widening a plane mouth

[Zach England]

Is there a better way to do this than with a file?

Thanks.

[Casey Gooding]

I wouldn't do it any other way.

[Zach England]

So you think the angle grinder is a bad idea? :)

[Ron Brese]

Zach what you really need is a fine cut file that has the edges ground off. With this tool you won't be cutting the side edges of the mouth. Once the opening is the size you want then I suggest that you take a small flat piece of wood about 3/16" thick x 1/2" wide and attached some adhesive backed sandpaper (or just wrap it in nonadhesive sandpaper) and smooth up the new edge so that the shavings will slide thru easily and not get snagged on any slightly rough edges left by the file.

Good luck,

Ron Brese

[Zach England]

Ok, thanks for the tips. One more question:

This is a no. 4 stanley that uis now fitted with a LN iron. The problem is that the LN iron is a lot thicker than the stanley iron and I am not getting good clearance for shavings. Am I correct to assume I want to file off the front of the mouth closest to the knob and leave the back and the angle that coincides to the frog angle intact?

[Jim Koepke]

Ok, thanks for the tips. One more question:

This is a no. 4 stanley that uis now fitted with a LN iron. The problem is that the LN iron is a lot thicker than the stanley iron and I am not getting good clearance for shavings. Am I correct to assume I want to file off the front of the mouth closest to the knob and leave the back and the angle that coincides to the frog angle intact?

One way to find the best place to remove metal is to set the frog back as far as it can me made to go and tighten the frog screws. Then with a small steel rule slide it down the face of the frog. If there is any metal blocking the rule from sliding through the mouth, remove it before removing any from the front of the mouth.

Another thing some suggest is to file a bevel on the front of the mouth to give a little more clearance for shavings as they spill out from the mouth. This can be done without much removing metal from the front of the mouth.

jim

[David Gendron]

You Have to remember here, that a #4 is a smoothing plane, and intended to take a realy fine shaving with a fairly tight mouth! That said, if you set the blade to take a realy fine shaving, you might not have to file anything!

[steve swantee]

Hi Zach, I would only do this with a file. If you are interested, I have converted two vintage Stanleys to full thickness LN irons-a No 8 type 4, and a No 4 type 7. Here are the related threads. The type is probably going to dictate the amount of filing involved. Good luck
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/paperclip.gif (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/#) Taking the plunge (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=85467)
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/paperclip.gif (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/#) Plane Iron Experiment (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=99429)

Steve

[Zach England]

Thanks, Steve. That's very helpful. That's exactly what I am trying to do.

[steve swantee]

When I filed the mouths of my planes I clamped a hardwood block to the sole of the plane as a guide for the file-I found this really helpful. Like this: Filing the Mouth of a Cast Iron Plane (http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To_pages/Frierson_on_MouthFiling.htm)

Steve

[Larry Marshall]

I was surprised to see this question, Zach. I've never had to open the mouth of any plane except for a smoother that I convered to a scrub plane. I use Hock blades in some of my old Stanleys and moving the frog rearward is more than sufficient to accommodate the thicker blade. I wonder, as others have suggested, that you are seeing a need for a large gap in front of the blade. My smoother has a gap of only a few thousandths. That's what allows it to do its thing well, in fact.

Cheers --- Larry