hand plane issue

[Luis]

Hi all:

I'm a newby in wood working (interested mostly in furniture making) and I have some questions I hope someone could be kind enough to answer, perhaps some guidance. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

I have a Stanley smother plane (#4), which has been tuned (almost) according to information I've found on books and on the web. Sadly, after the iron was honed to a mirror finish and the sole was flattened, I discovered that the base of the frog (where the frog seats on the sole) was completely out of alignment, making the iron to "rest" diagonally instead of horizontally on the mouth of the sole. I tried to fix this with a file and now the blade position "looks" better, however, ¼ of the rear of the base of the frog do not rest on the sole (it came like this) and I'm afraid to continue reducing metal from the base of the frog. The plane works, but I'm afraid that it might not be performing at 100% due to the lack of proper support of the frog.

I was thinking to purchase a low angle block plane from Stanley or Record (I'm not very fond of Stanley right know) for planning end grain. But now, thinking that my bench plane may not be working at a

100%, I'm tempted to leave the plane as it is and purchase a better bench plane. What do you think?

In case I decide to purchase another bench plane I've reduced the possibilities to the following, any comments?:

ECE smother bench plane with adjustable mouth. ECE jack plane English pattern Record #5 Clifton #5

Note That I have not included some brands, as they are not available in Europe. LN planes are available but they are way out of my budget and considering that I need to purchase in the near future some good chisels and a good dovetail saw I will require the extra money.

Thanks in advance

Luis

[Gary Roth]

Luis First off filing on the frog was a big mistake and may have rendered the plane useless depending on how much damage you did. There are other simpler methods of adjusting frog alignment, shimming with paper to mention just one. So don't blame that on Stanley. Stanley planes were made to fill an important nich in the market they were designed and intended to be a working mans tool, affordable, durable and utilitarian. They did a job, they were never intended to be the top of the line tools. Tuned and properly adjusted they will preform very nicely but pay more money and you can have a tool that will consistantly out preform a Stanley. Every working plane I have is a Stanley or a Stanley knock off, they all do everything I want a plane to do. Could I get a six foot long micro thin shaving with one of them? probably not, but then six foot long micro thin shavings are not something I strive for. I have a friend with a bucket full of Stanley replacement parts from misstreated planes and if your interested I'm sure he has a good used frog for a number 4. Gary

[Lawrence A. Ramsey]