the problem (I have large hands, XL gloves), and have not noticed a problem in actual use of these planes. After trying this; I can see that someone with "fat" fingers could have a problem. I checked a couple of old Stanley planes (#7 & #4) and noticed that there is quite a bit more clearance than the new LV planes. It is NOT a problem for me, with large hands; however I can see that someone with fat fingers could have a problem. Robin, maybe you need to recruit someone with fat fingers and a large hand to test drive new designs (should be easy to do with the quality product that you make).
Alan Bierbaum schreef
the shop and grabbed both of them to see if I could understand the problem (I have large hands, XL gloves), and have not noticed a problem in actual use of these planes. After trying this; I can see that someone with "fat" fingers could have a problem. I checked a couple of old Stanley planes (#7 & #4) and noticed that there is quite a bit more clearance than the new LV planes. It is NOT a problem for me, with large hands; however I can see that someone with fat fingers could have a problem. Robin, maybe you need to recruit someone with fat fingers and a large hand to test drive new designs (should be easy to do with the quality product that you make).
PVR notes:
Just checked mine, and it's got a cast platform at the rear of the sole onto which a good bit of the tote fits. Might well make a difference if yours doesn't have one. Check with Robin, or any Lee Valley customer service person, and I'd guess they can tell you more and correct your problem.
Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker
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