smoothing plane question

[Andy]

Hi all, I guess I'm continuing down the slope towards neander-hood, as I just bought my first metal bench plane at an auction (pre-WWII Stanley #4). I have a couple of Steve Knight woodies, and I enjoy them very much, but wanted to try out the metal variety. Anyway, I cleaned and lapped and polished and sanded and finished and waxed the thing until I thought it looked pretty good, and got a LN chipbreaker and LV blade. (If you're interested, before and after photos can be seen at

.It works great too! Still getting used to it, of course, but definitely having fun making fluffy shavings. In my limited experience, I think I'd have to say the Knight planes do a little better with reversing grain, but maybe I'm just more used to them, and I also haven't honed the LV blade yet. (OK, so that was sort of a shameless plug for a guy I've never met...) Anyway, to get to my question, I'm having trouble finding a comfortable way to grip this #4 tote. Specifically, my knuckles are hitting the blade depth adjustment knob. Anyone else have this problem? Would the slightly thicker blade/chipbreaker have anything to do with that? Any way I can adjust this? Thanks for your help or comments, Andy

[RicodJour]

Boy, that thing really was a beater. Nice job cleaning it up.

The frog has to be set further back to accomodate the thicker blade/breaker, which shifts the blade adjuster knob further back, so that contributes to the problem. Are you holding the tote with three fingers and your thumb with your index finger wrapped over the top of the blade? That's how Stanley's instructions indicate the plane is meant to be held.

R

[Andy]

Thanks - the paint was ugly, but underneath that, it was actually in very good shape (i.e. all moving parts moved easily, sole was nearly flat, rust was surface only.)

finger wrapped over the top of the blade?

Yep - even like that, the knuckle of my middle finger is competing with the knob for space. I'm almost wondering about making a custom tote that's just set back a little - would that be a lot more complicated than I think? I know I'd need clearance room for the bolt to go all the way through the handle - I'll have to think about that. Thanks for your quick reply, Andy

[Australopithecus scobis]

Other posters gave you some responses before I finished typing this, so here's what I have that's unique.

1. The chip breaker is in the wrong place. The position of the chip breaker along the blade can have a surprising effect on the position of the depth adjustment knob.

Mess around with the position of the aftermarket chip breaker until you get the adjustment knob to move forward. You might have to put the breaker at a distance from the cutting edge that isn't the "optimum" distance.

Good luck.

[fredfighter]

Yes, a very good job.

I've seen worse. My favorite jointer is a Sargent that looked like it had been sitting in a mudpuddle for six months. Electrolysis does wonders.

[OP already replied that he is, it's his middle finger that hits.]

You can widen file the mouth by filing the front edge. That will allow you to move the frog forward. I've read that is sometimes necessary tio accomodate a Hock blade.

Haven't done it myself, I have skinny fingers. My brother says I should have become a brain surgeon instead of a rocket scientist.