Can't advance plane blade enough

[Devon Curtis]

My favourite no. 3 recently broke, so I purchased another to replace it. I was using a Lee Valley replacement blade and chipbreaker, and fitted in the new plane, I can barely advance the blade enough to make a cut. The depth adjustment knob is right at the end of its screw, and the plane will just take the lightest of cuts. My thought is that the blade set is too thick for the plane as configured, so I'm wondering if anyone has an idea how I might get a little more room for adjustment. The frog is set almost as far forward as it will go, and I even had to file the mouth a bit to get it to work at all.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Jim Koepke]

My favourite no. 3 recently broke, so I purchased another to replace it. I was using a Lee Valley replacement blade and chipbreaker, and fitted in the new plane, I can barely advance the blade enough to make a cut. The depth adjustment knob is right at the end of its screw, and the plane will just take the lightest of cuts. My thought is that the blade set is too thick for the plane as configured, so I'm wondering if anyone has an idea how I might get a little more room for adjustment. The frog is set almost as far forward as it will go, and I even had to file the mouth a bit to get it to work at all.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Unless you are using a Bedrock style plane, the only difference in having the frog forward would be if the chip breaker is hitting the front of the mouth and causing a jam up of the parts.

How close is the chip breaker set to blade's edge?

Is your old plane of the same make?

Different makers used different dimensions on their chip breakers.

Can you swap the frogs to see if that helps?

This might not work if one was an early plane and one is later.

jtk

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I have had the same trouble, and was never able to get it to work to my satisfaction. But other people say a replacement blade will change you life.

I would not think having the frog forward would help. Try moving it back so the bed is even with the rear of the mouth opening. Then back the chipbreaker off a little. You probably won’t be able to use it with the chipbreaker closely set, but you should be able to use it.

Or send it back and look for a original style replacement blade and chipbreaker.

[Archie England]

replacement blades plus a chip breaker can wreck havoc with some vintage planes, mostly due to the difference of thickness between the vintage pair and the replacement pair (blade/chip breaker). I've had mostly good luck in discovering ways to work around the issue by using only the replacement blade and reusing the original chip breaker. In the past, many advised opening the mouth of the plane, but I was uncomfortable with my skill to try that. OTOH, I've adjusted the frog position with typically great success. That's why earlier posters suggested rehabbing a plane: to troubleshoot what's wrong while restoring a plane becomes very valuable in working out these occasional issues.

Have fun!

[Mike Holbrook]

+1 on what Archie said.

I have had similar issues with LV blades & chip breakers in old Stanley planes, particularly 3s and 4s. I made several posts concerning the issues I had. Like Archie, the final word seemed to be to open the mouth with a file. First of all, it is hard to find a file that fits the mouth at the required angle.....if you find one the work is slooooow.

[steven c newman]

First off....there is a slot on both chipbreakers where the tab for the depth adjuster engages. Measure from the front edge of each chipbreaker back to that slot.....you will find your troubles there. The OEM slot will be a bit closer to the front edge of the chipbreaker, than the newer, so-callled "Improved" chipbreaker. Maybe dig up the old one, and switch out the new with it.

A few years back, had the same trouble with a Woodriver #4......the "V2" slot did not even match what the new V3 was at. Had to run the wheel out until two threads were left in the wheel.

Moving the frog forward usually results in the irons chattering, as you remove the support from behind the leading edge of the iron ( that is the main reason people go with the crutch of a thick iron) Face of the frog should be coplanar with the face of that little ramp at the mouth opening. YMMV

I suspect the main reason a new thicker iron works so "well", is it is usually a lot sharper than the so-called "Bad" iron it replaced.

[Derek Cohen]

My favourite no. 3 recently broke, so I purchased another to replace it. I was using a Lee Valley replacement blade and chipbreaker, and fitted in the new plane, I can barely advance the blade enough to make a cut. The depth adjustment knob is right at the end of its screw, and the plane will just take the lightest of cuts. My thought is that the blade set is too thick for the plane as configured, so I'm wondering if anyone has an idea how I might get a little more room for adjustment. The frog is set almost as far forward as it will go, and I even had to file the mouth a bit to get it to work at all.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi Devon

The position of the adjustment slot can vary among some makes. For example, the LN is 1/4" further back than the Stanley and LV. I have also had some Stanley chipbreakers vary as well. It is quite likely that this is where your problem lies - not with the blade or the LV chipbreaker, per se. You may have a Stanley which is different from the usual.

Replace the original chipbreaker and see if this works. If it does, compare the position of the slot with that of the LV.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Roy Turbett]

I doubt that this is the case because the problem is probably with the location of the yoke slot in the chip breaker. But if your "new" plane a Stanley type 5 or earlier the adjuster will have a right hand thread. This means you turn the adjuster knob counter-clockwise to advance the iron which is opposite from planes made after 1888 that have left hand threads. Other makers such as Sargent used right hand threads into the early 20th century.