Musings of a Normie

[Conan The Librarian]

Ewwww ... I don't like the sound of that.

The worst I've ever done was to take a divot out of my finger when using my Record 044 (cute little plough plane, Jeff). I inadvertantly shifted my grip when steadying the plane and the next thing I knew I had made solid contact with the exposed iron. (And the irons on those planes are *totally* exposed.)

As O'Deen says, even I am smart enough to figure out when I'm cutting myself with a chisel or saw and stop before I amputate a limb.

Chuck Vance

[Conan the Librarian]

Bite me, Greg. :-)

I don't specifically have any experience with "palm" planes, but I have a few wooden smoothers and others. I usually just set the plane on a flat surface, and place the iron in so it sits straight, push the wedge in and give it a light tap to lock it. Then with my fingers underneath the mouth I lift the plane and feel for lateral adjustment (carefully) with the pads of my fingers. If it feels good I give the wedge a firmer tap and try it on a baord.

If not, I tap either side for lateral adjustment and/or tap the heel to retract the iron slightly or the iron to increase the cut. After any adjustments, I always fisnih with a couple of firm taps on the wedge.

(In practice, the adjustment takes less time than it does to write about it.)

Chuck Vance

[Greg Millen]

thanks Chuck. I'll give it a go using the same technique. There's a pic of the plane at ftp://woodworking.homeip.net/Planes/ tulipwood palm plane.jpg

The shoulder plane works like a dream.