Stanley 112 tune up

[James Taglienti]

Hi all... i don't know if i have ever posted here or not, been "lurking" for a bit. I am having trouble getting my 112 scraper plane to take a shaving wider than an inch. i will joint, lap, and burnish the scraper card. The card will take nice 2"+ shavings that are beautiful. But as soon as the card goes into the plane, the shavings are narrow again. This is an ongoing issue that i have been combating for almost a year. Every few weeks i will pull out the scraper and spend 15 minutes on it.
Please do not tell me to "buy a lie nielsen." in my opinion it isn't the plane that matters as much as the chunk of steel that you put into it.

[Dan O'Sullivan]

Hi all... i don't know if i have ever posted here or not, been "lurking" for a bit. I am having trouble getting my 112 scraper plane to take a shaving wider than an inch. i will joint, lap, and burnish the scraper card. The card will take nice 2"+ shavings that are beautiful. But as soon as the card goes into the plane, the shavings are narrow again. This is an ongoing issue that i have been combating for almost a year. Every few weeks i will pull out the scraper and spend 15 minutes on it.
Please do not tell me to "buy a lie nielsen." in my opinion it isn't the plane that matters as much as the chunk of steel that you put into it.
When you put the scraper blade in the body, try putting a piece of paper under the front of the tool. This will allow the blade to protrude the thickness of a piece of paper. Next step is to snug down the blade in the tool. Don't over tighten or the blade bows and you generally cut only in the middle. Truthfully, when I use mine I tend to skew it as I push it and don't get a full edge cut. Might help.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi James

If you are only making a shaving 1" wide, then the blade must be very curved or cambered. Is this so?

I replaced my thin blade with a thicker LN Stanley Replacement. This does not bend much, if at all.

However, it is not about the thickness of the blade. Here is a thin blade ..

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/Thick%20verses%20thin%20112%20Scraper%20Plane%20bl ades_html_765afd52.jpg

And here is a thick blade ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/Thick%20verses%20thin%20112%20Scraper%20Plane%20bl ades_html_m1531a516.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/Thick%20verses%20thin%20112%20Scraper%20Plane%20bl ades_html_m10de3756.jpg

My guess would be that you are either bending the blade excessively, or have ground a camber.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dominic Greco]

Hi all... i don't know if i have ever posted here or not, been "lurking" for a bit. I am having trouble getting my 112 scraper plane to take a shaving wider than an inch. i will joint, lap, and burnish the scraper card. The card will take nice 2"+ shavings that are beautiful. But as soon as the card goes into the plane, the shavings are narrow again. This is an ongoing issue that i have been combating for almost a year. Every few weeks i will pull out the scraper and spend 15 minutes on it.
Please do not tell me to "buy a lie nielsen." in my opinion it isn't the plane that matters as much as the chunk of steel that you put into it.

James,
I'm going to echo what Derek said about the possibility of your blade having an unintentional camber. Dan's tip about using a piece of paper to set the blade height is a good one. Once I learned how to do that I found I was getting much better performance from my scraper planes.

I would reccomend re-grinding the 45 degree bevel using a grinder jig (if possible) or marking with dyechem and then carefully free hand sharpening. I would then follow with honing the bevel while being mindfull of not reproducing that camber.

In addition, I would try using a scraper blade with NO bevel. My No12 features a blade with a bevel on one edge and a flat grind on the other. I use the flat side for "really fine" scraping. Grind it flat and stone the edge using a guide. A guide can be as simple as a block of wood. Below I'm shown using my file/jointer guide (since it's just a block of wood with a kerf cut in it).
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z287/DominicGreco/Scrapers/scrapers5.jpg

What this will do for you is give you a dead flat edge. Install this blade and see if you still get the same issue as before. That way you eliminate the blade from the possible sources of the problem. Know what I mean?

[James Taglienti]

Wow. Lots of suggestions and wisdom and no arrogance. Quite impressive guys. Derek those shavings are outrageous.

[Jim Koepke]

James,

Welcome to the Creek.

Not having one of these makes my suggestion as one coming from outside the box...

Have you checked the bottom of the plane body to insure that it is flat?

BTW, Derek seems to have awesome and outrageous as his middle name.

jim

[James Taglienti]

I have been all over this plane checking this and that for a year. Here are some things i did.
Checked the throat to ensure flatness and cleaned out japanning globs to ensure a good seat.
Shimmed with paper and masking tape in dozens of thicknesses and dozens of configurations.
Ground, filed, burnished, jointed, polished, lapped and made, bought, etc. all sorts of scraper cards in all sorts of configurations, from dead flat to a 1/8" camber.
Checked the sole. Lapped it anyway.
Tried at least 8 species of wood.
Pushed, pulled, skewed, chopped, went fast, went slow, tried a "landing aircraft" approach, tried a "taking off aircraft" exit.
tons of stuff. i won't bore you of try to frighten you with my obsessiveness.
The only single thing that i can think of is that i am bad at burnishing edges of scrapers. I use scrapers all the time. my #80 works great. I can burnish a tiny hook or i can burnish a perfect 90 angle. I can burnish a monstrous hook.
But maybe i just can't do it right for this plane.
The 112 has moved from the Smoothing Plane Drawer to the Dusty Cabinet so it can sit with all the other crummy planes in there that are destined for ebay. Maybe it will learn a lesson.

[Jim Koepke]

The 112 has moved from the Smoothing Plane Drawer to the Dusty Cabinet so it can sit with all the other crummy planes in there that are destined for ebay. Maybe it will learn a lesson.

I wish I could afford to buy it from you. I would love the challenge of a new toy to play with in the shop.

What are the other "crummy planes" with whom it is currently associating?

jim

[Mark Roderick]

Derek, I've been thinking about buying a scraper plane as my next plane. You've just sealed the deal.

[James Taglienti]

Geez jim im glad you asked, now i get a chance to brag
The planes currently in the Dusty Cabinet are a dozen Stanley 3's and 4's, a cracked infill skew rabbet plane, a wooden plow plane with a full roll of irons, twenty or so stanley block planes of all types, a handful of shaves, a dozen no name bench planes, 3 #80 scrapers, and about 40 pounds of parts, in that cabinet. the users are a different story, and the "expanded working set" (which lives indoors) will not be described. at least not now. i am very lucky to be in one of the biggest auction areas in the country and i try to hit an auction at least once a week.

[Barry Vabeach]

James, I have the LV version, so I may be slightly off base, but following up on your burnishing thought, have you tried using the blade without the plane. Hold it in your hands at the same angle as it would sit in the plane and try it - if you get the same results, it is either that it is cambered, or that you aren't turning the burr evenly. LN makes a holder for turning the burr that would make it consistent. This is the new one http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32633&cat=1,310,41070&ap=1

I have the older one that is wooden but works on the same concept - if you would like to borrow it, send me a pm.